CHAPTER 7: ANOTHER SIDE

Damn, Alex. I’m so jelly. He gets to sleep leaning on a girl! But at least I have this couch, and Sally sitting next to me, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.

I peered at Sally from the corner of my eyes and was met with her glare.

Yeah, she’s scary all right.

“Do you think things will have quieted down by tomorrow?” asked Angela.

Chris shook his head and said, “Probably not in the city, but I think the mobs won’t stick around in Costco as long as there’s no one left for them to beat.”

“Do you think that’s what’s driving them?” asked Victoria.

Sally shrugged and replied, “I’d like to see if they have the common sense to eat and manage their bodies.”

“That’ll be a good way to distinguish them,” I said with a grin, “If we encounter a stranger, we’ll just throw them a couple of burgers and see how they react.”

Victoria was the only one who chuckled.

Jeez, tough crowd. At least Alex would have laughed along if only for the lameness of the situation.

Sally rolled her eyes and said, “That’s just a waste of food.”

“Whether they are infected or not, if they attack, they’re our enemy,” said Chris.

“I just want to find a safe place,” said Angela while laying her head on top of Alex’s. Her eye lids were half shut ready to say good night even though it was barely evening.

I looked at my watch, 6:47 pm to be exact.

The lights were dimming when we had entered the room, so by now, the street lights should be turning on if they haven’t already. The city still had some electricity left in it since the room lights still worked.

I don’t think a McDonald’s would have its own power generator, but it never hurts to check around later.

“It was a joke,” I said, “A joke! I’d rather eat the food for myself than throw it around at other peop—Ouch!” Chris threw another shuriken at me, and that made Sally chuckle. “Ha-ha, very funny, Chris.”

Sally yawned, “Okay boys, I’m going to kick the bucket for tonight. You can take the sofa Josh.”

I was a bit surprised by her offer, but I wasn’t going to fall for it, “No, no. You can sleep on the sofa, Sally.” I said while getting up.

She got up as well and said, “I’m going to the manager’s office. You should rest well since you’re our runner. Victoria, come on.”

I turned to Chris as Sally walked away, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Victoria got up and followed her. Chris shrugged, but it was one of his “figure it out yourself” shrugs. He had a way of expressing things to people without saying anything. So much for bros before hoes. Not that Sally is a ho though.

Sally turned back to look at me, and I stared at her without blinking. Game face Josh. I’m not thinking anything right now. Slow breathe in. Slow breathe out. Yeah, just like meditation. When she turned away and went into the manager’s room, I let out a long sigh of relief.

I looked back at Chris and he nodded at me, the “I told you so” one. I pointed at the sofa with my thumb and said, “I know, I know.”

Chris plopped down on the sofa with a sigh and looked over at Alex and Angela who were now both sleeping against the wall.

“I’ll stay up first,” I said.

Chris nodded and laid on the sofa to rest.

Hey. I was expecting some sort of, “No, I’ll go first,” or something! But that’s Chris I suppose. He must be conserving brain power for later. I wouldn’t be surprised.

I didn’t feel like sleeping just yet, but it’d be unsafe to go outside alone to look around. Plus, the door only locked from the inside. Unless I could find the key, which might be in the manager’s room actually.

I looked over at the manager’s room door, which was closed.

Probably best not to disturb…

Just in case, I lifted a chair and leaned it against the doorknob of the entrance door and sat at the edge of the room, straight across from the manager’s office.

If someone caught wind of us and tried to break in, we’d need to have reliable escape paths. Chris said there was a small window in the manager’s room. I should have checked it out to see how big it was, but since he considered it an “access point” then I’m sure it is big enough for a person to get through if they tried. Besides that, there’s the vent near the clock hanging on the wall.

I wondered how long the clock would last, longer than us perhaps, but I didn’t plan on that happening. I looked at my MATRIX PowerWatch, full-power. I must have generated at lot of body heat today. “We have to be careful not to get sick,” I thought while ruminating about the things we’d need to get tomorrow at Costco.

Medicine, unperishable food, sturdy bags and clothes, maybe a tent, fruit snacks… Oh, what the hell, I feel like we’re going camping. We need weapons. Maybe a crowbar, knives—I’m sure the kitchen has a few cutlery we can use as weapons—lighters…?

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I opened my eyes. It was 12:58 am. I had fallen asleep. What the heck. Chris is going to kill me. I looked over at the sofa and realized someone had cut the lights. It was hard to see where everyone was so I pushed myself up from the wall and slumbered over to the table lounge.

Chris wasn’t on the sofa. I looked over at where Angela and Alex were sleeping to find them gone as well.

Okay… Where’d everyone go?

I was getting a little freaked out, but my brain was still in start-up mode. Something had happened when I was gone, but I wasn’t sure what. I reached for the lights, but nothing happened when I flicked the switch. I flicked it again. Nothing.

They better not be pulling a quick one on me.

The chair I had propped against the doorknob was still leaning against the door, so it was impossible for them to have left the room, unless there was some trick they used, but why put in so much effort? The only place they could be was the manager’s room.

I looked at the door and a shiver ran down my spine. Somehow, the darkness of the room and the weirdness of the situation made me worry that a mob of zombies was going to bust out of the door as soon as I opened it.

After creeping over, trying to not betray my presence, if there was someone watching, I hesitated in front of the door. Just in case, I went back to the sofa and found the racket Chris had brought in with him. Yeah, they had to be around still if Chris didn’t take this with him.

Back in front of the door, I griped the tennis racket and lifted it above my head ready to swing it down the moment something came rushing at me through the door. I twisted the doorknob millimeter by millimeter until it was ready to be opened.

Now!

I tossed open the door and saw nothing.

It was pitch black, like I was staring into the abyss. Was it a trick of the light? Part of me was curious, but a bigger part of me was scared, telling me to close the door and back away. Yet, I took a step forward. But the moment I crossed into the darkness, someone pounded on the entrance door.

I jumped at the sudden sound and stared at the door, holding my breath.

The pounding continued, but I heard some whispering as well.

I crept closer to the door, legs shaking, trying to get a better grasp at what was being said.

“He’s here. Here’s here. The resurrected one...”

“We need to be thorough.”

“Yes, we need to make contact.”

What were they saying? It seemed like they wanted to contact us, but it was only me at the moment. Were they trying to contact me?

I leaned over to put my ear against the door but froze when I noticed a body leaning against the wall across from the manager’s office.

Was I going crazy?

I squinted my eyes and blinked them multiple times. The body looked familiar, too familiar.

Even though my heart was pounding, the blood in my veins didn’t seem to be moving.

I don’t know how long I stared at the body for, but it didn’t move. The thing that brought me back to my senses was the pound at the door right next to me.

“Hey, don’t go yet.”

“We know you’re there.”

“Talk with us.”

My mind was too confused to deal with the strangers behind the door. I had to check the body first. So I scurried on all fours to the body.

It was me.

---

“Josh.” I said while slapping him in the face. “Wake up. You fell asleep, dude.”

Josh’s eyes shot open and he almost sprang into my face.

“Damn, chill,” I said.

He let out a half scream before realizing he was having a nightmare.

“Rest well?” I asked, crossing my arms and staring at him.

“Holy cow,” he said, “I had a crazy dream and not one where I was in a cornfield with nice acoustic music playing in the background.”

I gave him a few seconds to catch his breath. Something had really scared the bejesus out of him, but he seemed fine enough to make jokes.

“If you were tired, you should have woken me up so that one of us could have stayed as watch. The chair was a good idea though,” I said while pointing at the chair which was leaning over against the door.

Josh looked past me and at the sofa.

“Come on,” I said while helping him up, “Victoria had a dream as well.”

Josh nodded, and we joined the rest at the table. Angela and Alex were cuddling next to each other on the sofa, and Sally had brought a chair over from the manager’s office to sit on next to the sofa. Victoria was sitting on the floor again, probably a habit.

When Josh sat down on the floor he raised his hand and asked, “Did anyone see their own dead body in their dreams?”

We all looked at him like he was crazy. No one had that kind of dream.

“I didn’t dream anything,” I said.

Josh sighed with relief, “Then never mind. It was probably just me.”

Sally shrugged and said, “Yeah, probably not as significant as Victoria’s.”

Victoria looked much better after a night of rest, and she had been more comfortable telling us about her “visions.” Whether true or not, I still wasn’t sure, but I was never one to ignore useful information, especially if it could help us get a better idea of what we were dealing with.

Victoria smiled and shook her head, “Well, I don’t know. You should still keep track of your dreams Josh because there could be some special meaning behind them. I think I have a lot of dreams because of the journal I keep. Some I have found to be meaningful while others not so. Last night though, I had a vivid dream.”

A vivid dream happens when a person can see, touch, feel, smell, and hear things in a dream to the point their brain is fooled into thinking its awake. I’ve had one vivid dream before, and it was a nightmare. It was during the time when I was getting into reading the Lord of the Flies.

I guess I had fallen asleep while reading, but in my dream, the last chapter was missing! It was so unjust that I threw the book into the trash after I had woken up. After thinking about it, I realized I had dreamt the whole thing. When I checked, it was there.

Victoria continued, “We were at Costco, and the infected were still around but not as many. They seemed to have basic desires because they were eating, but they weren’t eating the food around Costco. They were eating the dead. I think it’s safe to call them zombies at this point.”

Alex joked, “I’m glad my neighbor wasn’t hungry when he broke into my house.”

It was a crude joke that made me cringe because of the hint of truth in Alex’s statement. If they had come at us hungry, we would have come out with more than a few bruises and scratches.

I think Angela pinched Alex because he flinched and said, “Sorry.”

Josh asked, “So is there anything else you saw in your dream?”

“Yes. We have to be careful of this other group that’ll come by. They were armed and tried to…” Victoria’s voice trailed off and she looked at Angela and Sally.

“Okay, we got it. So we just have to avoid this group, right?”

The girls nodded. When Victoria had first told us about her dream, she was pretty shaken, but it seemed like she woke up before having to experience anything traumatizing, besides Josh’s death. It seems like that could be one of the trigger’s that ends her vision, someone dying. A little morbid, but I wasn’t one to overlook a pattern.

Josh said, “I’m sure we protected you guys though, right?”

Victoria shook her head, “You were the first to die.”

“What!” Josh said but then nodded like he could see it happening.

Sally rolled her eyes, not impressed.

Bringing everyone back on topic, I said, “So we’ll wait today to see if the group comes by or not. If they don’t, then we’ll try our hand at some window shopping while keeping an eye out.”

Alex raised his hand and said with a grin, “On the off chance that this is somehow unavoidable. I have a suggestion.”

I knew what was coming and grinned as well. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Alex, it’s that he can be ruthless if you give him enough time to plan ahead. The only problem would be execution, but with time, history has shown that people have been quick at getting used to dealing with people, and I wasn’t planning on being an exception. I hope Alex wasn’t either, but I’d respect his decision.