After 30 Days

Twenty-One - Day 41*

Being in the grey house reminded me of the days when it had just been Shawn and I, back at the summer camp in the mountains. Except now he was much more than a friendly stranger who I was surviving with.

We hadn't been alone together for that long, really, but there had been something simple about that time that I hadn't even known I was missing. It all came back to me quickly in the grey house.

It had only taken a minute or two to walk to the house. Peering in windows and knocking on doors to check for zombies had indicated that the house was clear, but we'd gone in slowly just in case. The house was small and it didn't take long to search it for any hidden, nasty surprises.

The only indication that anything bad had gone down there was a long dried blood stain on the living room carpet. The kitchen had an assortment of canned food and bottled water stacked on the counter. The closets in the upstairs bedrooms were still full of clothes that fit well enough to make do. Anything clean was better than the clothes that we had on. And a small first aid kit found next to the food had just what I needed to clean Shawn's arm again and wrap it in a new bandage. The bottle of antibiotics I found underneath the roll of new bandages was worth it's weight in gold.

The queen size bed in the master bedroom felt like heaven when we collapsed on it together and slept an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

I woke up wrapped in warm arms, having no idea how much time had passed. The absolute silence rang in the room. I held still and reveled in the quiet. Being surrounded by so many other people all of the time meant that it was never completely quiet. Someone was always moving around, talking, or snoring. It was a relief to just lay there and hear nothing.

I finally peeled my eyes open when the need to find what passed as a bathroom in the house made staying still impossible. The room was dark, but not the absolute blackness of the middle of the night. A hint of grey dawn made it possible to see well enough to avoid stubbing a toe.

We had apparently slept through the rest of the day, and the whole night.

In the corner, near the closet that had yielded my new clothes, Rex was curled up on an oversized chair. Attentive as usual, he lifted his head to watch me wiggle out from under the arm that was flung across my waist.

The plush carpet hushed the sound of our footsteps as Rex followed me through the house toward the bathroom. He stopped to shake out his fur, and the jingle of his tags sounded too loud in the silence. I stopped in my tracks and turned back to pull the collar over the dog's head.

Those tags weren't going to call a zombie to us ever again.

There was no way to know if we may have avoided the zombies at the carnival if we had just been quieter. Maybe the outcome would have been the same no matter what we did. But I couldn't help but to think that if we had just moved faster, kept quieter, maybe Shawn wouldn't have gotten that bite.

I left the collar on the corner of the bathroom sink and used the bucket that had been left there. Eyeing the thing with distaste, I decided that I was never going to get used to not having indoor plumbing. I pulled the door shut behind me when I left the room.

The early dawn let me see Rex's shadowy form waiting at the top of the steps for me. I knew that he would want to go out, so I headed for the stairs, trying to stretch sore muscles as I went.

Most of the injuries that had been causing me problems were thankfully healing well. The deep gouges to my back from crawling under a fence were barely noticeable any more. Even the minor gun shot to my upper arm hurt less every day. My biggest issue was the deep bruising that still covered my abdomen. Being kicked by a big man who was wearing boots had left its mark. I tried to stretch gently from side to side while I waited for the dog to come back in.

A distant growl broke the morning hush. I could see Rex out in the middle of the overgrown yard. I didn't think that the noise had come from the dog.

His uncanny ability to read a situation saved me from having to call out to him. Rex turned away from whatever he had been watching and jogged back through the open door. I was thankful that the animal was now able to move quietly. Easing the door shut, I turned the lock and backed away from the curtain covered window.

Being inside the house was much safer than being outside, but bitter experience had taught me that you should never take for granted that a zombie couldn't get in.

We had double checked that all of the curtains were completely closed the day before. So long as we were careful, there shouldn't be any indication from the outside that anyone was in the house. That was the plan, anyhow, but I didn't feel great confidence as I stood waiting to see if the growling zombie would attack.

Long minutes ticked by. When I couldn't stand not knowing for another second, I crept to a window and pulled the curtain aside just far enough to see out.

The sun was beginning to break over the horizon. I could easily see that there was not a zombie anywhere near the front of the house. Winding my way to the back, I repeated my careful peek out of a window into the back yard.

I found the zombie. It was wandering aimlessly through the backyard, not appearing to have a particular goal in mind. Far from fresh, it shuffled along slowly. The flesh exposed under torn clothes was blackening and distended. One arm was missing below the elbow.

It was a relief to see the condition the zombie was in. Once decay had started to really set in, they became mindless, plodding monsters. Still very capable of killing a person, but far less dangerous than those that retained some slight capacity for thought.

No zombie was ever going to be thought of as bright, but the fresh ones were terrifying for their ability to still attempt to reason.

So long as we stayed quiet, this one was not likely to ever notice that there were people inside the house. I was going to have to be sure to double check that it wasn't around before letting Rex out in the future though. It was a lucky break that it didn't appear to have noticed him this time.

I watched the zombie amble it's way around the yard for a while, before it finally headed out of view. A few minutes longer, and I was as certain as I could be that it had moved on, for now. Letting the curtain fall back closed, I patted Rex on top of his furry head and headed back for the stairs. The only thing that held any appeal for me at that moment was climbing back into that bed beside the man who had slept clear through the sun rising.