le consequence of the plague that has decimated our numbers. Misery draw

eeth rotten and black. Or so I'm told- I've only ever seen them from a dis

s are carri

they feast. No one knows where they go when the sun rises. Once, we might have banded together to

f her high-tar cigarette from her nostrils, her eyes

dump their loads over the fresh graves in the cemetery. Men ye

ghouls away. It'll only drive them to desperation." She looks me up and down appraisingly, in

. "They've never eate

er heel like a bug. She spits, the phlegm dark and stringy, and shakes her head. "I didn'

to her trailer, the flimsy door slamming behind her. I turn my attention back to the cement t

lose the blinds so that I can get some shut-eye- we've all become a bit nocturnal since the ghouls arrived. I cannot find sleep in my own bed, and so I slink down the hall to my parents' bedroom- the

n, when they disperse to hide from the light. We gather in small groups in the town s

head toward the larger

ground, and die. Or hibernate. I

acy, "if they don't leave, we can wait for the

h was a few years above me in grade school, but even then, he seemed dangerous- "half-cocked" was how my father

ly one of them l

says. "They won't just go away.

with eyes that shift as he talks. "I've

h sarcasm. He turns to the rest of us, and I look away as his

as though there's been an unspoken agreement

ve you t

might have made a difference. But no one had the energy to care, because you'd all buried your hea

piercing, and there's a question i

suggest we do

into the mountains or the desert, find some place that wasn't populated bef

heavier at the thought. There's so little left any

you left yet?" ask

r you, slice them clean through the neck," he says, swiping it through the air i

ss the dirt. Whatever meager wind that had filled our sails

hammer and some nails and spend the next hour boarding up the windows of the house with some old two by

c habit- I intend to st

h everything closed up, and I sweat as I sit in the corner, clutching a large butcher knife- the closest thing I have to El

g the weathered siding. The efforts increase now, slow and persistent, and I can feel my heart fluttering against my ribs like a

't-let-them-in, don't-let-them-in, don't-let-them-in. I tremble in the dark

the slats on the windows, attempting to fit their fingers through the boards. A t

oan that rise

ives a bit more. I whimper, and then bite my lip to k

orce myself to take slow breaths, to steady myself for whatever comes n

this all began, I wish th

I can hear Mrs. Morris yelling profanities, the thuds reverberating as furniture and belongings are scattered in her haste to escap

de now. "You rotten, yellow-bellied slimy basta

them shuffling away with their prize, and I slide

ut aside from the occasional gunshots

ilence, I mak

of gasoline, say a prayer, and turn the key in the ignition, pumping the clutch. It catches, and I ease the truck slowly onto the pavem

uncing my arrival. As I approach, a lanky figure detaches itself from the shadows of the one story house and walks toward a large Ford parked

the bed of the truck. He cocks an eyebrow as I kill the engine and

you want?

n a notch. "To

ckles.

the grand speech in the squa

m doing. You can do it too,

y n

s, shrugging. "Yo

" I glance at the truck behind him, hitched up to a large horse trailer. "I can drive stick shift. I

n his cheek as he sizes me up.

was in the same grade

etermined. "I still have to load up the animals. There's a milk cow and three sows. You can put the rest of

l arc into the sky. Finally, he tosses me

country road, instructing me to drive no faster than 40 miles an hour. "I don't

oming in the distance like a m

rtment and smooths one out on his legs, and I can see a spindly route he's traced with red pen. "It has a well and plenty of land for farming.

in," I co

bluster. "We can't take the highways, a

f we do all that, we won't

ook. "It'll ta

. "What the hell are we g

nowhere and park. We'll sleep in the cab. With a

iv

't want

just told me. "You kn

stop them. So I learned something, but at a cost." He clear

sleep, my head wedged against the window. When I wake, it's dusk, and we'v

s. "I'll let out the cow-she needs t

ht floods the cab, illuminating everything in sof

turbed. Still, something woke me. And the hairs

the sounds of crickets and tree frogs. A m

ij

nd me. I swallow hard, and glance again to the driver's side. The keys sit

hut and shake my he

t has to be now. I reach down and grab it, surprised by its weight, and exit the ca

follow, the grasses

think, or to second gu

nd, kicking at a ghoul. Three of them surround him in

ons. Ignore the fear, Rachel

and my next slice is not so clean. I aim for the neck but meet shoulder, the machete stuck there. The ghoul grabs my hand and screams at me, its eyes

back on its haunches, springing to attack. I hold steady, and will my hand to stop shaking. When it jumps, I meet it with a

off of him and hold out the machete. Elijah's eyes meet mine, bla

quickly as

pt Elijah's hand up. He's breathing heavily, and we walk sl

cab that he turns to me and speaks. "I'm sorry for wh

I admit, my voice tinged with shame. "And you might have been right, a day or two ago. But

e headrest as he studies me.

blood still pulsing through my veins. It's only when I spea

le at

ided t