Dead Outside (Book 1) (18 page)

“Can
you just talk to him?” she pleaded. “And don’t just threaten him so he’ll do
it, actually convince him.”

“Fine,
I’ll talk to him when we go on our supply run tomorrow,” I tossed the rag onto
the table. “Think you can wait that long?”

She
rolled her eyes, “Don’t be a dick.”

“Don’t
worry,” I put my hand on her shoulder to reassure her. “Everything’s going to
be fine.”

She
didn’t look reassured. She actually looked even more worried, “What’s changed?”

“What
do you mean?” I asked, not really sure what she meant. “Changed about what?”

“When
we were back at the house five months ago you said you didn’t think everything
would be alright,” she reminded me. “What’s changed?”

“I
remember saying things wouldn’t be the same,” I thought back to the night I
arrived.

“You
know what I mean,” she sat down in a chair next to the table. “Why do you think
it’s going to be okay now?”

“We’ve
survived for five months now, the walls and buses are holding, we have enough
food and water to last us five more, and if Nick and I go on a few more runs we
can make that last even longer.” I squatted down to meet her eye level, “Or
maybe I’m just a chronic optimist. Who knows?”

She
smiled, “Just talk to him okay? Remind him why he wanted to go out with me in
the first place.”

“I
will,” I stood back up and stretched. Being up all night on watch was finally catching
up to me, “I’m pretty much done here, so I’m gonna go to bed for a few hours.
Wake me up for dinner.”

Roxie
stood up as well, “Will do. I’ll go see if Sarah needs any help with the
garden.”

I
went upstairs into my room, and then collapsed into bed. I don’t know how long
it took for me to fall asleep, but it wasn’t long,

4:00
PM, December 8

I
woke up to find Sarah sitting by the foot of the bed, just watching me sleep.
“You know that’s kind of creepy, you just staring at me asleep like that.”

“Who
me?” she asked playfully. “It’s only creepy if it’s
not
your
girlfriend.”

“Yeah
well, if I have to wake up to anybody’s face I’m glad it’s yours.” I sat up and
smiled.

“Aw,
thanks,” she leaned in and kissed me for a second then stood up. “Dinner is in
five minutes, don’t be late.”

I
stood up and stretched again, “I’ll be there in a minute.”

She
walked out into the kitchen. My hat was hanging on the wall in front of me, I
put it on and followed Sarah into the kitchen. Nick and Roxie were already
sitting down. Sarah was putting the pan in the middle of the table, it was
filled with beans and rice with what looked like diced tomatoes in it.

“Are
the tomatoes from the garden?” I asked sitting down, “Or from a can?”

“Freshly
picked from the garden this afternoon, actually,” Sarah answered, scooping her
portion onto her plate.

“About
time,” Nick complained. “I’ve had it up to here with that canned stuff, it has
no taste.”

“So
where are we going on our run tomorrow Nick?” I asked to change the subject. We
all hated the crappy canned food, but Nick seemed to be the only one who
complained about it every day.

“I
was thinking that neighborhood behind the Church,” he suggested as he reached
over to fill his own plate. “It’s pretty small so we should be able to clean it
out in one day, and with all the local residence piling up outside the school
here I doubt there will be many unwelcoming homeowners to stop us.”

Roxie
glanced over at me, trying to give me a telepathic reminder to talk to Nick
while we were out. I nodded to her to show I understood. “Sounds good to me.
Maybe we’ll find some more ammo, we don’t have a lot, and with so many of those
things outside, I want as much as we can get.”

“Just
remember not to waste space on anything frivolous, we need food, water, medical
supplies and ammo, that’s it,” Roxie informed us. “It’s dangerous enough out
there without you guys goofing off for a TV or something.”

“Don’t
forget toilet paper,” Nick reminded her. “I don’t feel like wiping my ass with
those brown paper towels the school seems to have an unlimited supply of.”

I
took a big bite of the beans, rice and tomato concoction. Sarah was definitely
getting better at making this food taste good. “Maybe we’ll find some animals
running around out there so we can bring home some meat. I don’t mind the beans
but I swear if I wake up to another fart I’m gonna lose my mind.”

Sarah
shot me a look, “Oh, like you’ve never cleared a room before.”

“I
didn’t mean you,” I lied to cover my own ass. “I can hear and smell Nick’s
through the damned door between our rooms.”

Nick
didn’t seem too broken up over it, he just shrugged, though Roxie was nodding
in solemn agreement.

“Well,
Roxie it’s your night for watch,” I reminded her, noticing the calendar we had
hanging on the wall next to the table.

“Yeah
I know,” she groaned. “And don’t worry, you know I never sleep the night before
you guys go on a run anyway.”

We
finished dinner then everyone went into the living room. We allowed ourselves
to run one of the generators to power the TV one or two nights a week. Nick had
brought a few movies with him from his Uncle’s house. It helped us keep our
minds off things.

Tonight’s
movie was
Ghostbusters
, one of my personal favorites. Even though we’d
all seen it dozens of times, we still enjoyed it. It brought us back a little
taste of the old world, and we enjoyed every minute of it.

“What
movie should we watch next time?” I asked, putting DVD back in the case.

“How
about
Night of the Living Dead
?” Nick suggested.

“Really?”
Roxie shot him a look, “
Night of the Living Dead
? As if we aren’t
already living that movie every day.”

Sarah
had a similar look on her face. It was an odd choice yes, but Zombie movies
were one of our favorite genres before the real ones woke up and kind of ruined
the fantasy of it all.

“So
what?” he defended himself, “It would be like research.”

“Dude,”
I shook my head. “Give it up, you already lost. We’ll watch it one day without
the girls.”

It
got dark around 6:30, and we all meandered to bed one at a time except for
Roxie, who went to her post. I was the last one up so I went to shut down the
generator and make sure Roxie was all set. She was sitting in the chair,
knitting a scarf or something. As soon as the hum of its motor died the sounds
of a thousand zombie moans filled my ears. The thing that upset me the most was
that I was getting used to it.

I
went back inside to mine and Sarah’s bedroom. Sarah was already asleep. I
wasn’t tired just yet, but with it being so dark it was only a matter of time.
I hung my hat up, laid down on the bed, and pulled the photo of me and Sarah
out. I glanced over and stared at her for a minute, then back at the picture.
She was getting closer every day.

Chapter Eighteen: Food
Mission

6:00
AM, December 9

I’d
been up for almost an hour. I hated leaving late on a supply run. We could only
be out there as long as the sun was up, so why waste good sunlight sleeping?

My
truck was still in pieces, so we’d been using one of the new trucks we took
from the Ford dealership. I wanted to use mine, but until it was fixed we
didn’t really have much of a choice.

The
truck’s bed was empty but the extended cab was packed full of empty backpacks
and duffle bags for filling up with anything we found inside the houses.

We
usually just parked the truck in the middle of a neighborhood and would bring
the supplies to it, unless something was too heavy to carry that far, then we’d
leave it at the end of the driveway and pick it up before we left.

I
checked my .22 rifle to make sure it was loaded, and set it in the truck. I also
had the compound bow in there in case there were a few too many of them in the
streets, so we could take them out silently. My sidearm was also fully loaded.
I didn’t take any chances when we were outside the walls.

Nick
wasn’t too far behind me. He came strolling in holding one of the M4 carbines.
Nick had handled them while in the police academy, so he was familiar enough
with them. “You ready to head out?” he asked.

“I’ve
been waiting on you,” I opened the door to my truck. “Open the gate and let’s get
out of here.”

I
fired up the truck as Nick grabbed the chain that pulls open the roller door in
the back. There were three zombies lingering there, I hit the gas and rammed
two of them. Nick stepped outside and dropped the door so they couldn’t get in,
then hopped in the bed.

The
third made a feeble attempt to follow us, but as soon as I hit the gas pedal we
were way out of his reach. Most of the zombies were concentrated on the front
of the school, but sometimes they would wander around the sides. A decent sized
clump of them turned around and followed us down the road leading away from the
school, but most of them didn’t even notice.

I
stopped at the stop sign at the end of the road so that Nick could get in the
cab of the truck. Then even though the neighborhood was to the left, I took a
right. We could take a slightly longer route and the ones following us wouldn’t
show up when we were leaving, they would be conveniently going in the opposite
direction.

12:00
PM, December 9

The
once well kept yards of this suburban neighborhood now looked like something
you’d see on the Discovery Channel. I half expected to see a herd of gazelles
run past being chased by a lion.

A
gust of wind made waves in the waist high grass as if it were an ocean. The
grass was also starting to grow onto the sidewalks and streets, growing out of
cracks in the concrete. I checked to make sure the safety was off on my .22
rifle.

“It’s
too quiet out here Nick.” I whispered behind me.

“I
know what you mean,” Nick responded with a whisper. “Most are already
surrounding the school, but it seems like every time we go out we see less and
less of the fuckers.”

There
was a rustling in the grass to our left. Nick raised his M4 carbine to his
shoulder, and aimed it at a gap in the grass where something must have walked
in. I kept an eye on the grass across the street and the street as he took a
look. A low moan groaned out of the grass, I heard a rustle then a wet smack.

The
moan stopped.

Nick
came out wiping the blood and brain matter from the blade of his machete. We
tried to refrain from gunfire while gathering supplies. It always seemed to
draw more zombies out of the woodwork.

Nick
pulled out the map of the neighborhood we were in. There were red X’s on most
of the houses.

“You
ready?” he asked as we walk up the driveway to the next house.

“Ready
as I’ll ever be,” I responded as we reach the front door. There were small
windows on the sides of the door. I hit the window on the left side of the door
with the butt of my gun. Nick shined his flashlight in to make sure it was
clear before I reached my hand in and unlocked the door.

I
backed up and shouldered my rifle. Nick turned the handle and kicked it in. He
went in first raising his rifle and going right, I followed and covered left.
We checked to make sure there were no zombies in any rooms before checking for
supplies.

“Living
room clear,” I said before I moved into the kitchen. Nick headed to the back
windows to check the backyard. The kitchen itself was a mess, but no bodies. I
checked the pantry just to be safe, and then called out, “Kitchen clear.”

“Backyard
clear,” I heard him say. We headed to the hallway leading to the bedrooms and
bathroom. I kicked in the first door in the hallway, it was a bedroom and there
was a small figure on the ground. When it saw me it lunged, reaching for the
closest flesh to its dripping jaws. Without hesitation I fired, blowing a hole
in the center of its forehead.

I
didn’t want to fire, but it was too close for me to safely grab my bat before
it would have been on top of me.

Just
as I was cursing myself for breaking silence I heard another gunshot from the
hallway, followed by, “Okay, house is clear.” Nick leaned in the bedroom,
“Let’s move quickly, some of them had to have heard those gunshots. I’ll get
the bathroom, and you start in the kitchen.”

“Why
do I always get the kitchen?” I asked as I opened the pantry and began filling
up my empty duffle bag.

“Because
I called bathrooms, you’re just too slow.” I heard him filling his bag with
various pill bottles and such, “Maybe next time you’ll call it a little
quicker.”

I
gathered all the canned foods left in the pantry. There wasn’t a lot, but it
was enough for a week’s worth of meals give or take. I checked all the cabinets
and found some cereals and oatmeal, along with some dehydrated milk, a lucky
score. After checking all the nooks and crannies in the kitchen, I made my way
into the bedrooms to find any hidden weapons.

Nick
came out of the bathroom. “I got some ibuprofen, cold medicine, vitamins, and
five rolls of toilet paper,” he said with a grin.

“Well,
don’t get too excited, it’s just toilet paper.” I jested. “I’m going to check
the bedrooms, and you go ahead and check the garage for any tools or anything.
Who knows maybe you’ll find something useful.”

I
went to the master bedroom first. If any of the rooms had a handgun it’d be the
parent. I checked closet, then the dresser, but all I found was a small bottle
of whiskey, and a box of condoms. I grabbed both.

Nick
was in the garage. There were four cases of water stacked up next to a
refrigerator, “Should we risk it?”

Opening
a fridge now was a gamble. Most of the time it was just a cesspool of spoiled
and rotting perishables. We almost never opened fridges inside a kitchen, but
in garages, they might be worth it.

I
shrugged, “Well I guess we can settle this really quickly.” He sighed and put
his fist out, I did the same. “One, two, three, shoot!”

He
kept his fist balled, but I made mine into scissors. He laughed, “About time, I
thought you were never going to lose.” He then took a few steps back and
covered his nose with his hand.

“Shut
up,” I scoffed, then pulled a bandana out of my pocket and tied it around my
mouth and nose. “Here goes nothing.”

I
opened the door to find it full of sodas, beer, and more water bottles. I
pulled off the bandana and breathed a sigh of relief. I opened up my duffle bag
and began filling it.

“Well
hot damn, more skunked beer for us to drink,” he joked, then opened his bag and
began filling it up as well.

We
picked up all of our heavy bags and left the house, picked clean of anything we
might need. Nick went out first. As I followed him out I shut the door behind
me.

“I
never understood why you felt the need to shut the doors behind us,” he
observed as he pulled out the map of the neighborhood and crossed off the house
we just cleared.

“Habit,
I guess.” I lied, I did it mostly out of respect, but Nick would probably just
laugh at me if I admitted that. “Let’s get this shit to the truck and get
working on the next house.”

About
halfway back to the truck Nick turned his head around and looked at me for a
second like he was going to say something, then turned back.

“Please,
don’t keep me in suspense,” I said sarcastically, wiping the sweat off my
forehead with my shirt sleeve.

He
turned back around again and asked me nervously, “Can I ask you a question?”

“No,
you can’t drink my whiskey,” I answered sarcastically, hoping this conversation
would lead to what Roxie asked me to talk about with him.

He
laughed a bit nervously, “No, I mean, can I ask you a serious question?”

“You
know you can,” I answered, noticing the truck was just at the end of this
street. “What’s on your mind?”

“You
mentioned the other day how you didn’t need to worry about Roxie while you were
on your way here. What did you mean?” he asked.

I
didn’t have to think about my answer because I knew exactly why. “I knew you
would be there to get her out of trouble, and to make sure she was okay.”

“I
never did understand why you were okay with me dating your little sister,” he said
as we reached the truck.

“Do
you remember when you came to me and asked my permission to date her?” I asked
lifting my heavy duffle bag into the bed of the truck, which was almost half
full now.

“Yeah,”
he answered nervously, lifting his into the other side of the bed, “I remember
it being the scariest day of my life.”

I
smirked, remembering the way Nick had nervously approached me. “I know it
doesn’t really make sense, me being okay with it. Hell I’d beaten the shit out
of several guys who’d gone out with her.”

I
heard him laugh as I opened the door to grab a few more duffle bags for the
next house, “I remember tagging along on a few of those ass kicking
extravaganzas.”

“I
already knew you two had slept together before that.” I chuckled to myself,
imagining the shocked look on his face as I closed the door. I looked over and
saw his face wasn’t far off from what I imagined.

“You,”
he stammered nervously as we started toward the next house in the neighborhood.
“You what?”

“I
knew you guys got drunk that night at the party and hooked up,” I revealed,
glancing around for any movement.

His
face was white, “How did you know?”

“When
have you ever been able to keep a secret from me?” I asked him sarcastically.

“That’s
true,” he admitted. Half the time he’d slip up and tell me, or it would be all
over his face.

“Now
before you have a heart attack,” I reassured him, “I want you to know I wasn’t
mad at you.”

It
took him a moment for him to respond, we arrived at the next house to clear.
“Why not? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad, but anyone else would have seen
that as an act of betrayal.”

“Yeah,
I know.” I thought for a moment on exactly how to word the way I felt, “You’re
my closest friend in the whole world, I trust you more then anyone else, and I
wouldn’t accept anything less for her.”

He
sighed away the nervousness in his face, and smiled, “Thanks dude, I don’t know
what to say.”

The
front door was already slightly ajar. We positioned ourselves the same as the
last house. Nick shouldered his rifle and went right. I shouldered mine,
followed him in and broke left.

“Living
room clear,” I called out, noticing an already dead body on the ground. A
screwdriver was sticking out of its temple.

“Bedrooms
clear,” I heard Nick call from across the house. The lack of gunfire meant
there must not have been any of them inside.

I
checked out the kitchen, there was some dried blood on the floor, but no more
bodies, “Kitchen clear.”

Nick
came into the kitchen, “There were a few of them in the bedrooms already dead.
Their heads were smashed in with a cricket bat.”

“How
do you know it was a cricket bat?” I asked puzzled at the specifics of what
bashed the heads in.

“Cause
there was a bloody cricket bat next to them,” he informed me. “I’ll take the
bedrooms this time.”

“I’ll
start in the kitchen.” I opened the pantry, there wasn’t much, just a few cans
and some boxes of noodles, but it was better then nothing. “I do have one qualm
with you dating my sister though.”

“What’s
that?” he yelled from the bedrooms.

“What’s
your end game plan with her?” I asked, getting right to the point. The cabinets
were all filled with dishes and no food, so I went into the hall leading to the
bedrooms.

Nick
was already in the bathroom, filling up his duffle with toilet paper rolls.
“End game plan?”

“Yeah,
you know, like your intentions.” I leaned against the door frame, waiting for
his answer.

He
paused and looked up at me, “My intentions? I think I’ve been pretty clear with
them over the last three years, what with us sleeping in the same bed and all.”

“You
really want to play games with me right now?” I asked. “After three years you
think there would be some kind of proposal of commitment.”

“So
what you’re saying is, six months ago, us just living together is okay, but
because it’s the end of the world I should marry your sister?” he stood up and
walked up to me. “I’ve got to check the medicine cabinet.”

I
took a step back to give him room, “I think you feel safe and free where you
guys are now, but if you marry her all of the sudden you’re trapped with no way
out.”

“Can
we not talk about this right now?” he tried to avoid the issue, slamming the
medicine cabinet shut then walking past me toward the garage.