My foot hit a hole in the ground but I managed to keep my balance by some miracle. I also didn’t twist my ankle which was an amazing feat.
We passed through a stable. It was empty. I didn’t know what happened to the horses and I didn’t want to know. Given the state of things, they had probably been turned into zombie food which was just another depressing thought.
I really didn’t know how I was going to make it in this new world where every scenario just made me sad. Would I or any of us ever experience happiness again? Would we remember how to laugh as things got worse? It was heartbreaking and gutwrenching to think about but it was the truth.
We passed through the stable to a tiny walkway between one of the stables and a shed that must have held some yard equipment. There was a tiny house that lay ahead.
We were all on the porch when Daniel knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again. Still no one came to the door.
Daniel turned the knob and it was unlocked. We all had weapons up just in case there were any undead creatures inside waiting to devour us.
“Hello,” Daniel called out. “Is anyone here?”
There was no response. The windows had been bordered up to protect from either the storm or the zombies, so it didn’t make any sense why someone would leave.
“I’ll check around,” Daniel said.
It wouldn’t take long; it was more a shack than a house. There was a tiny kitchen off the main room we had walked into. There was probably only one bedroom and bathroom. The main room we came into had a dirty blue couch sat against a wall with an even dirtier green chair to the side of it. There was an old TV against the opposite wall and a tiny bookcase.
Daniel came back after a few minutes.
“All clear,” he said. “Let’s get this place locked up.”
We shut the door and locked it. Daniel tied it off with some rope that was in their camping gear. We all helped move the bookcase in front of the door to keep it from being opened.
“Is there a back door?” I asked.
“No, this is the only way in. All the windows are boarded up as well. I don’t know why they left, they made this place safe.”
“You think they might come back?” I asked.
Daniel shook his head, “No, the closet is a mess as well as the dresser. They packed and left in a hurry it looks like.”
“Why?”
“I’d like to know that myself. There are no zombies in here and it doesn’t look like there ever was.”
“They probably attacked the animals and the owner freaked,” Phoebe said as she plopped down into the yucky green chair.
There wasn’t much light so Daniel lit up one of the lanterns and sat it on the table.
Phoebe looked completely different, the cost of her loss visible on her face. Daniel had sat down at the table, his face in deep sorrow. It was a room full of grief. I couldn’t take it.
I took my things into the bathroom and shut the door. I put my bag down on the floor and sat on the toilet. I was soaked to the bone and I had come in here to change but I needed a moment to myself. I didn’t know these people well but they were kind enough to take me along with their group and now two of them were dead and another gone to meet the same fate. The death was taking its toll on me. I’d lost my family and watched as three others lost their loved ones. Who was next because there was no way we were going to make it. It was like a game of Russian Rolette except you would never stop playing until the bullet got you. There was no way to beat the zombies, not really. If a cure could be found it was going to be next to impossible, since I’m sure most research places were all but inoperable. We were living in the plague of the dead and the dead were winning.
I got some clothes out of my bag and changed. The clothes I shed I put on the shower rail to dry. I walked out of the bathroom to find Daniel in the same spot only there was a bottle of whiskey open in front of him. Phoebe was not in the room.
“Where’s phoebe?” I asked.
“She went into the bedroom to be alone,” he said. “Drink?”
I nodded, “yeah.”
Chapter 15
I sat down at the table as Daniel poured me a drink. He put the glass down in front of me. It was a filthy glass. There was dust on it, like it hadn’t been used in ages. I didn’t let that stop me. I also didn’t let the fact that I hated Whiskey stop me either. I downed the whole glass in one long gulp. It burned my insides on the ride down to my stomach. The taste was disgusting but I needed that burn.
Daniel had a quizzical look on his face. “More?”
I put the glass in front of him, “Yes, please.”
He poured more of the whiskey into the filthy glass. I drank this one a bit slower than the last. Daniel was still working on his first glass. We sat in silence as we nursed our liquid medicine. I felt like we were in our own separate glass boxes of grief. I felt worlds away yet very much present. Maybe it was the alcohol. I hadn’t had a real
