At last he found the bedroom. Inside, Lenore was tossing some of her possessions into a bag. Her expression was a grim reminder of when he had done the exact same thing in his apartment. It wasn’t easy packing up a little piece of your life with no idea when – or if - you would return. Lenore had already gone through this once before with Hurricane Rita. She had left for the shelter believing she would have a home to return to, but that had not been the case.

Ken suspected that neither of them would be returning home this time. Zombies trumped hurricanes in the life-ruining category.

“Stop staring at me,” Lenore ordered grumpily.

“I can’t help it! I’m afraid if I look away I’ll lose you.”

“You’re being a silly girl,” Lenore chided. She snatched a magazine photo of Common off her mirror and shoved it into the bag.

Ken sniffled loudly as he realized any chances of either of them finding the man of their dreams were greatly diminished. The world had gone to hell and he was single. Freaking zombies had to ruin everything.

“We’re getting out of here and going somewhere safe. So stop crying and be tough.” Lenore fixed her stern gaze on him.

Even with a fresh wave of fear washing over him, Ken nodded and squared his shoulders.

Lenore lugged her bag out of the room and into the kitchen. Ken trailed closely behind her.

Tito was in the kitchen throwing canned and boxed food into plastic bags, mumbling in Spanish. He was swift in his movements and he seemed a little more agitated than he had been earlier.

“What’s wrong?” Ken shifted uneasily on his feet.

“I got through to my wife. She’s visiting family down in Laredo. It’s bad there, too. She took off in the car with my kids and my youngest brother. They’re having trouble getting out of the area.” His words were uttered in a tight, frustrated tone.

Ken felt his stomach tighten. He had the desire to run to the bathroom and throw up. If Tito left them now...

“Go get your grandma. We need to go. More of those things are out there.”

Lenore dropped her bag and hurried out of the kitchen to find her grandmother.

“Do you think we can make it?” Ken hated the way his voice cracked.

“No,” Tito answered honestly. “But we have to try. I have to get to my family. Chances are it’s not gonna happen, but I gotta try. I’m going to get you guys going to a safe place, then take off to find them.”

“I don’t want to...” Ken hesitated, feeling his bowels complaining at his dark thoughts. Dread was running through his blood. “I don’t want to get eaten.”

“I’ll put down anyone that gets caught by those things,” Tito vowed.

Ken felt his intestines twist around. “Uh, is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Do you want to be eaten alive or have a quick exit?” Tito looked at Ken directly in the eyes.

He gulped hard and looked down at Cher in her carrier. “Save my cat if they get me or do her, too.” He felt tears, hot and heavy, threatening to spill over his lashes.

Tito nodded curtly. He peeked through a sliver in the curtains. “We got lucky. They’ve moved on to the Thompson house. The back door is open.”

“But that means that the Thompsons are-”

Tito lifted one shoulder. “Yeah. Get used to it, kid. The world is royally fucked now and we gotta keep going.” He studied Lenore’s big bag on the floor. Without a word, he dumped all her possessions out and shoved the bags of food inside.

Ken started to protest, but thought better of it. Instead, he tried to put as much of her stuff into his already bulging bag.

From within her carrier, Cher hissed her disapproval at the whole process.

Lenore escorted her grandma into the kitchen. Ken saw her eyes flash with anger at Tito’s actions, but she held her tongue. Silently, she reached down and plucked the picture of Common up off the floor. She stuffed it in her jean pocket.

“I need my medicine,” Grandma whispered. There was an ashy undertone to her dark skin and her eyes looked a little glazed. She leaned against a counter and looked more fragile than she had a few minutes earlier.

Lenore immediately opened a drawer and pulled out several bottles. Tito filled up a glass with water for the older woman. The room was thick with tension as they all watched Lenore’s grandmother swallow her pills. The thumping on the front door was starting to fray Ken’s last nerve.

“I’ll be okay,” the older woman reassured them. “I just got a little upset. I could hear...Emily Thompson screaming.” She raised her hand and pressed it to her chest. “It just...”

“We’re going to get in the car and we’re going to go,” Tito said firmly. “I want all of you to stay calm.”

Ken’s heart was beating inside of his ribcage so hard it hurt. He just wanted to sit down and cry.

“I’m ready,” Lenore said in a determined voice. “I’m ready to go.”

“Maybe we could stay here and-” Lenore’s grandmother started to say in a tremulous voice.

Somewhere in the house, glass shattered and something large made a terrible racket as it fell. A low, terrifying moan reverberated through the house.

“The air conditioner in grandma’s bedroom,” Lenore stated simply. “It fell out of the window.”

“Time to go,” Tito said and headed in the direction of the door to the outside.

The garage was an add-on to the small house and accessible by a door that opened to a short sidewalk. Someone had erected a trellis on either side of the walkway for the sake of privacy. Ivy crawled up the latticework to create a green screen. The recent winter months had taken its toll on the ivy and it was just now beginning to flourish again.

Tito hesitated as he looked out the window at the short walkway to the garage. “The garage door is shut, right?”

“Yeah,” Lenore assured him.

“And it’s got an electric door opener?”

“Uh, no.”

Tito’s shoulders tensed slightly, then he nodded. “Okay, here is the plan. I’m going first. When I open the door into the garage, Grandma then Ken goes through. Lenore, you come last. You carry the shotgun. When we get into the garage, Grandma and Ken, get into the backseat of the car-”

“I get carsick in the back,” Ken protested before he realized how ridiculous that sounded.

Tito gave him a fierce look, then continued. “Lenore, open the passenger door. I’ll open the driver’s door. You stand right next to the passenger door and cover me while I open the garage door. As soon as it’s up far enough for the car to get through, we both get into the car, and get out of here. Everyone got that?”

Ken nodded even though he felt a little confused. His body wouldn’t stop shaking and it was beginning to annoy him. He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and switched the cat carrier to his other hand. His stomach was knotting again. If only he could have a few minutes to sit down and catch his breath.

“This is gonna be simple. Okay? We do this and we get out of here,” Tito said in a calm voice. He snatched the keys hanging next to the back of the door. “Now, which key is what?”

Lenore stepped forward and showed him. Tito yanked all the rest of the keys off and left the only two that mattered hanging on the ring. Lenore’s grandmother was still leaning against the counter, but she looked a little better than she had moments ago.

Tito grabbed the bag of food and slung it over his strong shoulders. He was a small man, but he was finely muscled from either hard work or good workouts. Tito regarded the three people staring at him with a slight smile on his lips.

“C’mon. Today is fucked up enough. It can’t get much worse.” He unlocked the door and opened it.

Sunlight streamed in through the trellis on either side of the walkway. It was an almost-serene scene. The garage door, painted a light blue, waited on the other side.

“See. Easy.” Tito stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Instantly, hands reached through the trellis.

15.

Escape

His gun arm captured by the zombie, Tito swore angrily. Lenore and Ken froze in terror as a creature with no face struggled to pull Tito’s arm through the trellis. Grandma raised her revolver and fired a single shot. Lenore jumped, startled by the sound.

“Grandma!”

“Got ‘em,” Grandma said triumphantly.

The shot had splintered the trellis near the zombie’s head and the corpse hung limply against it. Ken mouthed the word “wow” as he gazed at Grandma in surprise.

Tito swore as he pried the now truly dead thing’s fingers from his arm. “C’mon! Get into the garage!”

Lenore ducked into the ivy-draped walkway, ignoring the dead zombie listing against it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw more zombies stumbling toward them. She pushed Ken along with one hand, clutching the shotgun with the other.

“Move it!”

“Be careful of Grandma!” Ken snapped back.

Tito deftly unlocked the door and ducked into the garage. Her grandmother glowered at the zombies moving toward the walkway for a moment before following him inside.