In the Dead: Volume 1 (2 page)

“
Shit,” he whispered.

“
Yeah,” she said, just as quietly. Then she touched his arm. “Come on, we can’t stay outside long. We don’t want to draw any attention.”

Zander stared at the scene below one more time and then stepped in. Carrie closed the glass door and curtains.

“
Zombies,” he said with a shiver. “For real. I guess this means no online game.”

She stared at him. “Seriously? You’re worried about your online world? How about the rest of the world? Before the TV went out two days ago, it looked like the thing, the infection, whatever you want to call it, was taking over the whole coast. By now it’s probably moved inland and we’re talking the whole country in less than a week. And you’re worried about Bonesquisher?”

“
It’s
Bonewrecker
,” he corrected. “
Bonewrecker 2
, actually. And I just mean I guess nothing will ever be the same.”

“
Yes, dear, that’s true.”

Zander turned to watch Mrs. Floyd coming into the room with a tray. But instead of tea or cookies, like you’d normally expect from a woman of her type, her tray had a few crackers, a glob of peanut butter and a couple of slices of apple.

“
Sorry it isn’t more,” she said as she set the tray down. “Rationing, you know.”

Zander swallowed. Jesus, rationing. He hadn’t even thought of that. To be honest, he had no idea what was even available in his apartment to eat. Chips maybe. Some old bread that was either moldy or stale. Maybe some soda. Shit, for a guy who lived in a zombie-infested game world, he wasn’t really prepared for a reality of the same.

“
So I have to ask you a question,” Carrie said as she grabbed an apple slice and began to nibble on it slowly. “How is it you can afford an apartment in this building, but spend a week playing a video game?”

He shifted and once again hated the blush that warmed his cheeks. He didn’t talk about himself much, beyond the persona he’d made for himself online. “Uh, my parents died when I was a kid and left me a big trust fund.”

Mrs. Floyd looked at him for a moment and it was the first time the biddy had been even remotely friendly toward him. “I’m so sorry, dear. I had no idea.”

He shrugged. “Well, I guess that means less people for me to worry about now that the world is falling apart, right?”

He smiled, but Carrie and Mrs. Floyd exchanged a pained look that made him feel sick.

“
Sorry,” he muttered. “I guess that means you’re still missing people.”

Carrie nodded. “We haven’t been able to reach my brother or my sister.”

He looked at Mrs. Floyd. Somehow he’d never pictured her as a mom of three. She seemed too… mean and snobby to be anything but a doggie Mommy.

“
So when are you going out?” he asked.

The two women looked at him and Carrie tilted her head. “What do you mean,
go out
?”

He wrinkled his brow. “You don’t think you’re going to stay in this apartment forever, do you?”

Carrie glared at him. “Why shouldn’t we? We’re safe here. Once I busted the elevator and blocked the stairwell, the zombies stopped making their way up. I don’t want to go down to them and offer them a free taste.”

Zander blinked at Mrs. Floyd and then Carrie. “This isn’t how it works, you know.”

Mrs. Floyd tilted her head. “What do you mean? Up until ten minutes ago, you didn’t even know what was happening outside and now you’re saying you want to tell us how this ‘works’.”

“
Come on, haven’t you ever played a zombie video game?”

“
Oh, Christ,” Carrie said and paced away from him.

“
Seriously, what about seen a zombie movie?” he insisted. “Staying holed up isn’t going to work. We have to get out and try to get somewhere safe. Or at least find some other people to work with and share supplies with.”

Carrie spun on him. “Great idea. We’ll just head out onto the zombie-infested streets and meet up with a band of merry men and-”

“
You said this has been going on for five days, right?” he interrupted.

Mrs. Floyd nodded. “Yes.”

“
And you want to stay here because I assume you think help is on the way, right?” he continued.

“
It has to be,” Carrie said, but her tone sounded uncertain.

And for good reason.

“
I just looked outside and I don’t see any National Guard or military. No planes, even. So where’s the cavalry?” Zander asked softly.

Carrie opened her mouth, but then shut it as she looked at her Mom silently.

“
We’ve been wondering that ourselves,” Mrs. Floyd finally answered.

Zander nodded. “Yeah, this is pretty typical zombie stuff. In all the movies and games I’ve ever seen or played, there is one of two scenarios. Either the army comes and saves the gang from annihilation. Or… well, or they abandon the city and any survivors. Sometimes they even destroy the cities to keep the virus from spreading.” He frowned. “Not that it ever works.”

“
So we’re now basing what we should or shouldn’t do on zombie games or movies?” Carrie asked as she rubbed her eyes. He hadn’t noticed before, but there were dark circles under them.
That
never happened in video games or movies.

“
No,” he said. “But how long until you run out of food? I assume you already looted the other apartments on this floor?”

Mrs. Floyd nodded slowly. “We did.”

“
And I know you just looked over your supplies,” he continued. “So how many days do you have left?”

Carrie pursed her lips like she was annoyed that he was being reasonable.

“
It-two days,” Mrs.Floyd muttered. “Three if it’s just my daughter and me.”

Zander blinked. “You were figuring you’d share your rations with me?”

“
Of course,” Mrs. Floyd said with a shake of her head. “I may not like you, but I don’t want to kill you.”

Zander drew back in surprise.
That
he had not expected.

“
How much food do
you
have?” Carrie asked, her weak voice even weaker. “To add to the overall rations?”

He swallowed. “I was trying to think of that, but… not a lot. Maybe a day or a little more. I stocked up before I bought my game, but used up most of what I had during my play time.”

“
Shit,” Carrie said under her breath.

Zander shrugged. “But that’s what I’m saying. We have to get out of here, to at least get supplies. And maybe there’s still a safe place out there. A military or a survivor camp where we can get protection.”

“
Does
that
usually work in zombie movies?” Mrs. Floyd asked.

When Zander glanced at her, he was surprised to see she was smiling at him. Weakly, yes, but a smile nonetheless.

“
Well,” he began.

“
Sometimes it works,” Carrie offered. “But you know as well as I do that at least one or two people die in those movies. Good guys.” Zander arched both eyebrows and Carrie shrugged. “I watch movies, too.”

He paced across the room and peeked around the curtains a second time. The smoke in the air was twisting on the wind as it rose around and above the buildings.

“
I guess I’d rather try to get out, though, then starve to death in an apartment.” He let the curtain fall. “But that’s just me. I’m going to try to figure out how to get out of here. But if you two don’t want to go, I understand. I can try to send someone back for you if I find any kind of organized survivors or military.”

Carrie swallowed and looked at her Mom. “Can we talk about it for a minute?”

He nodded. “Sure. While you’re doing that, maybe I’ll go back to my place and just check out the ration situation.”

He moved toward the door, but Carrie stopped him by reaching out for his arm. “Hey,” she said. “Take my shotgun. You never know.”

He stared at the weapon, then took it. “Thanks.”

She nodded and then motioned her Mom toward the kitchen. When he stepped into the hall, he heard her lock the door behind him.

He drew a deep breath and looked at the dark hallway. Now that he knew there was something so sinister and terrible going on, he noticed things he’d been oblivious to when he first entered the corridor. There was a smudge of blood on one of the other doors near the elevator. And the clear window that led into the stairwell had been blocked from the hallway side by cardboard. Probably thanks to Carrie.

He shivered and moved toward his apartment. He hesitated as he put his hand out. He hadn’t locked the door behind him. Why would he? His only plan had been to run down, confront Roger about the internet problem and then run right back up. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but now he couldn’t help but imagine zombies filling his apartment, waiting for him.

“
Calm the hell down,” he said out loud so he would hear the words. “Carrie locked the… zombies… or whatever out of the hall. They aren’t in there.”

Still he double checked that the shotgun was loaded before he turned the knob and peered into the main room. It was empty, of course, lit up by the game screen from
Bonewrecker 2
and a lamp he’d forgotten about days ago.

With a sigh, he stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He headed for the kitchen. It was a big, open room with an island in the center that was scattered with crumbs from the chips, cookies and microwave pizzas he’d been living on the last few days. An empty Safeway bag sat next to the leftovers and he grabbed it to fill it with whatever food he could carry with him back to Mrs. Floyd’s apartment. There wasn’t much to choose from. A quarter of a bag of chips, a box of sugar cereal with a cartoon gorilla on the box (he could only imagine what Carrie would say when she saw that), and a couple of cans of beans and soup.

A sad little collection and one that wouldn’t get him through more than a day or two. Less since he intended to share with the women if they joined him on the road. Not that he knew where he was going.

He moved back into the living room and stared at the game screen. It was the hand of
Bonewrecker
, the military hero of the game. He was holding a big ass gun and in the background were an army of monsters and zombies.

Would the ones he found downstairs be worse or better than the ones he’d been fighting for years in video games?

There was a rattle and the door to his apartment squeaked open. Out of pure instinct, Zander raised the shotgun and swung it on the intruder. As the door hit the wall and revealed Carrie, she froze, their eyes locked for a long moment.

“
Sorry,” Zander muttered. “You should have knocked.”

“
You
should have locked the door,” she retorted, but there was no heat or anger in her tone. She shut the door behind her and locked the deadbolt. “So did you find anything of value?”

He lifted the plastic bag of leftovers and she frowned. “That’s it?”

He shrugged. “I’m a bachelor, what do you want?”

She glanced around the room and sniffed in disgust. “You’re a slob, dude. Bachelor or not. So is this the famous game?”

He nodded as the two of them stared at the play screen. She laughed. “Actually, they get the zombies pretty close to right.”

He stared at the image on the screen. Dead eyes, gray skin, black sludge around the lips. He shuttered.

She looked at him in surprise. “I would have thought you’d be excited.”

“
Why?” he asked with an incredulous laugh. “I don’t even like to talk to the pizza guy, let alone fight a real zombie.”

“
Yeah, you do need to get out more,” she said. “But I guess you’ll get your chance now. My Mom and I decided to try your plan and make a move before the situation gets even worse.”

Zander was surprised that relief flooded him. He didn’t even like people as a whole, Mrs. Floyd specifically, but he was happy not to have to head out into zombie-infested streets on his own.

“
Ok, well it’s still pretty early. What do you think of starting out today?”

Carrie shifted slightly and he could see she was nervous. Scared. But then she nodded. “Yeah. Now or never, right?”

“
Right.”

#

The stairwell was eerily quiet. So quiet that Zander’s heavy breathing echoed in the empty space around them and sounded like freaking Darth Vader. He peered around and then motioned behind him so that Mrs. Floyd and Carrie would follow. Mrs. Floyd had surrendered her Glock to Carrie and Zander kept the shotgun, so Mrs. Floyd was right behind him, flanked by the two of them with high powered weapons. Not that she was unarmed. She had a heavy iron skillet raised up like a battle axe and Zander wasn’t so sure he wanted to find out if she could wield it.

“
How did you two end up with guns, anyway?” he whispered as they crept down the first set of stairs and rounded the corner past the 11
^th
floor. “You don’t exactly seem all Pro-Second Amendment to me.”

Mrs. Floyd answered. “Well, a woman of my age, living alone in an expensive apartment. I wanted to be protected.”