Demise of the Living (38 page)

“Why would you call her that?”
Liz demanded.

“Ask her where the gamer is,”
Karen said.

Melissa’s sobs abated somewhat,
but she didn’t answer.

“Where’s the game, Melissa?”
Liz asked.

“It’s upstairs,” she
answered.

Sensing the half-truth,
Liz pressed, “
Where
upstairs?”

“With Grant,” Melissa said.

“
See
?” Karen said
triumphantly.

“You be quiet!” Liz snapped at
the teen. She turned to Melissa. “Why is it with Grant?”

“I thought he might be bored up
there on his own. I thought it might calm him down,” Melissa
said.

Liz shook her head.
“Christ.”

“I told you she was a dif,”
Karen said.

“Get out of my sight!” Liz
barked at her.

Karen let her jaw fall slack in
a look of disdain.

“Go!” Liz shouted, pointing to
the doors.

“Come on, lady,” Billy said to
Karen.

With a huff, Karen turned and
was ushered off by the gruff biker.

Liz looked into Melissa’s teary
eyes. She dropped to her knees and pulled her in close. Melissa had
grown. Kneeling in front of her, she was now a good four inches
taller than her. Melissa bent her head down and wrapped her arms
around her mother. She may be growing up, but she hadn't grown away
from needing her mother to comfort her.

Liz tried to think what she
should say to her daughter, but there was nothing.

“
The two of you used to
fight like cats and dogs,” she finally said. “Now you’re trying to
look after him.”

“I didn’t mean to cause any
trouble,” Melissa said.

“I know, and you meant well by
it,” Liz said, brushing the hair way from her daughter’s face.

“Then why did Karen get so
mad?” Melissa asked.

“She’s scared, just like the
rest of us. She’s scared and angry at being here.”

“Will Grant get better?”
Melissa asked.

“
No,” Liz said. “I don’t
think he will.”

“Will we end up like him?”

Liz held her daughter’s hands
in her own and shook her head.

"No, baby, we won’t. I
promise.”

***

“So what was that about?” Billy
asked.

“The stupid little dif gave the
games hand-held to her dead brother,” Karen huffed.

“Aren’t you a bit old for
playing games?”

“
I’m
bored
.”

“So you thought you’d start a
fight with a little girl, eh?”

“Nah,” Karen sneered.

“
We need to find
something to do. Something productive," Billy said. He pointed up
the stairwell towards the roof. “Up there.”

Reluctantly, Karen trudged up
behind him.

Emerging onto the roof, they
saw Thomas sitting on the edge with an assortment of wires and
electrical equipment.

“Hey, Thomas,” Billy said.

Karen and Billy walked out onto
the roof. Thomas was hunched up with the stereo and car
battery.

“What the fuck is it?” Thomas
asked.

“Me and Karen here were
wondering if we could help,” Billy said.

“
What?! Not that pedo!”
Karen spat.

“
Not now. Fuck off,”
Thomas said.

“
It’s okay. I’ll be with
you the whole time,” Billy reassured her. He crossed his arms and
looked down at the cantankerous mechanical engineer. “Do you know
what you’re doing there?”

“
Yes, I fucking do. So
fuck off and leave me to it.”

“Do you think we’ll pick
anything up?” Karen asked.

“If there’s anything to pick
up.”

Karen looked over the edge of
the building. The street below was swarming with zombies. Only in
odd patches could she see the road.

“
You’ve been up here an
age,” Billy said.

“Yeah, I worked on those
first,” Thomas said, pointing at a group of modified water
bottles.

Billy turned round to see two
odd-looking constructions. Wandering over, he took a closer look.
Evidently Thomas had taken it upon himself to address the water
shortage. There were two of the empty five gallon plastic bottles
sitting upright. Duct taped to the neck was half of a second
bottle.

“What’s that for?” Karen
asked.

“If it rains, the water will be
caught at the top here and funnelled into the bottle below,” Billy
explained.

“What’s that then?” Karen asked
dismissively.

Sitting beside the two
rain catchers were the discarded bottom halves of the decapitated
bottles. To the casual eye they looked like refuse, the leftover
parts from the complete project. One of the halved bottles sat on a
black plastic trash bag as if itsonly purpose was to stop the bag
blowing away in the wind, but the other halved bottle had a white
plastic bag taped around it to form a gaiter
.

“I don’t know,” Billy admitted.
“Thomas?”

“It’s the start of a
reclamation system,” Thomas said.

“Recli-what?” Karen asked.

“You piss in the clear tub.
Leave it in the sun and clean water evaporates off it. You cover
the other tub with the back bag and it condenses back into water,”
Thomas explained.

Karen exclaimed, “What?!
Drinking piss?!”

“Yeah, drinking fucking piss,
Karen,” Thomas replied.

“I have to admit, it’s a good
idea,” Billy said.

“
I wasn’t looking for
your approval, Billy,” Thomas said. “I was looking for a way to not
die of thirst. Those bottles of water downstairs ain’t gonna
last.”

“I’m not pissing in that,”
Karen said, looking at the narrow neck at the end of the
gaiter.

“
You’re not supposed to.
You piss in a bucket or something first, then you pour it in,”
Thomas said, shaking his head.

“Does it work?” Billy
asked.

“I haven’t finished yet!”
Thomas snapped. “It needs some hosing to connect the two tubs
up.”

“Well, then that’s something
Karen and I can do, isn’t it, Karen?” Billy said.

“I suppose,” Karen forced out
past her apathy.

Billy made to leave the roof,
but Karen was slow to follow. She stopped just before the access
door.

“
There was nothing on the
satellite TV yesterday. Do you really think you’ll pick something
up on that?” she asked, pointing at the bundle of stripped
electrical components.

“Maybe,” Thomas said, not
looking up from the wire he was splicing in an attempt to ignore
them.

“If the satellite was down,
wouldn’t the radio be, too?" Karen asked.

“
We won’t know until we
try,” Thomas said. “Now fuck off and leave me to it.”

“Your attitude stinks,” Billy
said.

Thomas looked up from his
work. “Yeah, well, this whole fucking show stinks.”

“
Come on, Karen. Let’s
see if we can find some tubing,” Billy said, ushering the
schoolgirl off the roof.

They entered the gloom of the
building and walked down the short set of stairs to the top
landing.

“I don’t need you to babysit
me,” Karen complained.

“Then why did you pick a fight
with a twelve year-old?” Billy asked.

Karen shrugged her
shoulders.

“Do you think you can stay out
of trouble?” Billy asked.

“I suppose.”

“
Good. I’ll be making
lunch in a couple of hours. How about you go looking for a hose or
some plastic tubing, then come help me with the
cooking?”

“I don’t do cooking,” Karen
lied to get away from Billy.

Billy gave the adolescent
a big smile. “Fine. Then you’re on washing up and since we don’t
have water to spare, that’s going to be harder than you’d think.
Now take a look around the place; see if you can’t find that hose
for Thomas.”

“
Where will I find
that
?”
Karen whined.

Billy bent down to meet
Karen at eye level. “I don’t know.
That’s
why I said go and look.”

With that, he made a wave with
his hand to shoo Karen about her task.

Karen looked at Billy with a
mocking side-on squint.

“Fine,” she said in a singsong
tone and walked off in the direction of the toilets.

***

“
Smells good,” Colin
commented. “What is it?”

“
It’s
Pasta alla Billy
,”
Billy announced.

“
So what’s in
Pasta alla Billy
?" Colin asked, wafting steam up his nostrils with his
hand.

“
Dried pasta.” Billy
picked up the plastic bag. “Penne-style. With canned tomato, some
Italian herb mix, dried peas, and onion.”

“No meat?” Colin asked, rubbing
at his sore neck.

“No, I decided to cook a
vegetarian meal. We’re all out of fresh venison and I didn’t think
the cans of Spam or the chicken roll would suit on account of them
being white meats.”

“Is Spam a red meat?” Sharon
asked.

“Is Spam actually meat?” Billy
countered.

“Well, it sells well in
Hawaii,” Colin said.

“You don’t say?” Billy said,
ladling a spoonful into a camping bowl.

“I hear Hawaii is nice this
time of year,” Colin said.

“Is it?” Sharon asked, stepping
up beside him.

“I have no idea. I’m winging it
now,” Colin said, smiling.

“Your neck still bothering
you?” Sharon asked.

“Yeah, still stiff from the
whiplash, I guess.”

“Did you find any
painkillers?”

“Nope, just been putting up
with it.”

“I’ve got a couple of aspirin
in my drawer, I’m sure.”

“That would be great, but if
you could find some Ibuprofen I think they’ll be more
effective.”

“
Liz, Melissa, bring your
bowls over. Lunch is up,” Billy called out over the office. “Would
one of you tell Thomas his lunch is ready?”

“Fill me a bowl and I’ll take
one up for him,” Colin said.

“What—and fuel his
antisocialism?” Billy said.

“
Might as well. The more
he stays out of the way, the better,” Sharon said, pulling open her
drawer.

“Keep your friends close and
your enemies closer,” Billy said, waving the spoon as he did.

“
He has a point,” Colin
said. “He could be up to anything. The more we can keep tabs on
him, the better.”

“That’s funny—I was sure there
were some aspirins in here,” Sharon said, rummaging through her
drawer.

“Don’t fret about it, Sharon,”
Colin said.

“Wait. John always had
painkillers in his drawer. I’ll just check.”

“
It’s no biggie. They
probably won’t do much anyway,” Colin lightly protested.

“At least they’ll take the edge
off,” Sharon said as she opened up John’s drawer. “Well, would you
look at that?”

“What is it?” Colin asked,
walking over.

“Did you say you packed
painkillers for your camping trip?” Sharon asked.

“Yeah.”

“What brand were they?”

Colin looked into the open
drawer.

“
Shit. That’s them,” he
said, scooping up a handful of foil and plastic blister packs.
“They’re empty?”

“That’s a lot of aspirin for
one person to take,” Sharon said.

“You don’t think he committed
suicide, too?” Colin’s voice wavered, unconvinced by his own
answer.

Sharon shook her head.
“He had access to the supplies. There’s no reason he couldn’t have
taken the pills, but…”

Melissa came up to Billy with
her bowl from the camping supplies.

“Your mother not hungry?" Billy
asked.

“She’s not here,” Melissa
said.

“What? Where is she?” Colin
asked urgently.

Melissa shrugged.

“And where’s Karen?” Sharon
said, looking about the office.

“She was supposed to find some
tubing, then give me a hand with the cooking, but I suppose she’s
just in too much of a sulk to help out,” Billy said. “You don’t
think something’s wrong, do you?"

“I don’t like this,” Colin
said. “I’d better go tell Thomas his lunch is ready and try to find
Liz and Karen, too.”

“I’ll come with you,” Sharon
offered.

“Yeah, sure,” Colin said as he
opened the door to the landing.

He stepped through and stopped.
There was a rasping noise coming from the gents’ toilets. Long and
rhythmic, like asthmatic lungs struggling for breath. Colin turned
round and walked back into the office.

“Billy!” Colin shouted past
Sharon.

“Yeah, what?!”

“Get the guns,” Colin said.

Billy dropped the spoon and
abandoned his simmering pot. He grabbed his shotgun and raced to
the door.

“
What is it?” he
asked.

“Has anyone checked on John’s
corpse?” Colin asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” Billy
said.

“I heard something coming from
the toilet.”

“
I thought Liz taped him
up just in case?”

“Me, too.”

“Okay, same as last night,”
Billy said, nodding at the door.

“Didn’t you bring me a gun?”
Colin asked with a despondent tone.

“I didn’t think to, buddy,”
Billy admitted.

“Okay,” Colin said, looking
back at the office space where the assault rifles were kept.

“
It shouldn’t matter.
It’s just one of them. And besides, we’ve done this before,” Billy
said.

“I suppose.”

Colin took up his position just
like last night. This time, though, Billy didn’t bother with a
countdown. He just nodded when he was ready.