In the Lone and Level Sands (44 page)

“Okay, map.” Katie turned to the reception
counter and saw pamphlets in a small rack on top of it. One of the
rows contained a Washington state map. She headed over, grabbed
one, and opened it. She found Naselle, and followed the roads to
Seattle with her finger.

Katie closed her eyes. She had been to
Seattle a few times, and she loved it. It rained a lot, and she
loved the rain. But she mostly loved it because Keely lived
there.

She had met Keely a few years earlier, on a
photography trip. Her agency had sent her to take pictures of the
city, and had paired her up with a local employee. The two hit it
off well, and things had taken off from there. Since then, Katie
had taken every chance she got to go to Seattle and spend time with
Keely. Katie had been saving money to move to Seattle for good, and
when she had some time off and some extra money, she booked the
first flight to Seattle she could find.

Unfortunately, the flight never made it.

Katie sighed. She knew the odds of Keely
being alive were slim, but she had hope. Keely was small, but she
lived alone. And she was smart, and strong for her size. Katie
could only pray that Keely was all right.

“Uhhhh.”

A zombie was shuffling around a few feet
away, eyeing her to see if she was food, or another zombie. Upon
seeing her turn, it started toward her.

Katie reached for her gun, but the zombie
arrived too quickly, arms outstretched, mouth open. It clenched its
fist, hoping to get hold of skin or clothes or hair, but instead
grabbed the map, ripping a huge tear into it. Katie grabbed the
zombie and used its own momentum to shove it as hard as she could
past her, toward the reception counter. The zombie slid over the
counter and onto the floor behind it, knocking over a stack of
books, the reception bell, and the rack of pamphlets and maps.

Katie looked at the remains of the map in
her hands. Most of the readable portion was gone.

“Fuck!”

She looked around for other zombies. It was
dark, and she could hardly see anything, but she saw no movement.
Katie peered over the counter and saw that the zombie was getting
up. She shot it, and it fell back down.

Katie looked along the counter. The only way
to get behind the counter without hopping over it was to go through
a small office to the side. She looked around again for more
zombies, saw nothing, and hopped onto the counter. She reached down
to grab one of the maps.

The bar was a good four feet off of the
ground, and Katie couldn’t reach. She leaned in a little lower,
leaving only her bottom half to hold on to the other side of the
bar, and tried again. She kept one hand on the inside edge of the
bar to keep from falling, reached the other, and was about to grab
a map when she felt a hand wrap around her leg.

“Shit!” Katie tried to pull her leg free,
and started kicking with the other. She kicked once and felt
nothing, then kicked again, felt her foot hit something—hard—and
the next thing she knew, her leg was freed, and she was falling
face-forward into the ground on the other side of the counter.

Katie woke up to a splitting headache. She
had no idea how much time had passed, but the first thing she saw
was the faint, blurry outline of a person leaning over the counter,
reaching for her face. Both outstretched hands dangled a few feet
above her head, as the zombie wasn’t smart enough to climb onto the
counter. It swiped every now and then, but never got any
closer.

Katie’s legs were sprawled across the zombie
she had killed earlier, and she was lying in a pool of its blood, a
book digging its corner into her side. She almost sat up, thought
of the zombie above her, and decided not to. She blinked a few
times, each one sending a pulse of pain through her head, and then
reached beside her and found a pamphlet. It was a library brochure,
so she tossed it aside and reached again. This time she found a
Washington state map.

Katie put the map in her pocket, then
reached around for her gun. She was startled to find it wasn’t on
the ground with her. She looked around as much as she could while
moving as little as possible. Then, she spotted it, its barrel just
barely poking out over the edge of the counter, entirely out of her
reach.

The zombie didn’t look like it would get to
her anytime soon, but Katie wondered what she could do. There was
no space to get up without putting herself in reach of the zombie.
She couldn’t reach the gun from where she was.

She could wait for someone to get worried
and come for her, but what if they were in just as much trouble out
there? Katie decided to try to reach the gun with her foot.

She raised her leg slowly. The zombie
noticed and reached for it, but couldn’t make it from where it was,
so it shuffled to the side a bit, and then tried again.

Katie was paying attention to the zombie,
and accidentally tapped the barrel of the gun with her foot,
sliding it farther back onto the counter. She could no longer see
it.

“Damn it.”

The zombie continued shuffling, so Katie
lowered her leg. Then, she had an idea.

Katie raised her leg as close as she could
to where the gun had been. The zombie reached for it. She lowered
her leg so that it couldn’t reach her, but kept it high enough to
keep the zombie trying. The zombie brushed against the gun, sliding
it slightly forward. Katie raised her leg again, and the zombie
grunted and almost grabbed it, but she lowered in time. The zombie
pushed the gun forward, and it teetered on the edge of the counter.
Katie’s heart raced, but she let her leg fall down and took a few
breaths. Being hasty would do no good; it had gotten her into the
situation to begin with. When she felt calm, she raised her leg and
lowered one more time, and the zombie pushed the gun over the edge.
Katie grabbed it, aimed, and fired.

She felt dizzy when she stood up, and her
head was throbbing. She hopped over the counter, thinking of how
the whole ordeal could’ve been avoided if she had done that in the
first place. Lesson learned. She had the map, and she was okay, and
she was thankful for that much.

It was still early, but after the dark of
the library, the light outside was almost blinding. The cars had
shut off, and the zombies were slightly more numerous. Katie headed
to the minivan, and Layne unlocked the door.

“I was starting to get worried,” he said.
“You okay?”

“Yeah. Did you grab any aspirin last night,
by any chance? I hit my head.”

“I did, actually. It should be in the bag in
the back.”

“Awesome,” Katie said. “I got a map.”

“Then let’s head out,” Layne said. He
started the car and pulled out, looked back to make sure Garrett
was following, and then headed down the road.

****

The trip to Seattle was mostly uneventful.
They tried to stay on roads close to the highways, but not on the
highways themselves when they could avoid it. There were too many
cars in the way. Every time Layne glanced over at Katie, she looked
more nervous.

Somewhere just outside of Olympia, Ralph
broke the silence.

“So, Katie, what made you decide to be
homosexual?”

“That’s hardly appropriate,” Layne said.

“Seriously,” Kyle said.

“No, it’s all right, guys,” Katie said. “I
can handle this conversation.” She turned to Ralph in the back
seat. “Simple. I didn’t.” She smiled widely.

“Yes you did.”

“Oh really? When did you decide to be
straight?”

“It’s natural to be straight.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because,” Ralph said. “I’m naturally
attracted to women. And if I wanted things to be otherwise, I’d
have to choose to do so.”

“But that’s just you,” Kyle said. “What
works for you doesn’t work for everyone.”

“Yeah, but there are tons of people who
thought they were homosexual for a while, and then changed back
later. And they said it was a choice.”

“Can we just enjoy the ride?” Dex said. He
was staring out the window, and he looked bored.

“A lot of gay people have said it isn’t a
choice,” Katie said. “Does that mean anything to you?”

“They’re mistaken,” Ralph said.

“How do you know your guys aren’t
mistaken?”

“Because, it’s natural. Look at the animal
kingdom. You don’t see any animals engaging in homosexuality, do
you?”

“I don’t see any animals getting married or
looking for jobs, either,” Kyle said.

“Those are social boundaries, not natural
ones. And why do you care so much, Kyle? Are you a homosexual?”

“No,” Kyle said. “But two guys loving each
other never hurt me.”

“But it does hurt me,” Ralph said. “It makes
me sad to know that their choices are going to cost them eternal
salvation.”

“Doesn’t the Bible say something about not
judging people?” Lacie asked.

“It does. But it also says that
homosexuality is an abomination.”

“So is cutting your hair,” Katie said.

“I’m not talking about Leviticus, I’m
talking about Romans.”

“Why’d you decide to leave the church and
come with us, anyway?” Kyle said. “You’re starting to sound just
like the people back there.”

“Because they were crazy,” Ralph said, to
which Kyle responded with an exaggerated laugh. “They were willing
to harm others. That’s not right.”

“But you are harming others,” Katie said.
“Not physically, but emotionally, and psychologically. You’re
hurting people.”

“I’m doing it with their best interest in
mind. My God loves them, but He can’t save them.”

“That’s funny,” Katie said. “Because my God
can.”

There was a moment of silence in the
car.

“How can you claim to believe in God, but
still choose to be homosexual?” Ralph said. “They’re in direct
conflict with each other.”

“No they aren’t.”

“If you choose to live a life of sin, then
you’re going against God, and therefore you don’t truly believe in
Him.”

“But doesn’t Romans say that
every
person sins?” Katie said. “Doesn’t it say that to God, all sin is
equal?”

“But—”

“So under what you just said, nobody truly
believes in God, because whether I’m gay or you have an impure
thought, we’ve both gone against God, and therefore can’t be
saved?”

“That’s not how it—”

“Doesn’t the Bible say Jesus died for
mankind?”

“For those who follow him, yes—”

“And didn’t Jesus say that those who have
done good to their fellow man have in turn followed him, done his
work?”

“But Paul said—”

“So now Paul has more authority than Jesus?
Isn’t that a little backwards?”

“Enough!” Layne said. The others turned to
him. “This has been a lovely conversation, but we’re not getting
anywhere by pissing each other off.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dex said. “I can’t even
follow along with most of the conversation anyway.”

After a small moment, Ralph said, “It’s
still important.”

“That conversation isn’t as important as the
task at hand, which is getting to Seattle,” Layne said. “And we’re
never going to get there safely if we don’t stop bickering.
There’ll be time for that later.”

“I hope there isn’t,” Dex said.

A few miles outside of Tacoma, Layne glanced
at Katie. She was fidgeting with her hands, and one of her legs was
bobbing up and down.

“It’ll be okay,” Layne said. Katie looked at
him. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

“I hope so,” Katie said.

“What’s her name, anyway?”

“I can’t believe I haven’t told you yet.
Keely, her name’s Keely.”

“I’m sure Keely’s just fine, okay?”

“I hope you’re right,” Katie said.

****

The streets were getting denser as the
survivors reached the outskirts of Seattle. There were more cars,
and more zombies. The group was running out of side roads to take,
and the ones they found were just as cluttered as the main roads,
so they decided to stick to those. Every few minutes, Layne would
look to make sure Garrett was still following him.

“Once we get into the city, you can get us
to Keely’s house, right?” Layne asked.

“As long as we pass by the airport, yeah,”
Katie said. “I’ll know the way.”

“Wait a sec,” Ralph said. “What are we going
to do, exactly? Just go to this girl’s house, knock on the door,
and hope a zombie doesn’t answer?”

“Ralph!” Kyle said.

“No, hear me out, though. Even if she’s
safe, would she be waiting? We don’t even know that she’s home.
What if she isn’t there, then where do we go?”

“Keely knew I was on my way,” Katie said.
“She’d wait for me, unless her life depended on leaving. And if
that was the case, she’d leave a note, or some kind of sign telling
me where she went.”

“So we’re just going to follow her? What if
she didn’t find a safe place?”

“That’s a good question, Ralph,” Layne said.
“But what if she did?”

“Okay,” Ralph said. “Point taken. I still
think this is pretty risky. Does she live in the city itself?”

“She lives in a small house crammed between
other small houses. It’s not quite a suburb, but she’s not in the
inner city, either.”

“So there’ll be a lot of zombies,” Kyle
said.

“Most likely,” Layne said. “And it’s broad
daylight.”

“So we can’t just park somewhere and hope
nobody sees us, then,” Katie said.

“Seems like we’ve found ourselves a
problem,” Kyle said. “How are we going to get anyone inside? And
let’s say she’s there, and we get her out here, then where do we
go?”

“We’ll figure out where to go later,” Layne
replied. “We just have to take this one step at a time. Let’s
figure out a plan when we get close to Keely’s house, okay?
Anything we come up with out here may not even apply. Too many
things could be different or go wrong. For right now, we just have
to get there.”