"What are you doing here? How do I know you're notone of them things?" the man asked, waving the machine gun around with aneasy familiarity and a dash of irresponsibility. The man made Zeke nervous.There was something about him that seemed off.
"Gary Lee, it's me, man. Satchmo."
"Yeah, yeah. I know you, but who the hell is thisguy?" Gary Lee said, waving his gun around some more.
Lou smiled and pointed at Zeke. "That's the man thathelped me get away from the cops."
"You sure he isn't a cop?"
"I'm not a cop," Zeke said.
"Fuck you," said Gary Lee, "I wasn'ttalkin' to you. I'm talkin' to fuckin' Satchmo."
Lou moved to Gary Lee in an effort to calm him down,"He isn't a cop, man."
"You guys get bit?" Gary Lee asked, his guardslipping a little bit.
They both shook their heads, but that wasn't good enoughfor Gary Lee. He made them show him their arms and legs, and when he had seeneverything he needed to see, he said, "Fuckin' motherfuckers. I ought toshoot your asses right now for bringin' them things here."
They looked behind them to see that ten of the creatureswere now at the gates, their arms thrust through the wrought-iron bars, facespressed against them.
"Come on in. Get your asses in here. You're drawinga fucking crowd already."
They entered the apartment building, and for a second,Zeke thought about turning right around. The inside was filled with pungentsmoke, carpet that smelled like old urine and vomit, and every inch of wall wasplastered with more graffiti. A life-size portrait of Gary Lee with four naked,big-titted women clinging to his legs while he brandished an AK-47 dominatedthe wall of the stairwell. They climbed the stairs, and emerged in asecond-floor foyer which was filled with couches full of sleepy, passed outpeople. Gary Lee kicked one of them off the couch with his silver-tipped boot.The couch was duct-taped where the worn fabric had split apart. Gary Leeplopped onto the couch and pulled a joint from a shirt pocket.
He lit it and took a puff, as he began to question themabout what they had seen. "So what's it like out there? We had to close upshop last night. One of the girls got herself a nasty case of dead standing onthe corner last night."
Lou related his tale and told the story of how he hadgotten picked up by the cops for assaulting one of those things. He told oftheir escape from the police station, and the harrowing adventure they had justtrying to move a mile across town. At the end of the story, Gary Lee just tooka puff off his joint, and said, "No shit." Then he got up and walkedaway.
Lou led him to a room with some dirty mattresses on thefloor. Zeke was dead tired, so he fell on the mattress, despite its stains, anddrifted off to sleep. It was a tortured sleep, piled high with screaming drillsergeants, both alive and dead, making his life a living hell. At the end ofthe dream, he was standing in the bottom of his hole in the sand when bodiesbegan falling on him, burying him under their weight. He awoke screaming.
Zeke buried his face in his hands and then rubbed thesleep from his eyes. When he took his hands away, the dream began to fade fromhis mind and he noticed that Lou was watching him. "I'm alright. Just abad dream."
Lou was smoking a cigarette while lying on his back onthe dirty mattress. He looked up at the ceiling, as if he were daydreaming. Heashed on the ground, as apparently hundreds of people had before.
Zeke rose from the mattress and shook his head. He wassore, tired, and all he wanted to do was lie in the bed. But he knew thatwasn’t prudent. The soldier inside of him commanded him to get up, check outhis surroundings and see if he was completely safe. Zeke got to his feet andnudged Lou into action with his boot.
“C’mon. Let’s go check out the situation.”
With Lou by his side, they proceeded to walk through thebuilding, stumbling upon sights both horrifying and concerning. In one room,people were smoking crack, about a dozen of them, glassy-eyed, unkempt, andunaware of their presence. For them, it seemed as if the world was turning justthe same as it ever was. They simply poked their heads in the room and movedon. They could hear the sounds of sex behind a few of the closed doors; theymoved on from those rooms as well.
“I’m not sure this is the safest place to be,” Zekewhispered to Lou.
“Yeah, I know. But it was the closest place.”
“Well, we ought to see about putting this place farbehind us. I don’t like the things that are going down here, and it’s bound toend up badly. If those things get in here, there’s not a single person herecapable of fighting besides ourselves,” Zeke said as they walked by anunconscious junkie lying in his own vomit, pants half-on and with no shirt.
“I agree, it’s not ideal, but all we have is a butcher knifeand a meat cleaver. We’re not going to last long out there if we don’tupgrade.” They came to a stop at the landing. They peeked through the curtainsand through the boards on the windows. It was still daylight outside, but youwouldn’t know it from inside. The courtyard was still empty, except for trashand graffiti. More of the creatures had gathered at the gate to the courtyard.The gate bowed inward, the weight of the people outside straining the gate toits limits. It was only a matter of time before it gave way completely, andthen the flimsy wooden doors downstairs would be next.
“Well, we better make our move quick. Or we won’t be ableto move at all.” Zeke turned to Lou and said, “How much do you care about thesepeople… Satchmo?”
Lou looked around the landing at the flopped bodies,litter, grime, and sadness. “I don’t give two shits about these people. They’redead already. When that fence goes; this place goes.”
“What about Gary Lee? You guys seem to have a history.”This part was important.
