SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

54

LAURIE

Clutching her knife in one hand and the purse containing the last of her pills in the other, Laurie Cook followed Charlie down the gloomy, silent corridor of Hanscom Middle School. Her companion moved with the sharpened awareness of a combat veteran, thoroughly checking each classroom before continuing. Compared to him, she felt like an orangutan plodding along in clown shoes.

It was a relief that one of them knew what they were doing. Keeping them alive had been Richard's thing. Hers was gracefully enduring the pain that came with not being dead.

Her inflamed cheeks itched from their brief exposure to sunlight during the hike south. The oversized, floppy bonnet she wore provided minimal comfort from the harsh UV rays sparking a flare-up in her condition. It did nothing to quell the constant ache in her joints that made every step she took feel as though she were walking through a shower of broken glass.

Sometimes, particularly today, she had to wonder if she wasn't anything more than a menace to everyone around her. Taking care of her certainly hadn't made Richard's life any easier.

A subdued woof echoed down the empty hallway behind her. She quickly checked over her shoulder. Judith jerked Rusty's leash to quiet the dog while watching them from the common area with Lily and the kids. Meanwhile, Richard and Danielle set off to explore the east wing, leaving Charlie and Laurie to scope out the west.

The building presumably was empty on the day the world went to Hell. There wasn't a smidgen of blood anywhere to be found. The only indication that anyone had even passed through here in weeks came from the muddy boot prints scuffing the dusty, tiled floor. In the classrooms, the army had welded and nailed together every desk, table, and chair to fashion a rudimentary barrier for the exposed ground-floor windows. Bare military cots occupied the floor space they left behind. Piles of books and papers filled the corners of the rooms. Etchings of tactical plans covered the chalkboards, along with a few crudely drawn shlongs and a dirty limerick or two. Everything here smacked of a military occupation, albeit a bloodless one.

Despite that, they needed to make sure it was safe. From time to time, Charlie would hover outside a doorway with his hand raised. His signal for her to stay put and keep watch while he went to investigate a leftover rut sack or a half-opened footlocker or something. He always returned empty-handed and discouraged.

As they ventured further from the others, she felt an almost irrational need to strike up a conversation with him. After spending the past couple of weeks with only Richard and Danielle to keep her company, the last thing she ever expected to see again was a handsome boy around her age. Most guys she dated ran off as soon as they realized her bad days grossly outnumbered her good ones. If the apocalypse served any purpose, she hoped it might finally bring an answer to her romantic prayers.

So far, it wasn't working out that way. After thoroughly prepping herself beforehand by pumping Danielle for information on her crush, Charlie still hadn't made any effort to approach her beyond his initial greeting. Danielle had even elected to go off with Richard, knowing that it gave the two of them a chance to become better acquainted. Her young friend's attempt at matchmaking had escaped Charlie's notice entirely.

"Say, uh..." She clamped her mouth shut. The eerily silent passage startled her with its amplification of her awkward, pitched voice.

Charlie studied her reddened face. "Is something wrong?" he whispered. "Did you hear something?"

She shook her head, feeling the rash on her cheeks smolder. "Not that," she uttered. "I was just... I wanted to... um..."

His stare made her feel like a piece of brittle glass under a hot flame. She dropped her eyes to the floor and tried to pluck the words from her stupid head, but couldn't come up with anything that didn't make her sound like a foolish, smitten child.