Chapter 11

"Hey, Sherry!" Martyn's heart began to race from excitement. "It's me, Martyn!"

"Mar…tyn?" Sherry sounded surprised.

"Yeah, the hot guy from the mall,"

"I get it now," Sherry laughed with relief. "But I thought your name was-"

"Yeah, I know," Martyn interrupted her. "It's this weird apocalyptic thing that my 'brother' insisted on. He goes by Aron now. On to more important matters, where are you? Are you safe?!"

"So, it's everywhere, huh?" Sherry broke into tears. "I'm so glad you called. I've been trying every damn number I know, but none are taking my calls!"

"Yeah," Martyn sounded sympathetic. "Been there. Where are you right now?!"

"I w-s wor- eve- sh-t," Sherry's voice broke off.

"I didn't quite get you,"

"I shut myself in!" she continued. "I called for help, but all emergency lines are busy! I'm stuck in here!"

"Are you safe?!" Martyn sounded frantic.

"I am," Sherry said. "But I don't know for how long-"

CLICK!

The call ended abruptly. Martyn looked at his cell phone. There was no service.

"Dammit!" Martyn kicked the wall.

"Shh!" Aron appeared at the top of the stairs. "You're alerting the damn Zeroheads!"

"Sorry," Martyn sighed.

"Come up here quick," Aron said impatiently. "Bring your binoculars too. Forgot mine was broken."

Aron was leaning against the banister on the balcony, trying to squint at the neighboring houses in the dark. The zombies outside growled and groaned as they roamed about the streets.

Martyn hurried upstairs. Aron turned around.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"It's Sherry, man," Martyn looked glum.

"No luck?"

"No, she's alive!" Martyn shook his head. "The service died before I could ask where she was."

"Bruh," Aron sounded sympathetic. "That sucks."

"At least she's safe," Martyn sighed.

"Yeah?"

"Sounded like she was alone, though,"

"Cheer up, pal," Aron said. "Try her again tomorrow. The service could be up elsewhere."

"You think so?" Martyn asked. "Wait, does that mean we are leaving tomorrow?"

"In the morning," Aron grabbed the binoculars.

He aimed them at the neighboring houses.

"What are you looking for?" Martyn asked, looking around.

There was a single house to the far right of their street that had lights on. The rest of the homes in the block were shrouded in darkness.

"Nothing," Aron sighed, pointing to the house opposite to theirs. "I thought I saw movement. Must have been my imagination."

"Du-"

"Oh," Aron interrupted Martyn. "There's light coming from that chick's house."

"Robin?! She's okay?"

"Can't tell. Could be anyone in the house."

"No," Martyn shook his head. "She was the only one to survive."

"Oh, yeah," Aron said. "You did say that–huh?"

Aron was peering at the window on the second floor. Martyn followed his gaze, and he saw the silhouette of a person standing next to a bed. The room was lit up by faint candlelight.

"Dude!" Martyn tugged at Aron's arm. "That's her! But… is she naked?!"

"Aargh!" a Zerohead in their front yard growled.

"Shh–yes, she is," Aron didn't take his eyes off the binoculars. "Damn-"

"What?!" Martyn pulled at the binoculars. "Stop peeping on her!"

"Wait–!"

"Just stop it!" Martyn snatched the binoculars off Aron's hands. "Don't be a creep!"

"You're no fun, man!" Aron complained.

Martyn had his arms crossed.

"Okay, okay," Aron gave up. "She was holding a brick-like phone, what's it called–yes, a satellite phone."

"Must've belonged to her dad," Martyn nodded thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah, the ex-military guy,"

"Does that mean she got help from the military?" Martyn rubbed his chin. "Considering her father's reputation."

"Could have," Aron nodded. "She had a duffle bag too. Packing stuff, I guess?"

"Well, at least she's safe," Martyn murmured. "What do we do now?"

"Hm," Aron wondered. "We could stock up on some H-2-O while it's still available."

"Okay," Martyn agreed.

"Good thing these Zeroheads don't have night vision," Aron stared down at the mob of zombies.

"They're terrifying enough as they are," Martyn shuddered. "Stop planting horrific ideas in my head!"

"Aargh," Aron mimicked a zombie.

They got downstairs and filled their canteen with water and stored some for a bath in the morning. Aron noted down his observations in the book. They decided to turn in for the night. Martyn blew off the candle. Aron had set the alarm for five in the morning.

The chilly air rushing in through the cracks of the windows allowed them to sleep without air conditioning. The constant banging on the windows made their sleep difficult.

The night passed by as the noises outside grew louder. There were no more human-sounding screams.

"You could have saved us, dude," Sam grabbed Martyn's shoulder from behind. "But you left us to die, didn't you?"

"Yeah, you could have saved us all," the people in the bus chanted unanimously. "You were selfish! And look at us now!"

Martyn backed away as he saw Sam and the others rot where they stood. And within a matter of seconds, they all were skin and bones having grey complexion. Sam's left arm fell on the floor with a thud.

"This is a dream-" Martyn breathed heavily. "No, this is a nightmare!"

Sam picked up his arm and poked Martyn in the face with it.

"It's dangerous to go alone!" he said. "Take this."

"What the fuck?" Martyn stared at him in terror and disbelief.

"Wake up!" they got up from their seats.

Martyn found a baseball bat on his seat. He picked it up.

"Stay the fuck back!" Martyn warned. "I have a bat, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Wake UP, you idiot!" Sam slapped Martyn on the cheek with his arm.

"What the fuck?!" Martyn sat up straight on his bed like he was struck by lightning.

"That must have been some nightmare you saw," Aron shook his head.

"Oh, dude," Martyn rubbed his eyes. "I saw the weirdest shit ever! People from my college–they turned into zombies and shit!"

"Mm, thought so," Aron nodded. "Get up and get ready. You are gonna get us late."

"Whose turn is it to make breakfast?" Martyn groggily stared up at the clock. "Wait–why are you up this early? You got college today?! We still got time to sleep like–two hours!"

"Oh-kay!" Aron sighed. "Question. What's the last thing you remember before falling asleep?"

"Wait, it wasn't all a dream?!" Martyn realized in horror.

"Bingo," Aron had his eyes narrowed. "Now get the fuck up, we gotta go!"

They hauled their backpacks to the front door and got dressed.

"I can't believe I am dressing for the apocalypse," Aron said.

"I can't believe it is the apocalypse," Martyn wore his cross pendant.

"Did you get everything?" Aron asked. "IDs and shit?"

"Uh-huh, I was thinking we were gonna throw them away or something," Martyn scratched his head.

"We are," Aron said. "Just not yet."

"Why?" Martyn inquired.

"Gotta make sure first that this is happening everywhere,"

"The apocalypse?" Martyn looked puzzled.

"Yep," Aron said. "I'm eighty-five percent sure it is. And the fact that there wasn't any kind of emergency alert is–intriguing."

"Now that you mentioned it," Martyn agreed. "We should have been getting some sort of alert over the phone at least… Okay, what's our next move?"

"Let's see here," Aron looked at the guide. "To steal a car."

"Okay, let's go," Martyn said.

"Huh," Aron looked amazed. "I was kinda expecting you to rant about it,"

"Nope. I've decided to rely on you."

"Meaning?"

"You're the leader. You get to call the shots."

"Really?" Aron was surprised.

"Don't get me wrong–you can be a real jerk sometimes," Martyn shook his head. "But a level-headed jerk! So­–here's to surviving!"

Martyn held up his fist.

"To surviving together," Aron smiled as he bumped fists with Martyn.

"Amen, bro," Martyn grinned.

"You hold onto this," Aron handed the bat to Martyn.

"Do I have to?" Martyn whined.

"Did you forget already?" Aron smirked. "You said I call the shots."

"Dammit,"

"You really did a number on that Zerohead yesterday."

Martyn sighed.

"Hey, I've told you–take it easy. You are protecting us both, and it's what that matters!"

"Yeah, I know," Martyn nodded slowly.

"And because of that," Aron held up the book. "I was able to gain intel that could potentially save the world!"

"Point came through, loud and clear, boss," Martyn rolled his eyes. "Let's go save some souls."

"Attaboy!"

Aron and Martyn hauled the sofa that was blocking the door. Aron unlocked and unbolted the door.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Nope,"

"Well, here we go," Aron muttered.

He opened the door and peeked outside.

"Well," Aron threw the door wide open. "It can't get worse!"