Nowhere to Hide

by Tobin, Tracey

  “Hey, it’s okay!” a voice insisted. “No need to yell.”

  Nancy struggled to turn, but instead Greg and Ken stepped into her line of sight. They both looked concerned, but relieved.

  “What the hell is going on?” Nancy repeated, more quietly but just as angrily. She struggled against her bonds and felt a bolt of pain run up her leg. She bit her lip to keep the shout back.

  “You developed some kind of of infection,” Ken explained. “The zombie that attacked you left a piece of fingernail in one of the wounds that I missed when I was stitching you up. I managed to remove it but you ran an incredible temperature and started hallucinating.”

  “And that explains the bondage, how?” Nancy asked, her voice more than a little tart.

  Greg raised an eyebrow. “You don’t remember anything?” he implored.

  Nancy shook her head. Little flashes of words and shadows were blinking in her memory, but nothing that made any sense. “Just some fuzzy images and I remember you two talking but I couldn’t understand what you were saying.”

  “We had to restrain you,” explained Ken, “because, well, to put it bluntly you were flipping the fuck out.” Greg nodded his agreement.

  Nancy simply blinked back at them for a moment. When they offered nothing further she asked, “What do you mean?”

  Ken looked at Greg and waved an arm as though to say, “Go on then.” Greg sighed and shuffled his feet before going on. “You started shouting something about having screwed everything up and how you didn’t deserve to live,” he said with a cringe. “And then you started kicking and screaming like you were being attacked. When we tried to calm you down you started tearing at your arms like you were trying to dig something out of your skin.”

  Nancy’s gaze dropped to her arms; she was shocked to see the the proof staring back at her. Her arms both had long, dark red scratches all up and down them.

  “We, well,” Ken started and then stopped, looking at Greg as though pleading for him to finish the sentence.

  Nancy was too sore, confused, and tired to wait for clarification. “You what?” she demanded.

  Greg glared at Ken for a moment before turning back to Nancy with a red flush growing under his cheeks. “We, uh... We thought you were maybe...turning into a zombie.” His eyes fell to the floor in shame.

  Nancy’s mouth fell open. She stared at the men with wide eyes. Her mind flashed back to the moment the zombie girl had attacked her. And then a moment later she exploded into irresistible laughter. The men stared at her like she’d gone insane. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she coughed out between hoots. “I don’t even know why I’m laughing.” A few tears ran down her cheeks. “The truth is, I was worried about that possibility myself, and now that I know it hasn’t actually happened...” She felt like she was going mad with relief.

  Greg blinked three times, very slowly. “I think she’s lost it, Ken,” he suggested. This caused Nancy to laugh harder. For a moment she thought she might actually be losing her mind. It seemed like a long time before she could choke back the giggles and straighten her face again. When she was finally composed she gave the men a genuine smile. “Well are we agreed that I am not, in fact, zombified?”

  They nodded.

  “Then kindly get me out of this chair, please and thank you.”

  Almost startled, the men rushed forward to untie Nancy, and by the time she was free they’d all dissolved into giggles again. It was strange, and contagious. It felt good, after all they’d been through, and they didn’t stop for quite a while. Even Sarah joined in from the makeshift bed Greg had made for her from a desk drawer and some towels. By the time they started to calm down Nancy was holding her sides in agony and Ken was wiping a stream of tears from his eyes.

  “So were you dreaming about kickboxing or something?” Greg snickered as he collapsed on the dentist’s stool.

  Nancy shook her head. “Honestly? I was dreaming about watching the city burn with my grandmother. Not exactly conducive to kicking and screaming.”

  “It must have been something else that you don’t remember,” Ken suggested. “Something about being attacked, maybe?”

  Nancy shrugged. If she’d been out as long as they suggested, she guessed she could have had any number of dreams that had flitted in and out of her conscious memory. “That’s not really important anyway. You realize what this means, right?” She gave the men a moment to guess before she pointed out the obvious. “A bite doesn’t mean infection,” she explained.

  Ken considered this, and Nancy could tell he was thinking of all the people Aria and her dogs had slaughtered. “Yes, you’re right,” he agreed. “So my theory is probably correct then; it’s all about dying, regardless of the manner.”

  “That doesn’t sound good for the future,” Greg said with a frown. “I mean, we’re all still young, but everyone dies, so is it all just useless?”

  Nancy clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ve got to try not to think that way,” she insisted. “We don’t know for sure that a death of any kind leads to becoming a zombie. And besides, maybe whatever caused this will pass over eventually.” The ‘maybe’ and ‘eventually’ in her sentence didn’t seem to make Greg feel any better, so she tried changing the subject. “Anything interesting happen while I was out cold?” she asked.

  A funny look passed over the men’s faces that indicated a big, fat ‘yes’, but neither of them said anything at first.

  “Well?” Nancy prodded with a furrowed brow. “What is it? Fill me in here.”

  In response, Greg gestured toward the nearest window. “Take a look,” he suggested.

  A bit wary, Nancy pushed herself up out of the dentist’s chair and wandered over to the window. They’d pushed a filing cabinet in front of it to block most of the view, but she could see through a small slit on one side. What she saw made her eyebrows go up in surprise. The zombies were gone again. There wasn’t a single rotting corpse to be seen. For a moment she felt like she should whoop in celebration, but then she noticed something else, something that made her stomach clench.

  Two or three streets over there was a larger building that hovered over all the smaller ones. On the very top of that building, looking out over the town, was a woman. She stood perfectly still, only her flowing skirt and long hair blowing in the wind. Her arms were crossed, her legs straight and glued together, her eyes staring.

  Nancy stepped back from the window. “How long has she been there?” she asked.

  Ken glanced at the clock. “At least sixteen hours,” he replied. “That’s when we first noticed her anyway. We noticed that the zombies were starting to disappear and were planning to get ready to move on once we knew what was happening with you, but then we noticed her. And to be quite honest we’ve been a little more than disturbed.”

  “She just stands there,” Greg elaborated with a shudder. “We haven’t seen her move an inch yet.”

  Nancy felt cold. “There was another one,” she said, “when we were leaving the hospital. A man who didn’t move an inch.”

  Greg’s eyes widened. Ken frowned.

  “I forgot to mention it because of all the chaos,” she admitted. “It was when you guys were trying to hot-wire the car. He was standing on the brick wall along the edge of the parking lot, just staring at us. At first I wasn’t even sure it was a person, until I noticed his clothes moving in the wind. But then everything went to hell and I just forgot to bring it up.”

  Ken’s frown deepened.

  “Who do you think they are?” Greg asked, the nervousness clear in his voice.

  “Better yet, are they human or zombie?” added Ken.

  “That’s the million dollar question, I think,” said Nancy, glancing back at the window. “They don’t act like zombies, or look like them for that matter. I mean, look at her.” She gestured toward the window, though no one moved toward it. “Even from here you can tell that she’s all in one piece.”

  “But on the other hand,” Greg offered, �
��how many perfectly healthy humans do you know who can stand rock still for more than half a day?”

  “The first guy you saw didn’t move at all?” Ken asked.

  Nancy thought about it. It had been a traumatic few minutes filled with panic and confusion, but in the corner of her mind’s eye she could recall no instance when the figure had shifted in the slightest. “No,” she finally replied. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I remember that as we were driving away he was still just standing there and staring.”

  The creepiness of it concerned them all. After all, if he were human, why would he stand calmly by while hundreds of zombies converged on a hospital full of survivors?

  By the following morning the woman was still standing there, still staring out across the town, and Nancy was beginning to find herself seriously disturbed. Over a breakfast of cold vegetable soup they discussed the possibility of making a dash for their car and taking off out of town. It turned into an argument about whether the idea was reasonable or not. Here, Greg insisted, they had relative safety for the time being, as well as the stash of food they’d gathered at the supermarket. That food, Ken countered, would eventually run out, and it would be smart to be well on their way to an alternative food source before they ran too low. They could just return to the supermarket, Greg offered. And the last time they were there the zombies had poured out of nowhere, Ken reminded. Nancy listened as they fought, sure she was going to wind up being the tie-breaker. Greg and Ken both had good points, and although she was leaning in favor of Ken’s plan to move on, she couldn’t help but feel that the idea of running out there without knowing where all the zombies had disappeared to was a bad idea. Even though their car was presumably right where they’d left it, there were no windows in this building that allowed them a view of whether it was damaged by the zombie swarm. They’d have to open the door to find out, and if there were any zombies left wandering around, they might hear and come rushing back. And then there was that woman. Something about advertising their whereabouts to her felt like a terrible, terrible idea.

  Eventually the men stopped arguing and turned to Nancy. The looks on their faces confirmed that they expected her to make the final decision.

  “No pressure, hmm?” she muttered. She looked down at Sarah, who was examining a bottle Nancy had emptied and cleaned for her. She found herself welling with stress. The men were expecting her to make the decisions for the group, and her decisions greatly affected this little child who couldn’t vote for herself. Knowing that made it so much harder to decide which was the more logical course. Her instinct was to keep the baby warm and fed and moderately safe here in this building. Her common sense told her that she could only keep her fed as long as the food held out. She didn’t know much about survival statistics, but she was confident that a baby wouldn’t last anywhere near as long without food as the adults might.

  “Give me the night,” Nancy finally said. “I’ll give you my decision in the morning.”

  Ken and Greg sighed visibly, but nodded. Neither wanted to press the matter.

  That evening Nancy huddled against the wall in the examination room, staring out at the gap in the window. Sarah was nuzzled up against her chest. The strange woman was still outside, still a silent sentinel waiting for...what? That was the real question: what was she doing up there? Should her presence be the least of their concerns or the greatest? These were the thoughts that lulled her to sleep and filled her mind with nightmares.

  Chapter Twelve

  It started as another dream. Nancy was staring out the window at the mysterious, never-moving woman. The woman was staring back at her. Her gaze never broke, never so much as twitched, and it unsettled Nancy in a way that she couldn’t describe. What unsettled her more was when she opened her eyes and realized that it wasn’t a dream at all.

  Sarah was gurgling happily, leaning out of Nancy’s arms to press her face up against the little gap of window. The woman on the apartment building, while still in her original pose, had moved her head just enough to be staring directly back at the baby. Her stare freaked Nancy out enough to cause her to jump back in alarm, pulling the baby away from the window and sending them both stumbling across the room. Sarah immediately began to wail. Nancy’s heart hammered like a drum.

  Ken and Greg came running when they heard the noise.

  “What’s wrong?” Ken demanded.

  “The window,” Nancy replied. Her shoulders were shaking. She detached one hand from the wailing baby long enough to point. “She’s...she was looking at us.”

  Ken crept over to the window and peered through as inconspicuously as he could. His eyes went wide and he pulled back. “You’re right. She’s staring a hole right through this room.”

  Greg’s eye twitched. “We were looking at her all the time, earlier,” he muttered. “Why is she suddenly noticing us now?”

  “The baby,” Nancy blurted out. She felt stupid saying it out loud, but it was the first thing that had come to her head. “While I was asleep the baby wiggled out of my arms and was looking out the window. I think, maybe, it’s Sarah that the woman is looking at.”

  Greg looked disbelieving and Ken simply frowned. They stood in silence - all but Sarah, who was still sniffling - contemplating this strange new situation. Ken was about to open his mouth to speak when he was cut off by a loud thud that made them all jump like scared little mice.

  Nancy’s eyes went wide. “What was that?”

  Thud! They jumped again. Ken turned back to the window, glanced out the gap, and stumbled backward in surprise. He tripped over the dentist’s chair and went sprawling across the floor. “Zombie!” he gasped out, pointing. “Zombie at the window!”

  Nancy squeezed Sarah and she and Greg rushed over to take a look. Sure enough, there was a zombie leaning against the outside of the window, swinging his arms against it, trying to bash his way in. From around the bloodied face they could see four more hurrying toward the building, and within seconds they could hear more banging from other areas of the building.

  “Was it Sarah’s crying?” Greg asked. His face was white as he stepped back from the window.

  “No,” Nancy insisted immediately. “The walls and windows are too thick. They never heard her before!” Her response was partially in defense of Sarah’s innocence, but she also truly believed it. “I think it has something to do with that woman!” she insisted.

  Ken’s face looked incredulous. “Nancy, that’s insane unless you think she can talk to zombies telepathically and tell them that we’re here.”

  Nancy’s head began to pound as she turned her most incredulous face on Ken. “We’re surrounded by rotting, reanimated corpses who want to eat our flesh, and you’re hung up on the possibility of telepathy?” she squawked. Sarah began to cry again. Nancy rocked her to try to get her to calm down, though she felt like screaming herself.

  Thud, thud, thud! The banging was getting louder and multiplying. Ken took a few steps back toward the window, his shoulders sagging. “We have to go,” he said quietly.

  Greg let out one short, derisive laugh. “Are you kidding?” he exclaimed. “If we weren’t going to leave earlier when they were nowhere in sight, what makes you think that we’re going to leave now while the building is under siege?!”

  Ken whipped his head around. There was a mixture of anger and panic in his eyes. “If we don’t go now we’re going to be under more than siege!” he growled, thrusting a finger at the window.

  Nancy didn’t have to look out the window to understand the problem. The zombies knew they were here now, and more and more were going to come. Soon the building would be swarmed on all sides and it would only be a matter of time before their sheer numbers allowed them to break down a door or smash through one of the windows. And by then it would be far too late to make a run for it.

  “We’ve got to hurry,” Nancy admitted. The prospect terrified her. “Soon we’ll have no chance of getting to the car.”

  They didn’t take anot
her moment to argue. Within seconds they were at the front door. Greg slung several bags of food over his shoulders. Ken told him to drop it all immediately if he thought it might slow him down. Greg nodded but gripped the bags tight all the same. Nancy noticed that one of the bags had Sarah’s formula in it and silently prayed that Greg was able to get at least that one bag to the car without incident. She snuggled the baby, who was sniffling and nuzzling her face into Nancy’s shirt, and held her firmly in one arm. With the other she held her katana, ready to jab at anything that got too close. Greg readied himself to run. Ken was pushing the furniture out of the way of the door when he suddenly stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” Nancy squeaked.

  A strange smile had crept onto Ken’s face. “I have an idea!” he insisted, and ran off. Nancy and Greg stared after him with their mouths hanging open, but a moment later he returned, lugging a steel cylinder as long as his arm and as wide around as his leg.

  “What the hell is that?” Greg inquired.

  “Laughing gas!” Ken giggled maliciously. While Nancy and Greg watched, Ken used a roll of medical tape to fasten a ring of candles to the outside of the cylinder. He lit the ring of candles so that a lovely bit of flame was circling around the regulator at the top of the cylinder, then he quickly swept the rest of the furniture out of the way of the door. At the last second, just before he ripped the door open, Nancy understood.

  The zombies were everywhere, surrounding the car, beating on the sides of the building, and swarming toward them in droves. Ken raised the cylinder into the air and threw it as hard as he could with the regulator facing the ground. Nancy and Greg ducked down behind the waiting room chairs as Ken slammed the door and leaped out of the way. It seemed as though time stopped for a moment, and then the explosion rocked the air around them as the regulator busted open on the pavement, allowing the gas inside to rush out to the waiting flames. The door burst back open with a gust of flame that receded as quickly as it had appeared.