Page 15 of Dyana
“That’s a good idea,” I replied. “We’ll need a way out of here, too.” We reached the parking lot without any issue, and when we got there, I saw why. We crouched in the tree line to get a lay of the land and figure out how to proceed. Zombies littered the lot, likely led there by escaping students.
“Dyana drives a blue Explorer with a discernible ass dent on the hood,” Jack told us.
“How do you know it’s from an ass?” Bryce asked.
Jack smirked. “Because I put it there.”
“My man,” Bryce chuckled, clapping Jack on the back.
I rolled my eyes. Even in the apocalypse, some things never change.
“Evan, find us a car. Bryce, I’ll take the left side; you take the right. Look for Dyana’s car. God, I hope we don’t find it.”
They snuck off and left me alone. My task should have been an easy one. Zombies made it more complicated. Before leaving the trees, I scoped out what I thought would be a good car to take, a bright red Ram. I ran to the truck and crouched by the wheel to make sure none of the zombies had spotted me. When none of the zombies came for me, I crawled to the driver’s door and pulled on the handle. The door opened, but the car alarm immediately began to blare. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck! That wasn’t what you wanted in the zombie apocalypse.
I ran from the truck as fast as I could, weaving between the other parked cars to avoid the zombies headed toward the truck. Ok. That wasn’t the worst possible outcome as long as we kept quiet the rest of the time. I paused near one of those cars from the hamster commercials and decided that was as good as any at this point. I held my breath as I opened the door and was relieved when the alarm didn’t go off this time. I climbed inside and shut the door so a zombie couldn’t sneak behind me while I worked. I started digging through my toolkit when I caught movement in the rearview mirror.
I spun around and nearly shit myself when a zombie lunged toward me. I avoided it by inches as I fumbled for the door handle. I fell out of the car and kicked the door shut just in time. The zombie inside slammed against the window, but the sound couldn’t be heard over the car alarm still going off. Fucking hell. This was supposed to be easy, but it had become anything but. I spotted a black Wrangler toward the end of the parking lot and approached it. By now, most of the zombies in the lot were by the Ram, so I didn’t have to crawl around; however, it was only a matter of time before the sound attracted other zombies around campus. I didn’t want to be here for that.
I peeked into the windows to check for zombies this time before opening the door. Only this time, the door was locked. I pulled the Slim Jim from my bag and jammed it into the door. After a few seconds, I unlocked the door.
“Who the fuck are you?”
I jumped and spun to face Bryce. “Don’t fucking sneak up behind me!”
“Sorry,” he chuckled, “but seriously, why do you know how to break into cars?”
I shrugged as I opened the door and pressed the unlock button. “I was a curious kid growing up.”
“Curious about Grand Theft Auto?” Bryce asked as he stood in the doorway and kept watch.
“Just curious,” I replied as I hammered a screwdriver into the ignition to unlock the wheel.
Bryce bent his head down to look at what I was doing. “Right, curious.”
He stood as I unscrewed the paneling on the steering column. It was true. As a kid, I wanted to learn everything there was to know, and after watching someone hotwire a car on TV, I was determined to learn how to do it too, much to my parents’annoyance. I practiced on their cars, and they weren’t nearly as excited about my accomplishment as I was.
“Jack! Over here!”
Once Jack got into the passenger seat, Bryce shut my door and hopped in the backseat. “I didn’t see her car,” Jack said.
“Me neither,” Bryce replied.
“That means she got out of here and is probably headed home. She’s safe,” I said. “That leaves us with one question: Where are we going? Do we follow her home or check on our parents?” I twisted the wires together and then touched the starter wire to the bunch. The Jeep roared to life, and I quickly wrapped the wires in electrical tape. Once I finished, I sat up and looked at my friends, who stared at me like I had two heads.
“Seriously,” Bryce said, “who the fuck are you?”
Present
I stretched out on my sleeping bag with a groan. Dyana had let us eat the entire batch of biscuits. I had mine with butter and honey. It was the best thing I had eaten in years. I didn’t think I’d ever eat butter again. After finding out that Cora was sitting on a gold mine of food storage, I was curious about what else she had that I didn’t think I’d eat again. Jack was still sitting at the table watching Dyana, but Bryce lounged on the floor nearby like me. The squawk of a radio in the corner of the room made us all jump, and Dyana’s small giggle at our response made me smile.
She walked to the radio and picked up the receiver. “What’s up?”
“How’s it going?” Cora asked.
“Fine. I finished the bread for the week. I can bring it down in a few minutes,” Dyana replied.
“Don’t come alone. It’s dark out,” Cora ordered. “Have one of the guys come with you.”
