“So you were already planning on leaving Mary?” Susie chimed in.
“Yeah, I was. I couldn’t take it anymore. I kept thinking about Jasmine and how different my life with her would have been. I needed to go find her.”
“And when the dead rose it made it difficult to leave?”
“Yes, very. I told Mary that she and Eddie would be safe in the basement while I went to go find Jasmine. I should have known that by me leaving it would have made Mary go crazy.”
“It’s not entirely your fault, Kyle,” Susie said. “We’re all human and we need that comfort.” Susie checked the food one last time. “Okay everything is ready. Can you help grab some of the dishes and take them to the table?”
Kyle nodded and walked to the grill. He grabbed the dishes and walked behind Susie. He sat the food on the table and took a seat across from her.
“Should we wait for Victor?” Susie said.
“No that kid probably hasn’t pooped in days. Let him sit on the can for a while.”
“Thanks for sharing that,” Susie said as she dug into the food.
Victor sat on the lavatory, looking through a magazine that was tucked into a corner. It was hard for him to see anything with only one scented candle lighting up the room. He put it down and flushed the toilet. A can of air freshener sat on the counter by the sink. He grabbed it and began spraying. The windows were boarded closed, so the only thing he could do about the smell was to mask it. There was a bucket next to the sink with soapy water. He figured it was to wash his hands. Victor rinsed his hands and dried them on a towel.
He slowly opened the door and looked around. He could hear Kyle and Susie talking, as well as silverware tapping plates. He slowly walked across to the door in front of him. He opened it and looked inside. The room was pitch black. He couldn’t see anything. Victor turned back around and grabbed the lit candle in the bathroom. He slowly walked back into the dark room with the candle and looked around. The room had a large bed in it; a dresser was nestled into a corner with hair products across the top. There was a large pile of dirty clothes in a corner. He looked, but there was no sign of Angel.
Victor quietly left the room and walked across to the door next to the bathroom. He opened the door and a disgusting odor seeped through the small cracks. Victor quickly held his breath and opened the door. The room was pitch black as well. He shone the light into the room and looked around. This was definitely a little girl’s room. There was a twin bed with what looked like piles of blankets on top of it. Next to it was a dresser with dolls and plush animals spread across the top. An eerie Barbie table was directly in front of the closet. There were many small dishes with rotted food on the table. Victor couldn’t hold his breath anymore and exhaled. When he inhaled he nearly passed out from the smell. He quickly searched the room, but no one was there. He looked closely at the pile of blankets. Sticking out of the top was a little girl’s head.
I found her, he thought.
“Hello? Angel,” he said softly. “Wake up.”
The girl didn’t respond. Victor reached in to tap the top of her head. He felt something squishy and quickly pulled back. He shone the light closer to the girl, revealing a small open hole on the top of her head. Victor gagged as he backed away. He quickly ran out of the door and closed it behind him.
His face was as white as a ghost. The little girl was dead and judging by the smell, she had been rotting for days. Victor tried to compose himself. He breathed calmly and slowly. He had to tell Kyle what he had seen without Susie knowing. Victor walked into the bathroom and put the candle back. He turned, dunked his goo-filled hand into the bucket of soapy water, and began walking back toward the dining room. He grabbed Kyle’s shotgun as he walked.
Susie and Kyle were sitting at the table enjoying their meal. Victor came walking into the room. He did a great job hiding his terror.
“That smells great,” he said sitting the gun down next to the table. “Much better than what I just smelled.”
Susie stared at him questioningly for a second.
“It smelled like something crawled up my butt and died.”
Kyle began to laugh hysterically with food in his mouth. Susie looked at him and squinted.
Kyle stopped laughing and said, “That was rude, Victor. Now apologize to Susie and sit down.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Susie,” Victor said as he sat down.
“It’s okay, Victor,” she said. “Boys will be boys. Some never grow up.” She looked at Kyle, who was stuffing his face again.
Victor sat on the table, not touching any of the food.
“What’s wrong? I thought you were hungry?” Kyle asked Victor.
The boy looked back at him and gave him a stare as if mentally trying to tell him something was amiss. Kyle swiftly nodded and that was that.
Dinner continued. Susie was already stuffed and began clearing the table. Victor finally got a little bit of his appetite back. Susie grabbed the dirty plates and walked into the kitchen.
“So what happened?” Kyle asked quietly and quickly.
“I’ll have to tell you later when I’m not eating,” Victor said as Susie walked in.
“Tell you what?” Susie said.
“Oh, just telling me where his mother’s house is,” Kyle said quickly. That was the only thing that came to his mind.
“Okay then,” Susie said gathering some food on a small plate. “I’m going to take this to Angel.”
“Victor and I are going to go to the roof and see how bad the streets are. I never had much time to observe the dead.”
“That’s fine,” Susie said. I’m going to spend some time with Angel in her room. You guys can go up to the roof through the hole in the garage. Just do me a favor and don’t rile them up. I don’t feel like listening to banging and moaning the entire night.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kyle said. “Thanks again for dinner it was fantastic.” He smiled to show his appreciation.
Susie smiled and walked out of sight. Kyle stood up and headed toward Victor. He was stuffing his face with mashed potatoes.
“Come on,” he said, nearly lifting Victor out of his seat.
“Let me eat first, dude,” Victor replied.
“Eat later, come on,” he said as he grabbed his shotgun.
Victor stood to his feet and grabbed more food. He ate as they walked into the garage. There was a ladder leaning up against a wall and above that, was a hole big enough to fit two people through. Kyle held on to the shotgun as he climbed. Victor followed after Kyle was already on the roof. Victor made it through and was instantly bombarded by questions.
“What did you see? Was the little girl an Existing Dead chained up to a wall?”
“No,” Victor answered. “She’s dead. At first I thought that she was a bunch of blankets, but when I looked closer she had a hole on the top of her head.” Victor motioned to his head where the hole was.
“Fuck,” Kyle muttered. “I knew something was up.”
“What are we going to do?” Victor said.
“We’re going to keep playing along.”
“Play along?” Victor said, scared. “I’m not going to go back in there and pretend that Susie’s daughter is alive and well when I know she’s not.”
“We have no choice. Look,” Kyle said, pointing out onto the streets.
Susie was right. The streets were covered with Existing Dead. Just in Kyle’s field of vision there were a hundred of them. They shambled around without a care, totally ignoring the other dead around them. Every so often, one of them would moan, causing a chain reaction of endless groans.