He did the only thing he could to make things right. Hesent a rifle round through Jane's head, and with that, an entire branch of thehuman genealogical tree was wiped off the face of the earth. He had never evenlearned their last names. He handed the rifle back to Blake, still swirling inthe vortex of his thoughts.
On the rooftop, hard glares were being sent in thedirection of Katie. Lou didn't like the lady; she gave him the creeps, but shedidn't deserve those glares. They were blaming her, fair or not, for the littlegirl's death, but the truth was, none of them had done anything to prevent it.
"I am tired of losing people," Lou said. It wasthe only thing he could think to say. The rest of the group looked at him. Theywere all assembled there, even the movie theater guy, who still felt like anoutsider. He wasn't one of them. He wasn't one the ones that had escaped fromthe Coliseum, but he would get there. Lou was sure of that.
They were still looking at him, waiting for him to saysomething else. "We can't stay here."
There were groans from a few members of the group. Joan,Chloe, and Amanda mostly. The men just listened. That was a good sign. If hehad the men on his side, that meant he could do this. He could take Zeke'splace.
"What do you want us to do? We barely made it herefrom the Coliseum," Joan said.
"Yeah, I don't know if you noticed, but we're notthe army. We don't have helicopters. Hell, even the army couldn't stand up tothe... the... whatever the fuck you want to call this," said Chloe, wavingher arms in the air to encompass the entire city.
They were right. But Lou was right as well. Now they justhad to figure out who was more right. "We're not the army. We're survivors.There's a voice in each one of us that has gotten us to this point, and deepdown, that voice is telling you that we can't stay here. That voice is askingyou how long you think you can live off popcorn and Raisinets?"
"A hell of a lot longer than we can out there,that's for sure," Andy said. The group looked at him, reproachful glancesletting him know that his input was not yet entirely welcome. He wasn't asurvivor. He didn't know what it was like out there. He was a hider, anunwelcome intrusion into their society.
"The kid has a point," Joan said.
Lou looked up at the sky. This wasn't going as well as heplanned. Where were the words? Where were those magic words that leaders usedto get people to agree to do things that they didn't actually want to do?
"We're all going to die, either way," a voicesaid. "Stay here, die. Go out there, die. The difference is, if we stayhere, we know it's going to happen, and it's probably going to happen in onemonth, maybe less once the food and water runs out. Out there, maybe we have achance... a chance to live a little longer than that."
Lou looked at the speaker. Mort was his name. He couldhave kissed the guy.
"But what about those things?" Amanda said.
Rudy, who had been lost in thought, chimed in,"Every day, every minute, there are more of those things. I don't thinkthey're going away. I did a count earlier today. There were 71 of those thingsout there. We don't even have the ammo to clear them out right now. Two, threedays, how many of them do you think will be out there then?"
They all walked over to the wall and looked over.
"Shit," Katie said. "That's a lot morethan 71." Down below, the dead milled around, bumping into each other,bouncing off of each other, walking aimlessly in an attempt to get to the wall,where the lucky dead in the front were busy pawing at the side of the building,looking for a way to reach the faces looking down at them.
It dawned on them all at the same moment. They wereliving on borrowed time. They could huddle inside the theater for as long asthey had food and water. When they ran out, it would be too late to escape. Thedead below could sense their presence. Every moment, more dead came from afar,shambling across parking lots and unused streets strewn with automobileaccidents and shattered glass. It was as if instinct were driving them to wherethe food was. They just knew. Somehow, they just knew.
"I'm not going to make anyone go with me, but I'mnot going to stay here and die either," Lou said.
"That's bullshit," Chloe said. "You're notleaving us any choice at all. Either we go with you, or we stay here with thecouple of people that want to stay, and then we have no chance of escaping atall."
Lou looked at her, and he truly did feel for hersituation. "It is what it is," he said.
"I'm with you," Mort said. "This placealready feels like a graveyard. The whole city does."
One by one they all agreed. They all stepped into thecircle, even Andy, the new guy.
After an evening of rest and preparations, they stood inthe theater lobby, ten people with bags stuffed full of candy bars and snackfoods, crinkling, plastic water bottles tucked into any pocket they could find,their weapons in their hands.
They stood in the darkness, trying not to think aboutwhat was on the other side of the theater doors, trying not to think about whatwas going to come next. In the dark, no one could see the fear on their faces.
Chapter 4: Escape
When the doors were thrown open, the world assaultedAmanda's senses. The sun blinded her. The smell of rot crawled up her nose anddid things in the back of her throat that made her want to vomit up herbreakfast of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The sound of
