Amanda looked at Chloe in shock. "I don't think Ican kill anyone. What if they're not dead? What if there's some way to savethem?"
Chloe sneered at Amanda. "You want to save them? Goahead. Me? I'm only interested in saving myself."
Rudy looked around the lobby. Then looked up as if hecould see through the ceiling and the walls of the building, calculating in hishead how many people were still hiding in the building. "We can't leavewithout letting everyone know that it's not safe here."
Chloe turned to Rudy and said, "If you want to goknock on everyone's door and play good neighbor, feel free. But I'm walking outthat door, with or without you."
"How about that?" Amanda said, pointing to thered fire alarm handle behind the clerk's desk.
Rudy sauntered over to it, stopping once he saw what wasbehind the desk. It was the security guard, lying on the ground, covered inblood. Rudy reached for the handle for the fire alarm and then jumped as thesecurity guard sat up, his eyes unfocused.
"You ok?" Rudy asked, sparking an extreme shiftin the guard. Without warning, the guard reached out to Rudy grasping him bythe legs. Rudy stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet and falling tothe ground, his teeth clacking together. The grunts and groans coming out ofhis labored lungs would have been comical under any other situation, but as thedead eyes of the security guard loomed over his knees, he screamed.
Amanda was there, jabbing the short sword into theguard's head, but still he came. Rudy slid backwards, unable to rise to hisfeet as the adrenaline rushed through his body, dulling the logic in his brainand preventing him from getting to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, hesaw Amanda rear back and bring the short sword down on the guard's neck. It wasa clean cut, but not powerful enough to sever the dead man's head. It didhowever sever the spinal cord, cutting the complex circuit of nerves andmuscles that drove the creature's body. The head dropped down, hanging by aflap of flesh, and the body stopped in mid-crawl. As the final messages of theman's brain faded away, the arms slipped wide, and the body slowly settled tothe ground. Rudy stared in awe as the head continued to move, the eyes blinkingand the mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air on the bank of ariver.
Amanda dropped down and looked at the man's face. He hadbeen handsome in a blue-collar way, a stub of a goatee in a plain manly face.She felt bad for him and stood up. She stepped on the side of his near-severedhead and brought the short sword down on the side of the man's skull, justabove the ear. The shock of metal on bone sent pain through her arms, but sheaccomplished her goal, and the mouth stopped moving, the eyes stopped blinking.
Rudy pushed himself to his feet, no small feat for a manas heavy as he was. "Where were you?" he yelled at Chloe.
"I was over here, waiting to leave. You're the onethat wants to save the world. If you had been looking out for yourself, itnever would have happened. I hope you learned your lesson."
"Yeah, well, if you're ever in trouble, we'll justsee how well I learned my lesson." Rudy stepped over the body of thesecurity guard and pulled the alarm. The noise was immediate and definite.
Amanda wiped the blade of the short sword on the guard'sbody. "Sorry," she said to him, before they stepped out into the dayto find that the alarm had done more than just warn the occupants of thebuilding about an impending fire. It had drawn the attention of the shamblingmonsters in the streets. It was more than just a fire alarm. It was a dinnerbell.
Chapter 2: Self-Service
Katiesat at the intersection, the engine of her red Dodge Durango idling quietly.She was at a crossroads, literally and figuratively. Around her, bodies moved,drawn to the promise of a fresh meal by the quiet putter of the engine. She hadno intention of letting that happen. She felt the comfort of the silverrevolver in her jacket pocket.
Nowwhat? Theroad lay before her. The sun rose higher in the sky. She had been cruising thestreets for hours, turning left and right with no destination in mind. Therewas surprisingly little traffic, if you didn't count the shambling dead whowere even now closing in upon her. They seemed to be everywhere. In the distance,a skyscraper burned, its top floors engulfed in orange flames, black smokespewing forth from the inferno.
Moreclouds of smoke joined it from various other locations in the city. Where wasthe fire department? Where were the people who were supposed to fix things? Inthe air, she saw helicopters hovering in the sky, looking like dragonflies inthe distance. Katie glanced down at the gas gauge on her car. Half a tank...that wouldn't get her far, not in her gas-guzzling SUV.
Thereal question was would there still be a gas station that was open? She jumpedas a creature pounded its open hands on her windows, smearing gore all overthem. She looked at the creature's face. It had been a woman once, blue-eyes,cloudy and empty. Parts of her lips were missing exposing half of her teeth,which made it look as if it were smiling crookedly. Her green cardigan sweaterwas covered in dried gore, and the wedding ring on her hand glittered in thesunlight. Katie hated her.
Shethrew the car in reverse, and watched as the woman stumbled after her, her armsoutstretched. She put the car in drive and pressed forward slowly. The creaturewas pushed backwards but couldn't keep pace with the slow advance of Katie'sDurango. It went under, and the vehicle rocked as Katie drove over the woman inan effort to extinguish the crooked smile forever. Just to make sure, she threwit in reverse and backed up a few feet, bumping gently into another creaturebehind her. Fuck him too.
Overthe hood of her car, she saw the woman trying to crawl towards her. Some keycomponents of her body were broken, but
