In the Lone and Level Sands (57 page)

“Hi,” Kara said.

“Hey, you don’t have anything to worry
about, okay? These people are all nice. We’re your friends,
Kara.”

Kara eyed her for a moment. “Why do you have
boy hair?”

Keely laughed. “It’s just how I like my
hair.” She stroked Kara’s. “Yours is pretty, too, though.”

“I’m tired,” Kara said.

“I think we all are,” Keely replied.

“Hey, let’s get ready for bed, okay guys?”
Layne said.

Jessi and Kara took the nearest bed, and
Keely took the next one. Katie lay down next to her, and the two
hugged. Layne knew he’d be sleeping alone from then on.

In the next room, Dex and Lacie took a bed.
The others stood around the room.

“How was the water, Dex?” Layne asked.

“If it ever warms up, it takes its sweet-ass
time.”

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Garrett said.
“Let’s just get some sleep.”

Lightning struck outside.

“Warren, you can have a bed to yourself,”
Layne said.

“Thank you. But I don’t mind the company, if
you change your mind.” He lay down in the next bed.

“That leaves the four of us,” Layne
said.

“So we’re going to have to share a bed?”
Ralph said.

Layne nodded. “Is that a problem? I mean,
you already slept next to a bunch of other guys in the car.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t really have a
choice.”

“And we do now?” Kyle said.

Ralph looked at him. “Forget I said
anything. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. We’ll be all right. I’m going to go
lay down. Whatever you guys decide, that’s fine.”

The four went into the next room. Layne and
Garrett took a bed, and Ralph and Kyle took the other.

“Think the TV works?” Garrett asked.

“It’s probably just like the radio,” Layne
said. “Nothing but static.”

“What’s that about, anyway?” Ralph said. “I
don’t get it.”

“No clue. Dex’s satellite watch doesn’t
work, either. It’s like all airborne signals just stopped
working.”

“What does it matter?” Garrett said. “It’s
no good to us, now. We just have to make do with what we do
have.”

Layne lay awake. The doors between rooms
were left open, and he heard a whisper from time to time, but
eventually those went silent. He was left with the sound of the
rain hitting the windows, the thunder outside, and the occasional
shuffle of footsteps in the hallway.

He thought of everything that had happened,
and of the future. Questions were piling up. Where would they go?
Would they stay together? How long could this last?

Layne wasn’t only worried about himself and
his newfound family, either. He wondered if there were others out
there, other groups of people barely sliding by. Every day the
humans grew smaller in number, and the zombies grew larger. Was it
only a matter of time before humanity was wiped from the face of
the earth?

Layne tried to shove the questions aside and
sleep. At some point, he drifted off, but not nearly as soon as he
wished.

****

Layne woke up to the sound of water, but
this time, it wasn’t rain. He realized it was the sound of a
shower. He sat up and found the room empty, and the door to the
bathroom was closed. He could hear his friends talking in the other
rooms.

The sun was out, and Layne wondered what
time it was. He found Dex and Lacie sitting on one of the beds in
the middle room.

“Morning,” Dex said. “You’re up late.”

“What time is it?” Layne asked.

“Almost one. Hey, there’s hot water after
all, it just took a while to warm up. Keely’s in the shower right
now.”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“In the next room. It’s the only one with a
kitchen. Garrett, Kyle, and Katie went out to get more food and
ammo.”

Layne froze. He hadn’t thought anyone would
do anything major without him, let alone something as dangerous as
heading into the city.

“When did they leave?”

“About two hours ago. Hey, you’re not mad,
are you?”

“No.” Layne looked at the ground, then out
the window. There were a few zombies in the parking lot. Off in the
distance, as far as he could see, there appeared to be more.

And he wasn’t mad. Somewhat confused, but
not mad. He knew Garrett and Katie would know what they were doing,
and Kyle was more than capable of holding his own. For a moment,
Layne had felt betrayed, like he was no longer needed, like anyone
in the group could split up and leave at any time. No goodbyes, no
notice, just there one moment and gone the next. Though the feeling
of betrayal fled quickly, the rest of his thoughts remained.

“Well, you should eat,” Dex said. “There
were some sandwiches in the next room. Oh, and we blocked off the
doors in two of the rooms. The zombies were rubbing against
them.”

“Thanks,” Layne said. He went into the next
room and found a plate of sandwiches on the bar. The rest of his
group was chatting, and seemed to be having a good time. Layne took
a sandwich, started to eat it, and stared out the window into the
sunny afternoon.

“See, when I was your age,” Warren was
saying, “our TVs were grainy, none of this ‘high definition’ stuff.
And there was never really anything on. And when I was
your
age,” he said, pointing to Kara, who was sitting in Jessi’s lap,
“we didn’t even have color. Too expensive.”

“What did you guys do for fun?” Jessi
asked.

“We read a lot of books.”

“My mom always said books were the devil,”
Ralph said. “Except for one, of course. But I always thought she
was wrong about that.”

“She was. I think without Hemmingway and
Hawthorne and Tolkien… I think we’d have gone downright mad, as a
world.”

“Would you say the same about TV?” Jessi
said, smiling.

“When TV showed up,” Warren said, “we did go
mad.” Jessi and Ralph laughed.

“Then what do you call all this?” Layne
said, gesturing to the world outside the window.

“Easy. The difference between a mad man and
a rabid animal is that one of them still has consciousness.”

“I don’t know. But I know one thing. If
there’s a devil in this world, it isn’t books.”

“Lucifer,” Ralph said. “It means ‘bringer of
light’, which I guess is why my mom hated books. They brought
knowledge. So to her, they were the devil.”

“The Bible doesn’t say Lucifer is the
devil,” Keely said. She was standing in the doorway, leaning
against the frame.

“Really?” Jessi said. “I thought that was
common knowledge.”

“Guess my mom should’ve read it more
carefully.”

Keely walked into the room and sat down on
the corner of the bed Warren was on. “Guess so.”

“How do you know, anyway?” Ralph said. Keely
looked at him. “About the Bible, I mean.”

“Katie’s into it. She used to always talk
about the stories, about things people are always getting
wrong.”

“Have you ever read it?”

“Not all of it. I mean, I get to stuff about
war and plagues and I just… It doesn’t add up. I mean, I’m a
spiritual person and all, but I just… I don’t know. There’s a lot
of ugliness in that book.”

“There’s a lot of beauty, too,” Ralph said.
“Look out the window. There’s a lot of ugliness in this world.
Would you say it’s a
bad
world?”

“No,” Keely said.

“Why not?”

“Because there are some beautiful things in
this world that weigh the ugly ones out.”

“Exactly,” Ralph said.

“…Like Katie,” Keely replied. She stared
straight at Ralph. “Like how two people can love each other,
despite great adversary, animosity… Hate.”

Ralph didn’t say anything. He looked
away.

“How’d Katie get you to stay back here while
she went out, anyway?” Layne said.

“We’re not little girls. As much as I’d like
it if she never left my sight, I can understand when a situation
calls otherwise. How about you? Why’d you stay behind?”

“Slept in.”

“Oh, yeah. There’s still some hot water, if
you want a shower.”

“Actually, I think I do,” Layne said.
“Thanks. Knock on the door if anything happens. I’ll be out in a
flash.”

“There’ll be a flash all right,” Dex said
from the next room. Everyone laughed.

Layne took his shower. The water somehow
didn’t feel quite as good as the rain the night before, but it was
still a relief, and for the first time in a while Layne was able to
forget that outside the tile walls was a world filled with
creatures that wanted to kill him.

Until something pounded on the wall on the
other side of the shower. Layne jumped, and it pounded again. It
sounded weak, leading Layne to believe it was nothing more than a
zombie thrashing about in the hall. He tuned it out.

The water started to turn, so Layne got out.
When he entered the rooms again, everyone had gathered in the far
one, with the kitchen. Garrett, Katie, and Kyle had returned.

“How is it out there?” Layne asked. He
rubbed a towel through his hair.

“There are more out in the halls, now,”
Katie said. “But nothing too terrible.”

“Great. Well, I guess now’s as good a time
as any to talk about the future.”

“What do you mean?” Kyle said.

“Look, we didn’t all hop on that plane in
L.A. for the fun of it. We were all coming to Seattle for a reason.
Katie found what she was looking for, but what about the rest of
you? Does anyone have any family? Any place you need to be?”

The others looked around. Their faces, their
eyes were heavy.

“Well, Ralph and I have nothing here,”
Garrett said.

“Paul and I were on our honeymoon.
Obviously, Kara and I don’t have anything.”

“Job interview,” Dex said. “I’ve called in,
though. Permanently.”

“My family was going to stay here for a day
and then get on another flight to Alaska for a vacation,” Lacie
said. She was trying not to tear up. Dex saw this, and hugged
her.

“We were going to visit distant relatives,”
Kyle said. “But I don’t even know where they lived. So I guess I’m
lost, too.”

“My wife and I were going to visit our
grandchildren,” Warren said. The others looked at him.

“Well, where do they live? Maybe we can
find—”

“They’re dead.”

There was a pause.

“How can you know?” Jessi said.

“I saw Seattle just as well as all of you
did. I see the doubt on your faces now. There’s no sense in
searching for an answer I already have based on a hope I’ve already
lost.”

“Isn’t it worth trying?” Kyle asked.

“They’re gone. I can feel it. I’m better off
not knowing how it happened. Besides, I’m not going to risk losing
the family I’ve found.”

“So,” Garrett said. “Where do we go from
here, then?”

“What about you?” Katie asked Layne. “What
were you doing in Seattle?”

There was a crash from the bathroom in the
far room. All survivors looked out the door and across the two
hotel rooms, but nothing stirred.

“What was that?” Dex said.

“Where are the guns?” Layne asked. Katie
reached into a bag and handed him his gun. Garrett grabbed his
shotgun.

“Wait here,” Garrett said. He and Layne
headed into the next room.

“Uuuuhhhh.” It came from the bathroom.

“I heard him earlier,” Layne whispered. “He
was pounding on the wall. I didn’t think he could get in.”

They saw an arm reach forth. A zombie was
lying across the tub and the bathroom floor, crawling forward,
tangled in the shower curtain.

“Well, let’s take care of it,” Garrett
said.

“Wait!” Layne said, too late. Garrett pulled
the trigger and blasted a huge hole in the zombie’s back.

“What?”

“The other zombies will hear,” Layne said,
“and there’s a big hole in the wall.”

Through the cracked and broken tile and
layers of plywood, in the dark hallway, Layne and Garrett saw
zombies already shambling toward the source of the noise.

“I think it’s time to move out,” Garrett
said.

He and Layne rushed into the room with the
others.

“Pack up your things,” Layne said. “It’s
time to go. Now.”

“Whoa, what happened to staying a while?”
Dex said.

“It’s not safe,” Garrett said. “They tore
right through the wall.”

“Son of a bitch,” Kyle said. The group
dispersed into a quiet flurry of gathering their belongings.

Garrett went to the bathroom to watch the
hole. “Hurry up, guys,” he said after a moment. “They’re
coming.”

“Is everyone ready to go?” Layne asked.

“The food,” Katie said, “someone get the
food!”

“Working on it,” Kyle said as he went to the
kitchen. “Ralph, help!”

“Oh shit!” Garrett said. He raised his
shotgun and fired. “Get your asses in gear!” He fired another
shot.

“Got it!” Kyle said. Ralph slung a bag of
food over his shoulder, and Kyle grabbed another. “Let’s go!”

“I’ll hold them here and follow you guys,”
Garrett said. He fired another shot. “Go, now!”

“I can’t leave you by yourself,” Layne
said.

“You have to get them out of here. Now go!”
Garrett fired another shot, then the gun clicked. He scrambled to
reload as a zombie got through the hole in the wall and lunged.
Layne shot it in the head, Garrett finished reloading, then fired a
round to clear the closer zombies. He turned to Layne and nodded
his thanks, then returned to the hole.

“Okay,” Layne said. “I need you guys to
follow me, as close as you can. I want at least two people gunning
at the front and back of the line. Who’s up front with me?”

“I’ll do it,” Kyle said.

“Keely and I will take the back,” Katie
replied.

“Okay. Watch out for each other. Let’s
go!”

Layne opened the door to the hotel room and
looked down the hall. The zombies were filing toward the hole in
the wall, and Layne saw a spray of bullets come through it along
with bits of zombies. Some fell to the ground, but many pushed on.
Layne looked the other way down the hall, toward the lobby and
front door, and saw almost as many zombies. Some noticed him,
too.