Inmortuorum

Katie woke up the next morning to a small face right next to hers. She jumped up and slammed her ankle against the side of the couch.

"Shit", she whispered, grabbing her ankle.

"You aren't dead!" the little face said, clapping.

Katie realized it was just Abbie and smiled. She yawned.

"Goodmorning, Abbie."

"Goodmorning, Katie! Come downstairs, we're having breakfast."

Abbie stood up and ran down the stairs, the little girl's footsteps sounding like that of 12 little girls. Katie awkwardly stumbled to her feet and took a moment to realize exactly where she was. The sunlight flowed into the common room. She noticed thick blankets tied to the wall, which probably worked as the room's curtains. She walked around the couches and saw cardboard boxes stacked in the corner, with labels such as "bedroom" and "bathroom" and "kitchen". It was really nothing special. The walls were lavender and tan. Then Katie decided to look at herself. Her cargo shorts were dirty, her blue v-neck blood stained. Her gray hoodie and backpack were on the floor next to her, and so was her knife. She figured Sarah had Abbie sneak it up, and she felt a warm kind of feeling. She finally had a friend.
Eventually, Katie plodded down to the ground floor, her own feet sounding unnecessarily loud on the hardwood stairs. Abbie ran to meet her at the bottom step and hugged her, grabbed her hand and pulled Katie to the kitchen. Everyone was standing around, involved in casual conversation and their breakfast, but when Katie walked in, they all stopped dead in their tracks. Sarah waved, Chris smiled, Adele refused to look at her and James gave an apologetic look on the account of his wife's attitude.

"Well, Katie", Sarah spoke, her mouth somewhat still full of the snack cake that she was eating, "looks like you could need a new wardrobe."

Katie nodded eagerly, hoping it would disguise her embarrassment over her current appearance. Then, Abbie dropped her hand and hopped up on the granite island and Sarah joined her, pulling Katie up, too.

"Here, oatmeal cookie?"

Sarah handed Katie a smashed cake from the box. Katie thanked her and tore open the plastic immediately. She savored every bite, not able to remember the last time she had anything that hadn't been a can of soup. The sugar tasted perfect against her tongue, which had started to forget that the flavor existed.

"Well, speaking of clothes, we have to go do a supply run today, anyway. And by 'we' I mean you and James."

Sarah pointed to James, and he smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

Katie smiled, "I'll do my best not to cause problems."

"Well, alright", Sarah spoke, a directive tone in her voice, "You two are to each get a gallon of water, or two of those two liter bottles. Which ever you find easier to carry. And then some extra toiletries, if you can. Katie, stop in like, any house or some store down where you'll be and ditch the clothes you have now. Treat yourself to anything, after all, it's free now, also, get a few more gallons of gas if it's possible. We have about 5 cans left, and it'll be good to fill up those empty few. And I know it seems like we're just kind of throwing you out so early, Katie, but, you're a late riser. So, good-morning, try not to get bit."

Katie smiled.

James grabbed his pack off of the counter behind him, and loaded the small handgun he had with him. Katie began to feel uneasy, which she then felt weird for not feeling uneasy in the first place.

"It's for emergencies, only. Don't worry. I don't plan on using it. Timnath is cleared out already, kind of was before all of this started anyway."

-------------

After a brief run to a blue Ford Fusion, and one partially decayed zombie killed, James and Katie were on their way.

James awkwardly glanced over at Katie, who was staring blankly out the window.

"So, do you, like music?"

Katie turned away from the window and made brief eye contact with James, then turned back to the window.

"Yeah, I guess."

"That's the one thing I hate about this bullshit-"

"You only hate one thing?"

"Okay, okay, one of the numerous, probably infinite reasons I hate this. No music. None. I mean, there's still some things, but, nothing new. And there never will be. That's a weird concept to wrap your head around, huh?"

"Honestly, I've never thought about it before. But, it is really weird. No new movies, either. No new art, no new anything.."

"See? Look at that. You've been in the car all of 10 minutes and you already have a new concept of everything."

Katie smiled. There was a brief moment of silence before another thought popped into Katie's head.

"James?"

"Mhmm?"

"Where were you, when all of this started?"

"Well, I mean, I was working in the hospital. In the children's wing. I hadn't found my office yet, so, you know, I was working there. But, uh, yeah. That. Well, kids and just, people in general, started coming in sick. High fevers, blistering skin, coughing up blood, all of that stuff. You know, everything they told everyone to watch out for. All that shit they plastered on the news. Anyway, we treated it. And for a few days, people got better. We actually had about fourty-five percent of all those cases go home. And, then, they came back. And they came back, and they died. And we thought you know, that was the end. Like, death seems like a definite thing. But, I remember, someone called up from the morgue, about our first one to turn, and his voice. He was terrified. I mean, you hear these stories on the news and everything of how doctors messed up, and send patients they think are dead and then they wake up and everything. Well, you hear of the lawsuit. Everyone wants money, no matter what. But, his voice, he kept saying 'I think you messed up, this guy is alive. I think you messed up.' And then you hear him try to talk to him, and the medical examiner had begun to remove organs, like, set the guy up and everything, And you heard him just trying to be like 'Sir, stay, don't move'. And then, you heard a scream, and the phone hit something, a few times, it sounded like a skull cracking, and I assume you know, it had been the turner's skull, and like, he just spoke into the phone, and was so frantic, all 'Help, Send me help. This guy bit me, help'. And that was before we knew about the bites. And we had a cop, and he like rushed out of the reception desk, and went over to that building, I guess. I left, you know. It was my lunch, people were losing their minds, I wanted out. So, I went to my car, and a woman, pasty white, just, scary looking, with her skin, kind of cut and bloody, and naked, she was walking around outside. And I watched her, like, pretty cautiously as I walked to my car. And I asked her, like I called out to her, if she needed help. And she started at me. Not with that weird dragging the leg thing, but like a person. Her arms looked unnatural, but I asked if she needed help. And she made that ungodly sound all of those fuckers made, and I told her to stay, and that I'd get an officer. We had police officers kind of everywhere. The hospital was in an unsafe part of the city but, yeah. I found one in the parking garage, which I basically ran too, I mean, I didn't want her to catch me. She was obviously insane-"

"-or so you thought."

"Exactly. But, so, yeah. I got to officer, and he went to help her, and she attacked him. And he fired two shots into her, and she just kept coming, so finally, he shot her in the head. And it stopped her. But, anyway, I got to my car, got the hell out of dodge, and got some lunch, and no one even knew anything was up yet. And, i decided I'd work on call the rest of the day. I didn't really feel like working with whatever the hell was going on, and I just kind of shopped around. Looked at a new car, got some groceries, all that stuff. And I got home, probably around 5. And Adele was waiting for me on the couch, just, a complete mess. And sure enough, on the news, all of it was broadcasted. Everywhere, it was just all over the country. In a matter of less than 6 hours, everything went to shit."

"Yeah, I remember that."

"Well, Katie, where were you?"

"At home. I guess I was kind of alone, my grandma was home, too. I just didn't want to be in school. you know? Everyone had kind of lost their shit. Three kids brought in guns, all that kind of thing. I just didn't want to be there. And, my grandma, she watched the news all the time. I mean, like, all the time. She could tell you literally anything and everything that was going on. And, my brother, he was overseas, so, she was paying extra attention. Watching death tolls and stuff, she wanted to be prepared that someone might be at the door for Jeremy one day. But, she called to me, and made me watch something on it. And she told me to go buy food, because she planned for us to be at home for a while. But, I never got back home. My home was gone. There was a huge fire, and yeah. I never found out anything. I just left. I took my car, and left."

"Wow.. Katie, I am sorry."

"Don't be. I would've died if I hadn't been forced out."

"I guess."

There was another period of awkward silence when the car finally came to a stop outside of a gas station. James got out and opened the passenger car door, pulling out two gas cans, throwing one over the car to Katie, who had followed suit.

"Go to pump four, fill up the can, I've got pump 2. They're the only two that work."

"What about the other cans?"

"We'll go to another gas station for those."

The two silently parted from the car, and Katie walked over to pump four, which she felt was dangerously close to the woods. She placed the nozzle into the can, and held it up with one hand, and patted down her pants for her knife. Her heart sunk as she realized that she left it at home, and then she felt it stop. Looking up, she saw a pair of feet, dirty and bloody approaching her. She didn't want to keep looking up. She tossed down the nozzle, keeping her eye on the feet. They started to shuffle much more quickly towards her. She started walking backwards.

"James... James....."

"What is it, Katie?"

"James. James, I need your help, now. I need it now."

James' head popped out from around the gas station.

"Katie, get in the car."

"james.."

"Get in the goddamn car!"

Katie turned and ran, the zombie's pace now quickening after her. James ran and cut in between the two, striking the zombie in the side of the head, his fist laced with brass knuckles. The zombie stumbled over, tripping over its own feet. James took the opportunity to run. He bolted for the driver's side door, and slid in. The engine roared alive, and without missing a beat James had the front left tire through the turner's skull. He backed up, and pulled up next to pump two. He grabbed the gas can and handed it to Katie, whose face was soaking wet with tears.

"James.. I'm sorry."

"Katie, it's oka-"

"No, I'm sorry. I-I-I didn't think to bring my knife. I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Katie, I promise it's okay."

He put his hand on Katie's shoulder, unsure of how to comfort her.

"It's all going to be okay... Let's just go get you some clothes, maybe some food. You'll be okay. I'll be okay. We'll be okay,"

Katie nodded, holding her head in her hands, trying to stop the tears.

After a ten minute car ride that they both probably would've wished had been silent, but was instead filled with sniffles and apologies, they arrived in a small, cute downtown area. Which would've been beautiful, homey and perfect, had the sidewalks not been stained with blood, had there not been the occasional body lying around, windows of shops not smashed out, and the plant life properly cared for. James carefully navigated between the cars strewn through the middle of the road and broken glass. He pulled onto the sidewalk, leaving little room between the pharmacy and the car, if they needed to quickly escape. He reached into the backseat and handed Katie a metal baseball bat.

"Here, you know how to use one of these, right?"

She nodded, tightening her hands around the grip tape at the end of the bat.

"Good. You're gonna be our muscle, alright? We need asprin, deodorant, and water. Vitamins if we can find it, xanax for fun."

James got out and shut the door, and ran over to the passenger door, opening it for Katie.

"Alright, you go in, you hit one of those racks. One close to the door. Anything, if it's in here, will come at you. You kill it, got it?"

Katie nodded.

"Alright, knock 'em dead."

Katie smiled, feeling much more relaxed, but as soon as she was alone in the store, and the only sound was her shoes crunching on broken glass. she felt more anxious than she ever had. She took a deep breath and swung the bat into one of the metal display shelves. The sound rang through the small store. Readying herself, she took two more steps into the store. Hearing nothing, she hit the metal rack again. After waiting a moment, she called James in. Staying right on his back, she followed him around, watching him pile the pill bottles and occasional energy bar into the bag. While James was busy searching through bottles and boxes for anything of use, Katie noticed a display, with a few things of nail polish still in it. James noticed her fascination with the paint and stood up.

"Take them," he urged her, taking one of the bottles out, "This is a nice color."

Katie smiled.

"I love green."

"Me too. Take them all, c'mon. You can do it. You won't get arrested. I won't tell. Abbie would love to have her nails painted. Poor kid probably never got to experience that."

Katie nodded, putting the green, pink and grey bottles into her pocket.

"You think we got everything?"

"Positive. I know what to look for. Let's go."

------

After looting a few more shops with no conflict, and Katie finding a boutique downtown, walking away with a new pair of jean cutoffs, in a sailor short kind of style and a loose grey v-neck, the pair decided to make their way home. When they turned onto Cranberry Street, though, they were not greeted to the same almost peaceful looking area they had left.