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The sound started again, this time louder, almost like fists throbbing against the walls, dozens of fists pounding lightly, probing for something. Ma
But then the noises moved away from their room, further down the hallway, soon disappearing entirely. Ma
“I think they’re gone, Ma
He stumbled and grunted to his feet and cast a dour look at her as he moved to the window on the other side of the room. Gently prying the blinds open again, Ma
“Come to bed, Ma
He shook his head. “I’m not sleepy. It’s going to be dawn soon.” His heavy body dropped in a chair next to the window. “Clocks, time, none of it means a damn thing anymore, but the sun is still go
She watched him for a moment, tilted her head, and sank back to the mattress.
With the pistol resting in his lap, he watched her sleep for another few hours. Once weak strands of daylight filtered through the blinds, Ma
“Ma
“Yeah babe. We better hit the road.” He fully opened the blinds now and looked out the window at the parking lot. The silver-grey sedan was still there, but the darkness and shadows had vanished. He could see that the lot was devoid of other cars, just as it had been last night. The only other vehicle in view was a rusted hulk abandoned in the ditch next to the highway about two hundred yards away. “We were lucky to find this place, what with a working generator and all.” He looked at the glowing lamps next to the bed. Drawn by curiosity, he lifted the receiver from its cradle again and listened to silence on the line.
“Hey Ma
“I du
“They left last night, right?”
“I guess. Seems so.”
“The lights are still on.” She beamed a lopsided, smudged grin. “When are we going to find ru
“It’ll be ice cold,” Ma
“Pleeease?”
“Alright. But hurry.” He slipped his arms into the suit jacket. “I want to hit the road.”
“You’re a peach,” she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before hustling into the bathroom.
The room fell quiet around Ma
The lights blinked with a pop and went dark. The yellow room took on a weird morning pall, the only light streaming from the open window that faced west. “Liz,” he called, striding to the bathroom door.
“What the hell happened,” she said as the shower squeaked off.
Ma
“Not with the door open. Damn it’s cold, Ma
He first caught the smell again—that awful rotten smell that always came with them. Then their sound came back: dull opened-mouth moans, scurrying and tapping from just down the hallway. Ma
“Liz, we gotta go babe.”
“Just a minute,” she called, “it’s damn near impossible to dress in the dark.”
Tap, tap, tap—louder, closer.
“Now, Liz, unlock the goddamn door.” Ma
Tap, tap, tap—just outside the door of their room. Then silence.
Ma
“Just a minute,” she called.
A swift, scrabbling noise crawled from floor to ceiling in the hall. A muffled thump sounded, then a crash in the bathroom.
“Oh,” Liz’s voice came through the door like simple surprise. “The vent…”
“Liz!” Ma
“Ma
Something large hit the door and flopped to the floor. Ma
Ma
Blackened things, thin and gaunt fingers, probed from underneath the hallway door, curling and latching on like talons, scratching and tearing at the veneer. The fingers withdrew, and a moment later the door rattled on its hinges with a crash like they were trying to batter it down. The bathroom door remained shut, and all was quiet but for the small smacking sounds within.
Ma
The door gave with the next thrust, and the lean, hollow face of one of the things poked into the room—a face that once belonged to a teenage girl. Ma
The bathroom door cracked open just as the second thing snarled. Liz’s face appeared in the open doorway. Her shoulder and throat was torn apart with serrated gashes—teeth marks, and the arm hung limp. She, it, looked at Ma
One shot left, Ma
He glanced back over his shoulder and noticed the crayon smudges of dark smoke rising from the fires in the city. “Where the hell were we going to go, anyway,” he muttered. He looked back at the Liz-zombie and dropped to the floor, propping his back against the foot of the bed. It staggered toward him, trailing the limp arm.