"My name's Louis, but everyone calls me Lou."He held out his hand. Zeke shook it gladly.
"I'm Zeke."
They sat there that way, breathing heavily in the shadeof the parking garage. Gradually their breath became more normal, andexhaustion began to creep in.
"What do we do now? You think those cops are goingto come after us?"
Zeke scrutinized the street down below. "No. They'vegot bigger fish to fry. I'm exhausted." Zeke plopped down on the concretesteps of the stairwell, despite the fact that it smelled like a homelessperson's lavatory. "We're not going to last long on the street. You have aplace we can go?"
Lou thought for a moment, and then said, "Yeah. Igot some friends about a mile down the road. They got themselves a place, but Idon't think it's the type of place you're looking for."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say these brothers aren't the mostsocial dudes."
Zeke looked at the man, trying to figure out exactly whathe meant. "What do you mean 'social'? Are they drug dealers? Pimps?"
Lou looked at his feet. "They're all that and more.You might want to think twice before going there. They're not too fond of whitefolk."
Zeke laughed. "At this point, the street is full ofmotherfuckers who ain't too fond of anyone, no matter their skin color. I'lltake my chances."
"Amen to that."
Zeke stood up and helped Lou to his feet. Then he reachedin his pocket for a cigarette. He held one out to Lou, who grabbed one out ofthe pack, and together they stood on the concrete steps, lost in thought andsmoking. When they were done, they tossed the butts on the ground.
"Well, no time like the present to get a moveon," Zeke said.
They walked quietly down the steps of the stairwell andentered the street. They walked in the shadows of the buildings. Despite thefact that it was morning, there were very few people out and about. The secondintersection they reached provided a nice vantage point for Lou and Zeke. Theylooked down the street which rose to the west as it left the middle of town.Zeke pointed out a couple of burned out cars, and a knot of shambling bodiestwo blocks down.
Things didn't seem to be getting better. Despite thisfact, the middle of downtown was probably one of the safest areas of the city.It was composed mostly of high-end businesses and office buildings. There werevery few residences in that part of town, and most of those were locked up likeFort Knox with iron-barred doors only accessible by keycards.
They continued their trek. Zeke's hands itched for aweapon. His eyes darted around the street, scanning for potential threats andlooking for anything that they could use as a weapon. There was nothing. Eventhe garbage can lids were chained up tight. At this point, he would settle fora wooden stick, but even that didn't present itself.
Another block down, amid the canyon of eerily quietbuildings, a car careened past them in the street. The driver ignored them asthey flattened against a wall.
"You have a car?" Zeke asked Lou.
"No, but I wish I did. I'd get the hell out of thiscity right now."
"Yeah, well you and about five-hundred-thousandothers probably had the same idea. If that fool gets on the highway, he isn'tgoing nowhere."
The zooming of a passing car engine had livened up thestreet a bit. A few shambling people rounded the corner, walking away from Zekeand Lou in the direction of the car. They let them move down the street, andthen followed at a slow and quiet pace.
In a whisper, Lou said, "Let's cut over a block, andsee if we can go around those fools."
Zeke nodded his head. It sounded like as good a plan asany. They crept silently up the sidewalk. When they reached the corner, Zekeleaned around it to see what was ahead of them. The streets were definitelymore populated. It seemed the closer they were getting to the center of thecity, the more of them there were. Zeke's first instinct was to sit on theground and die.
His second instinct was to get pissed. "Let me askyou something, Lou. Are these friends of yours worth reaching?"
Lou laughed quietly. "I wouldn't say they were worthreaching, but if you want more than just your dick in your hand, then yeah,they're worth it."
Zeke was tired of playing by the rules. He crossed thestreet motioning for Lou to follow him. In front of them was a restaurant, afancy steakhouse from the look of it. It looked like a suit and tie affair, butnone of that mattered now. The doors were shut tight when he tried them.
Still whispering, Zeke said, "We're probably notgoing to make it a mile without some sort of protection. I bet there's someshit in that restaurant that we can use. Knives, pipes, anything that'll keepthose things at arm's length. The other side of town is a little morepopulated, and I'd rather be prepared than caught with my pants down."
"I agree, only there's a problem," said Lou.
"What?"
"We don't got no ties," Lou quipped.
"Alright, enough of the humor. When I bust open thiswindow, we're going to have to be quick. A place like this probably has analarm on it. Grab what you can, and get ready to fight because those thingshave a one track mind, and judging by how they reacted to that car, they seemto be drawn to sound."
"I got it. Why don't we just go through thedoor?"
Zeke laughed as he said, "The glass is too thick.We'd need a sledgehammer just to get through it.
Zeke took his shirt off and wrapped it around his fist.He drove it through one of the big glass windows, silently hoping to not cut anartery in the process. The noise was far louder than he wanted. The alarmstarted almost immediately. With his boot, he kicked out enough glass forhimself to crawl inside the window. He crawled in, cutting his hand on anoverlooked piece of glass jutting up out of the frame.
"Watch that glass," he said over his shoulderas Lou crawled in behind him. They made their way to the back of therestaurant. Zeke grabbed
