Alex ate his sandwich right away, quite surprised at how hungry he was. He went back to the fridge, found some refreshingly cold orange juice, and poured himself a tall glass. He looked at Shadow as he drank it, then went to the sink to get her some water. Nothing came out of the tap. He checked the fridge again, but there was no water there either, so he poured some orange juice into another bowl and put it on the floor for her. She smelled it, took a lap, but backed away from the strong taste.
“No?” Alex said, laughing to himself. “We’ll find you something else to drink when we go back outside, okay?”
As if in response, Shadow made a sound like a disgusted sigh and walked out of the room. Alex laughed again.
Being at Mark’s house wasn’t too bad. At first Alex was worried he’d get bored, or worse, that he’d just stay glued to the window, watching diseased people walk by, hearing screams from others. However, he found an electronic Yahtzee and his morning was set. He played several dozen games as the morning turned to afternoon, initially checking outside between every game, but the more he got into it, the less he checked. It was his second ‘double Yahtzee’ when he realized an hour had passed since he’d last looked. When he did, he realized his mistake.
At least a dozen of them clustered in the street. Maybe more, since he couldn’t see that far past the houses on either side of him. He felt very cold again as his mind raced. What are they doing out there? Do they know I’m in here? No, no they can’t. If they did, they’d try to get me, just like Mr. Watts did. They don’t know.
He jumped at the sound of a loud squeal followed by the crunch of impact. Fortunately, it also got the attention of everyone outside so they didn’t discover him. They all looked up the street and started shambling in that direction.
Alex watched them go, then ran to the bedroom window which offered a better view of the street. When he finally peeked out, he saw a pillar of black smoke rising from something two houses down. Did a bomb go off? No. It sounded like a ... car crash.
He thought he could see a bit of a car under a telephone pole, but all of those people were blocking it, trying to get at it. They were so slow, he’d never get to see what happened.
The bathroom window! It was the only window on the side facing the smoke. He ran to the bathroom and jumped onto the edge of the tub to see out. He could see over the house next door.
It was a car crash.
He put a story together in his mind: A car sped up the street and they didn’t see the crowd of diseased people until it was too late. They tried to turn quickly, or they were just surprised, and they hit the telephone pole. Hard.
The front of the car was smashed in about three feet, wrapped around the pole. The front windshield had shattered—a big hole through it on the driver’s side. Bloody, but no body. Alex thought his mind was playing tricks on him, making him see blood when there actually wasn’t.
There was, however, someone in the passenger side, but they weren’t moving. No—they are moving. It’s a woman, and she’s hurt, but she’s alive! Alex felt a slight sense of relief, seeing another non-diseased person. He also felt horrible that he wasn’t out there helping.
He felt worse as the diseased people descended upon the car. They reached in through the windshield and clawed at her. They caught hold of her, pulling her through the jagged hole in the window. More blood. Lots of it.
It took a moment for Alex to understand what he was seeing. At first, he thought they were tearing off the woman’s clothes— which they were.
But they were also ripping her apart.
They were eating her.
She screamed. And then she stopped.
Alex fell back into the tub, and threw up the sandwich he had eaten earlier.
DAVID
They waited on the roof of Colby for almost an hour.
David knew the moment when the sounds of the carnage below them became too much for Nicole: she started singing Cure songs to herself. He saw some of the tension leave his sister’s face as she sang about running into a forest; disappearing into the trees.
An explosion that shook the building stopped her.
“What the hell was that?” she shouted.
“Something exploded,” David replied, reverting to smart-aleck-brother mode reflexively. “Something close by, I’d say.”
“Well, do you see anything that exploded?” Nicole said, standing on stiff legs, looking around. “I smell smoke, but I don’t see anything.” As David crawled to the edge of the roof to take a look, he had the feeling that things had gone from terrible to worse.
When he didn’t go back right away to report, he felt her presence as she joined him, looking down.
Below, the chaos continued, only there looked to be fewer survivors than he expected. They watched as three ran into the wood. They saw someone hiding under a burning car. Nearly everyone left was one of them—the attackers. Directly below, David saw the cause of the explosion.
The school was on fire.
As he looked, a window burst open, flames pouring out, black billowing smoke rushing up to meet him. The fire itself moved like liquid, but there was something in it. Something solid and clumsier than the elegant flames.
A body. A body was on fire, but still shambling out the window. Not running, not panicked. It made no sound as it moved, as if unaware that it was engulfed in flames.
“Oh my God.” Nicole sounded panicky. “What do we do? Oh my God, what do we do? David! What are we
