In the Lone and Level Sands (64 page)

“Yeah, look at the West Memphis Three,” JD
said. “Or Peltier, or Mumia. People get locked up because other
people are afraid of them.”

“Now those guys I’ve heard of,” Dex
said.

“Yeah, because they got pinned with more
down-to-earth stuff. Details on that get out easily. The FBI did a
great job covering up the conviction of a guy based on voodoo.”

“Or maybe this Norman Peters guy didn’t get
as much attention because he really is guilty,” Layne said. JD
looked shocked. Layne wasn’t sure what he meant, but it got JD to
finally stop talking. “Look, it’s been fun, really. But if you’re
not going to join us, we’d like to be on our way. It’s been a long
day. Not to mention, we’re starting to attract some attention.”

Layne gestured to a group of zombies now
shambling across the highway toward them.

“Hello there, little guys!” JD said. “Don’t
worry, I’m fighting for y—”

A zombie reached out from under a nearby
car, grabbed JD’s leg, and pulled him to the ground. Layne moved,
but there was no chance. The zombie sank its teeth into JD’s leg.
He screamed.

“Garrett!” Katie said.

“Got it,” Garrett said. He raised his
gun.

“Wait, don’t!” JD said, raising his arms as
though that would block the shot.

“Are you insane?” Katie said. JD ignored her
and turned to the zombie, who was still chewing a fresh chunk of
flesh.

“It’s okay,” JD said. He turned back to
them. “He’s just trying to— Gaah!” The zombie had gone in for
another bite. Garrett raised his gun again, and JD waved his arms,
this time with noticeably less strength. “It’s just evolution. The
food chain. Survival of the… The fittest.”

“You sure about this?” Garrett said. JD
nodded, and swallowed hard.

“We should go,” Layne said. Most of the
others got back into the cars.

“It is their world now, you know,” JD said.
“This is their time. We had ours. Now it’s theirs. Year One A.L.
Anno Letum
.
”

“What are you talking about?” Layne
asked.

“In the year… of our death.” JD laughed, but
broke into a scream as the zombie took another bite, and then he
continued laughing.

“Should I put him down?” Garrett said.

“No,” Layne replied. “He may be batshit
crazy, but this is what he wants. It’s not our place to take that
away.”

They got into the cars and headed down the
road, toward the sun.

****

They reached a quiet suburb, and other than
the remains of what was probably a little girl beside a bloodied,
overturned bicycle with pink tassels hanging from the handles,
there seemed to be little sign of danger. Layne navigated the roads
carefully, until he reached a store hanging on the outskirts of
town.

“Wayne’s Superstore,” Keely said. “Holy
shit, we might be in some luck. Check out the sign.”

A large banner was draped over the front
doors, blocking them off. Upon it were scrawled the most beautiful
words Layne had seen in a long time:

CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION

“It’ll be empty,” Dex said. He unbuckled his
seatbelt and opened the car door. “It’s fucking empty! Woo!”

Dex ran toward the store as the others got
out. It was no Wal-Mart, but it was large and looked empty.

“Be careful,” Layne said. “If it was under
construction, there may have been construction workers around.”

“The cranes are all outside,” Keely said.
“If anybody went in or out, they didn’t use this door, or they’d
have broken the banner.”

“Maybe they hadn’t gotten started yet,”
Katie said.

“Whatever the case may be,” Layne said, “be
on your guard.”

He tore the banner down and peered inside.
It was dark, but there was no movement. Layne tried the door, but
it was locked. An air of disappointment flowed over the
survivors.

“We can break the door,” Garrett said.

“But then we’ll be exposed,” Layne replied.
“And if an alarm goes off, it’ll draw every zombie for miles.”

“Check that out,” Kyle said. He pointed
across the parking lot. Near the side of the building was a semi.
The door was open, the body of the driver was hanging out, dried
blood was caked down the side of the truck and on the ground below.
“Maybe he left his keys. We can bust the door, and then park this
in front of it to keep everything out.”

“Great idea,” Layne said.

“Anyone want to come with?”

“I will,” Ralph said. He and Kyle armed
themselves and headed to the truck. Ralph covered Kyle as he
inspected the inside, then dragged the dearly departed driver out
by his hands. It was a fat man, and he landed heavily on the
asphalt. Kyle searched the cab, then emerged and gave a
thumbs-up.

“We have the key!” Ralph said. Kyle started
the engine.

“All right, then,” Layne said. He looked
around for something to break the door with. He found a cinder
block nearby, hoisted it up, and brought it to the door.

“Back up, everyone,” Garrett said. “Don’t
want to get cut.”

The group backed up, and Layne heaved the
brick twice (fearing a third time would cause it to fly out of his
hands on the backswing) and lunged it forward. It hit the glass and
shattered it. The pane fell in a good solid piece, leaving few
fragments of concern hanging from the door frame. No alarms blared
out.

“Okay, we’ll go in first and check things
out,” Layne said. He drew his gun and entered, followed closely by
Garrett, Katie, Keely, and Dex. Nearby, the semi rolled toward the
front door.

****

“We should see if they have a generator,”
Garrett said. “In this dark, shopping won’t be easy.”

The group used a flashlight to make their
way across the store. They saw no movement, and in the back, they
found the maintenance door, clearly marked “Employees Only”.
Garrett and Layne entered, and down a few cold, bland hallways,
they found the generator room. A few ripcord pulls later, the
generator roared and the lights in the store came on.

They made their way back to the store and
saw that everyone was inside. The semi was parked before the door,
and Kyle and Ralph were sliding in through the small space between
the two.

“Well, it looks safe,” Layne said. “So…”

“Shopping spree!” Dex said. Lacie
laughed.

“Just don’t go anywhere alone, and keep
within earshot.” With that, the group split up.

Layne and Garrett wandered the clothes
section first, and Garrett found the first shirt his size, ripped
the tag off, and put it on. Then he began fishing for more
clothes.

“Do you think anyone else will come through
here?” Layne asked. “I mean, I almost feel bad, taking things. What
if someone gets the same idea, but they get here and there’s
nothing left?”

Garrett tipped over a partially filled
shopping cart, emptying it, and then put his own finds inside.
“Well, how would you feel if you got here and it didn’t have
anything you needed?”

“I guess I’d wish good luck to whoever got
here before I did.”

“Exactly. As much as we have to work
together, in another way, it’s also every man for himself out
here.”

Out here
. Layne didn’t like the way
it sounded. It made it seem like this really was a new world, one
in which he and the other survivors were the outsiders, one in
which they weren’t welcome.

After the clothes, they moved on to the food
section. They ran into Katie and Keely, who had also acquired a
shopping cart.

“How’s the search going?” Layne asked.

Keely was reading a box of cereal. “Some of
this stuff is expired.”

Layne laughed, grabbed the box, and tossed
it into Katie’s cart. “Nothing expires. Not anymore.” He and
Garrett moved on, and Katie and Keely began filling the cart with
whatever food seemed least perishable.

“It only gets harder from here, you know,”
Garrett said.

“What do you mean?”

“Right now, we have it easy. What happens
when there are no more generators? No more gas for our cars? What
then?”

Layne had tried not to think of such things,
but the truth was that they were always there, gnawing away at the
back of his mind. He assumed as much for the others, too.

“Maybe we’ll find some place to settle down,
by then,” he said. His mind returned to the other thought gnawing
away at him, the one about where they all went from there, as
individuals.

“Settle down? I don’t know, man,” Garrett
said. “The only way we’ve lasted this long is by moving. Every time
we stop, some horrific shit happens.”

The two ran into Kyle and Ralph in the book
section. They were sitting down, deep in conversation. There were
various books scattered around them; some novels, a few comics.

“I still don’t get it,” Kyle said. “Why are
there so many different versions?”

“Well, it depends on the translation. Like
this, this is the King James Version. Because it was put together
under King James. And this is a New International Version. It’s
sort of like a re-translated version, for today’s English.”

“Which one is supposed to be right,
though?”

“They’re all right,” Ralph said. “It’s
divine inspiration. Hey, let’s go over the differences in DC and
Marvel again. I don’t think I really got that.”

“The different companies put out different
comics,” Kyle said. Their voices faded as Garrett and Layne
passed.

Warren, Jessi, and Kara had gathered in the
toy section. Kara looked happy.

“Can I get this one, too?” Kara asked.

“You can get any of them,” Jessi said.

“My mommy always said only one.”

“Well, today is special,” Warren said.
“Today, the toys are all free, so you can have as many as you
want.”

Kara’s eyes grew wider than Layne thought
possible. She ran off, laughing as she went. Jessi followed, also
laughing, and a smile spread across Warren’s face. He turned to the
two men.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to hit the
pharmacy. We could all do with some Tylenol, I think. Some
antibiotics, too.”

“Go crazy,” Layne said. “We don’t know when
we’ll get another chance to stock up.”

As Layne and Garrett wandered the aisles, it
took only the sight of Dex and Lacie heading into the hygiene
section for Layne to stop and turn the other way.

“Where you going?” Garrett said.

“Let’s leave them alone,” Layne replied.

It was getting dark outside when the group
gathered at the front of the store. They packed their newfound
items into bags, and as the majority of the group headed out to the
cars, Layne and Garrett returned to the generator room and shut the
generator off. On the way out they put the banner back up, but
painted a new message on it:

Store has power, generator in back!

Layne hoped it could help any other
survivors who might come by. He and Garrett climbed into the cars
and headed down the highway.

****

“There’s a high school up ahead,” Keely
said.

Layne had also seen the sign telling them
that the speed limit was subject to change during school hours, but
he wondered what her point was. She answered his thoughts.

“It’s summer. I’ll bet there’s nobody in
there. We could probably stop there for the night.”

Layne began to slow down, eyeing the school.
The parking lots were vacant, the building was dark, and a large
sign rose from the front lawn, proudly proclaiming:

Greenwich High School - Go Bears! Have a
Good Summer Vacation!

Layne got the impression that the students
were not having anything of the sort.

“I think that might be a good idea,” Dex
said. “It won’t be the most comfortable place, but it’s probably
pretty safe.”

Layne pulled into the parking lot. The other
car followed, and both stopped by the school’s front doors.
Everyone exited the vehicles and gathered in the lot.

“We’re thinking about staying in this
school, tonight,” Layne said. “It should be empty.”

“It’ll be dark, too,” Garrett said.

“It’s dark out here.”

“In any case,” Warren said, “it can’t be
less comfortable than the car seats.” He stretched his back and it
popped loudly.

Layne looked around. He didn’t see any
zombies, which he thought somewhat strange. They had slipped into a
suburb and had passed a few on the way, but this place was quiet.
Even the air was still and unmoving. The sun, almost completely
below the horizon, was still casting faint light into the sky,
leaving it a deep, dark blue.

“It’s at least enclosed,” Katie said. “We
can figure out where to go in the morning.”

That familiar nag returned to Layne, and he
thought that the morning would finally get the conversation out of
him. For now, he needed to focus. They were about to enter a dark
building, and he wasn’t positive it would be empty.

“All right, let’s stay here,” Kyle said. The
group gave their nods of approval, and Layne tried the front door.
It was locked.

“There has to be a way in,” Ralph said.

“Yeah, it’s called a key,” Kyle said. His
sarcasm toward Ralph had gone from vicious to friendly lately, and
it showed on Ralph’s face. He no longer looked like a hurt puppy,
he looked glad to be on the level of friendly joking.

“If we bust a window, we leave ourselves
open, as usual,” Garrett said.

“Not these windows,” Keely replied, “they’re
too small.”

The front doors each had tall vertical slits
for windows, at most five inches wide.

“We can just bust one, reach in, and open
the door,” Katie said. “Think any zombies will be smart enough to
figure that one out?”

Layne took a nearby rock and struck it
against the window. It was surprisingly strong, and the rock hardly
chipped the glass. He shielded his eyes and gave it another swing,
and this time did even less to the window.