'Til Death Do Us (A)Part: Love (and Sex) In the Zombie Apocalypse

     Vinnie’s apartment was not at all what Maddie had expected.

     Taking in the paraphernalia displayed on the walls and bookshelf, she turned to him, surprised. “You collect baseball stuff?”

     “You were expecting a military bunker?”

     “No.” When he raised an eyebrow, she blushed. “Okay, yeah.”

     He laughed. “I wasn’t always in the Army, you know. I played in high school. My dad used to take me to games.”

     “Mm.” Musing, Maddie walked around the small living room, peering at his possessions. There were a few team photos, an old trophy and two signed balls on a corner shelf, mixed in with books on the history of the sport and player autobiographies. “Have you read all of these?” she asked.

     “Surprised I can read?”

     Maddie drew back at the slight bitterness in his tone. Before she could reply, Caleb appeared in the doorway, Summer leaning heavily into his side. Vinnie went immediately to help.

     “Bring her in here,” he said, guiding them toward his bedroom. “She can lie down for a while.”

     Maddie watched them help the girl into the bed, brow knit with concern. Summer’s arm had continued to bleed on the drive over; the rate of the flow had slowed significantly, but she’d still soaked through another change of bandages before they’d made it across town. They’d had to resort to using the t-shirt she’d discarded the first time she’d been in the car, after the gauze from Jessie’s medicine cabinet had run out.

     Looking at the girl’s face, Maddie wondered how much blood she’d already lost. She seemed paler than she had earlier, the circles under her eyes so dark she looked as though she’d been sucker-punched. She should be at the hospital.

     After he was done re-wrapping her arm, Vinnie propped it on a pillow to elevate it. Her eyes closed as soon as the covers were pulled over her; within moments, she was asleep. Caleb moved to sit beside her, but Vinnie restrained him gently. “Let her rest,” he said, keeping his voice low. “We’ll check on her in a bit.”

     Clearly reluctant, Caleb nodded his head and allowed himself to be led back into the living room, where he collapsed into a chair. Maddie squeezed onto the small couch, giving her sister a shove to make her move over. Once Vinnie had taken his own seat, wheeling a computer chair over to be nearer to the group, she said what she assumed was on everyone’s mind.

     “Keeping her here is irresponsible. She’s going to bleed to death.”

     Caleb hitched in his breath, but said nothing. Vinnie merely stared, dark eyes boring into her. When the silence stretched on, she grew impatient. “Well?! We can’t just sit here and wait for her to die!”

     “He was right.” Caleb’s words were slow, his voice shaky. “We already know what’s going to happen. Nobody can help her.”

     “Don’t be ridiculous,” Maddie snapped.

     “You said it yourself.” Caleb looked at her, tears in his eyes. “You’ve seen people get bit like that. They died. Even with doctors, they died.”

     “Well, yes, but…” Maddie sputtered. “We can’t do nothing!”

     “We’re keeping her comfortable.” Vinnie’s voice was steady and flat; Maddie shuddered at the lack of emotion. “That’s the best we can do. Until it’s over.”

     “Wait,” Jessie said, leaning forward. “So you really think she’s gonna die?”

     Vinnie ignored her, turning instead toward Caleb. “Tell us about the subway.”

     Caleb groaned.

     “We know you were lying,” Maddie said. “What didn’t you want her to know?”

     “Did you find Drake?” Vinnie asked.

     “Dirk,” Caleb corrected. He ran a shaking hand across his face. “No. Although it was…hard to tell.”

     “Why?” Jessie asked. “Was it dark?”

     They waited, the three of them staring expectantly, until finally he relented. “Okay. Okay, fine. I lied.”

     “What did you see?”

     “I don’t know what I saw.” He stared into space, his eyes taking on a far-away look. “I didn’t go all the way down. Didn’t have to. I could see the platform from the steps. There were-” He swallowed hard. “Everybody down there was dead.”

     Jessie was horrified. “Did the cops shoot them?!”

     Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Some of them were wearing uniforms. I think they were cops.”

     “A riot,” Maddie said. “Like at the pharmacy.” She heard the gunshot in the crowd again, could easily imagine how people who were trying to leave, get to safety, could turn on the police.

     “How many?” Vinnie asked.

     “I don’t know. There were…parts.”

     “Parts?” Jessie frowned. “What does that mean?”

     “Body parts,” Vinnie clarified. Caleb waited a moment, then nodded.

     “What the hell happened down there?” Maddie whispered, overcome with horror. “Was it…was it the dogs? Summer said there were dogs.”

     “I didn’t see any dogs,” Caleb said. “Dead or alive. But maybe. Some of the bodies looked….eaten.”

     Maddie’s skin crawled. She glanced at Vinnie, whose face remained as impassive as ever, before reaching for her sister’s hand. “Dogs do that,” she said, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Eat corpses.”

     “I saw that on tv once,” Jessie said. “Gross. Those poor people.”

     When Caleb opened his mouth to speak again Maddie shook her head, just once, to stop him. He slumped back in his chair, his face tired and sad. It was easy to forget, with the piercings and the attitude, that he was so much younger than they. She felt bad for pushing him to talk.

     Visions of what he’d described crowded her thoughts, and she felt suddenly ill. Jumping up, she rushed into the bathroom, barely making it before she was violently sick. It had been a long while since she’d eaten; her throat and chest burned as she threw up, again and again, until finally her stomach stopped cramping.

     Maddie slumped, her face resting against the cool tile of the tub, and waited for her bearings to return. She could hear the others talking quietly, the sound carrying through the thin door; she felt her face grow hot as she realized that they, in turn, could no doubt hear her. There’s no shame in getting sick, she told herself.

     Rising slowly, she was surprised by how shaky her hands and knees were. Gotta eat something. Her stomach rolled again at the thought of food, but she knew she’d have to choke something down soon. It was a miracle she didn’t have a migraine already.

     She bent over the sink, waiting for the water to run ice-cold before rinsing her mouth and splashing her face. When she straightened and looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help but flinch. With her messy hair and red face, water dripping down her chin, she looked like shit. She was looking around for a towel and a hair brush when there was a tap on the door.

     “Everything okay?”

     Reluctantly, she opened it, wishing she’d thought to crack the window and let out some of the sick smell. Vinnie didn’t flinch, however; he scanned her face, eyes filled with concern.

     “I just need a towel,” she said, lowering her head to stare at the floor. “And a brush.”

     “Hold on.” He stepped into the bedroom, carefully and quietly opening the door, and re-emerged a moment later. “No linen closet. I keep these in there.”

     “Thanks.” She took the hand towel first, patting her face dry, then the hair brush he offered her. “This is a woman’s brush,” she said.

     “Yeah?” He leaned against the door jam, watching her fuss in the mirror. “How ‘bout that.”

     “Is it your mom’s?” she asked, glancing at him quickly. His answering smirk made her blush, at the transparency of the question and her desire to know the answer.

     “Sure,” he agreed. “It’s my mom’s.”

     Maddie refused to look at him again, staring at her reflection instead. Idiot. She ripped the brush through her hair, wincing hard when it yanked at a sore spot on the back of her head.

     “You’re hurt,” he said. “Did I…?”

     Oh my god. She surprised them both by laughing. “It’s not from you,” she told him. “Keep your ego in check. Some dick at the pharmacy pulled a chunk out. Still hurts.”

     “You didn’t tell me that.” He came to stand behind her, the size of the bathroom crowding him up against her body. Pressed between him and the lip of the sink, she shivered.

     “It’s fine,” she told him.

     “Let me see.” Before she could protest further he had his hands in her hair, parting the strands carefully until he found the spot; he probed it gently and she winced again. “Sorry,” he said. “Looks like you ripped it open a little bit with the brush. We should clean it out, at least.”

     “Oh…..okay.” She blinked, trying to think straight, a hard thing to do with his hands on her. When he leaned into her further so he could reach the washcloth in front of her, she caught her breath.

     That’s just his zipper, she told herself sternly.

     “This might hurt,” he warned her.

     When he pressed the hot cloth to her scalp, she yelped. “Ow! That stings!”

     “I told you it would hurt.” He stroked her hair with his free hand, dabbing carefully with the cloth in the other. “Just relax.”

     Tingles raced down her spine. Scrunching her eyes closed, she willed herself not to move until he was finished. He’s an ass, she reminded herself. A crazy, crazy ass. He leaned into her again. With a big zipper.

     “All done,” he said finally, tossing the rag into the tub. With quick movements, he fluffed her hair a bit, then stepped back. “Well, it’s a little wet, but you should be fine.” He met her eyes in the mirror. “Just don’t let anybody pull it for a few days.”

     She was spared the difficulty of coming up with a response by her sister, who huffed impatiently in the doorway. “Are you two done? Some people need to use the bathroom.”

     “Sorry, sweetheart,” Vinnie said, stepping around her to leave. “It’s all yours.”

     Maddie remained leaning against the sink for a moment, not sure she could trust her weakened legs. When she finally turned to go, she caught the look on Jessie’s face and flinched back.

     “You can play doctor with him all you want,” the other girl said, brushing past Maddie. “It’s not going to work.”

     Maddie rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Jessica, do we have to do this? Do you have any idea what’s happening out there?”

     “I get it,” Jessie said. “I think I get it better than you do.”

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” Maddie demanded.

     Reaching around her sister, Jessie pushed the door shut. “They told me,” she said. “They told me the truth.”

     Maddie closed her eyes. “And you believed them.”

     “Well, yeah. I don’t understand why you don’t.”

     “Because I’m not an idiot, Jess.” She shook her head. “Zombies? Really? I’d hoped even you were smarter than that.”

     Jessie’s eyes flashed, hurt and anger evident on her face. “I’m not stupid,” she hissed. “You think you’re so perfect, with your money and your fancy job and your snobby fiancé. Look how right you were about all of that.” Maddie blinked, stung, as her sister went on. “You were wrong then, and you’re wrong now. And if you expect me to help you when you get into trouble and finally figure this shit out?” Jessie stepped back, her face hard. “You’re wrong about that too.”

     “Jessie-”

     “Get out,” Jessie said. “So I can pee.”

     Shoulders slumped, Maddie realized she’d make no headway with her sister right now, and turned to go. Opening the door, she paused.

     “Jessie?”

     “What?”

     “This is exciting for you right now. Like a story. Zombie Apocalypse with the Handsome Soldier, whatever.” She looked at Jessie, hoping she was listening. “But when that girl dies? It’s going to be real. And you’d better hope that I’m the one who’s right.”

     Vinnie and Caleb had to help the girl up the stairs; Maddie trailed behind, clutching both baskets and side-stepping blood as it dripped onto the steps ahead of her.

     “Which one is it again?” Vinnie asked, pausing when they’d reached the top.

     “To the left, 206. I’ll get the door.”

     Shifting the baskets, she let them in to her sister’s apartment.

     “Oh, you’re back! I wasn’t expecti-” Jessie’s exuberant greeting was cut off when she realized they weren’t alone. “What the fuck?!”

     The two men ignored her, steering the injured girl toward the sofa. Maddie glanced at her sister as she passed, and stopped dead.

     “Who the hell is that?” Jessie asked her.

     “What the hell are you doing?” Maddie asked in response. Her sister stood in the kitchen, clad only in a towel, an open bottle of vodka and a glass on the counter. “Are you drinking?”

     “Oh.” She at least had the good grace to blush. “It helps, you know, with the hangover.”

     “So does coffee,” Maddie said, not able to keep the disgust out of her voice.

     “It was just one shot,” Jessie insisted. “It’s not a big deal!”

     “Madelyn.” She turned toward Vinnie, who was staring at her impatiently. “We need the first aid stuff.”

     “Okay.” Maddie started to hand him the basket, then snatched it back with a groan. “Shit. All that’s in here is medicine.”

     “You didn’t get anything else?!”

     “I got distracted!” Maddie snapped at him.

     “I might have some things in the bathroom,” Jessie said.

     Vinnie gave her a curt nod. “Go look.” He gifted Maddie with a glare before turning his back.

     Maddie fumed. So she’d only had time to grab cough drops and some bottles of medicine; was that her fault? His basket was full of nothing but batteries, the hypocrite.

     When Jessie pushed past her, Maddie grabbed her arm. “Bandages, okay? Peroxide, if you have it.” She looked her sister up and down. “And put on some clothes.”

     Jessie rolled her eyes and flounced off. Maddie made her way into the living room, settling on the floor to listen to whatever explanation the girl was currently in the middle of giving.

     “-bway. The trains weren’t running, but Dirk, he thought we could use the tunnels anyway. To walk. He said homeless people do it all the time.”

     “That’s actually not a bad idea,” Vinnie said, musing.

     “Yeah, well, the cops thought of it too. We got down there and they were all over the place, saying we couldn’t get off the platforms. Threatening to arrest us. People started screaming and pushing, and a group of us just went for it. Right over the side.”

     “Is that how you got hurt?” Maddie asked her.

     The girl shook her head. “No, that happened once we were in. It was dark down there, except for, you know, the safety lights. We kept bumping into each other, walking on people’s heels. And then…” The girl teared up, her breath hitching in her chest; Caleb reached out to pat her arm. “Can’t we just fix her up?” he asked. “Does she have to do this?”

     “We have to know what happened,” Vinnie said, his voice flat and calm.

     “It’s okay.” The girl reached up to wipe her face, giving Caleb a tremulous smile. “I can tell.” She took a deep breath. “We ran up on some homeless people, I guess. A huge group of them. They have, like, cities down there? In the old tunnels? We must have got turned around, in the dark. They weren’t happy we were down there. Everybody started screaming, and fighting, and somebody grabbed me and, like, bit me. I think it was a person but they had dogs down there, you could hear the growling, so maybe it was a dog. I don’t know.” She wiped away more tears. “I turned around and ran back. To the platform, you know. A couple people followed. Dirk…”

     “That’s enough now,” Caleb said, taking her in his arms. She sobbed against his shoulder. “I can tell you the rest. Just, clean her up. Fix her.”

     “Give me that stuff,” Vinnie said, reaching out for the armful of supplies Jessie held. Maddie was surprised to see her sister; she’d been so transfixed by the girl’s story that she hadn’t heard her come back out of the bedroom. She was relieved to note that Jessie had traded the towel for jeans and a t-shirt.

     “So, what, she called you?” Vinnie asked, starting to work on the girl’s arm.

     “Yeah.” Caleb sat back, still gripping the girl’s hand. “She told me what happened, and where she was. I tried to wait for you guys, but you were taking forever.”

     “We weren’t gone that long,” Maddie said. “Don’t make it our fault.”

     Caleb blushed. “It felt like forever,” he amended. “I had to go get her, so I just…left. I took her to the ER, but she never even got looked at. We were there most of the night. Sick people went in first, I guess.”

     “And Dirk?” Vinnie finished cleaning the girl’s wound and started unwinding a roll of bandages. “Where is he?”

     “We went back to the station. She stayed in the car. I went down there.” Caleb hesitated for a moment, glancing quickly at his friend’s face. “Nobody was down there. Platform was empty.”

     Maddie knew immediately that he was lying. Whatever he’d seen down in the subway, he didn’t want the girl to know about it.

     Vinnie was also skeptical, albeit for different reasons. “You went down there alone? You?”

     Caleb puffed out his chest. “Yeah, man. I did. I’m not-” He shot Maddie a contrite look. “I’m not always a wuss.”

     “Mm.” Vinnie applied some tape to his bandaging job and sat back. “Well, it’s clean, and that should help stop the bleeding. She needs stitches, but that can’t be helped now.”

     “Thank you.” The girl seemed better now that her wound had been cared for, although Maddie still didn’t like the look of her – her face was very pale, her lips colorless. She realized with a start where she’d seen a look like that before. She looks like Jack did. Right before the end.

     Shifting uneasily, she forced her eyes away from the girl’s face. “What now?” she asked Vinnie.

     “Is your stuff packed?” When Jessie nodded, he clapped his hands. “Good. Now, we leave.”

     “There’s nowhere to go, man.” Caleb sat forward. “You know a way out of this?”

     Shaking his head, Vinnie said, “No. Not yet anyway. We’re going to my place.”

     “Can we…” The girl struggled back into a sitting position. “Can we go with you?” When Maddie and Vinnie exchanged a glance, she rushed on. “I know you’re pissed at Caleb, since, like, he stole your car. But he was helping me. We brought it back as soon as we could.”

     When they still hesitated, Jessie stepped in. “If you don’t take them,” she said, “I won’t go.”

     “Jessica,” Vinnie said in a warning tone. “This doesn’t involve you.”

     “The hell it doesn’t.” She put her hands on her hips, defiant. “You said yourself he’s just a kid,” she told Maddie. “And this girl is hurt. What are you going to do, leave them out on the steps when we go?”

     Maddie hung her head. Her sister was right, loathe as she was to admit it. Fine time for her to develop a sense of responsibility, she thought, irritated. She really didn’t want to take Caleb anywhere, given how her last moment of charitable concern had turned out, but she couldn’t see any other option. But the girl…

     “I need a cigarette,” she said suddenly, rising to her feet.

     “You what?” Jessie looked at her, confused. “What?”

     “Vinnie,” she continued, ignoring her sister, “Come out with me?”

     “Oh…kay?” Vinnie followed her to the balcony door. “What’s going on?”

     “Wait a minute,” she said, keeping her voice low.

     “Will you keep an eye on her?” Caleb asked Jessie, gesturing to his friend. “I’m going with them.”

     “No, that’s-” Maddie tried to protest, but her sister quickly agreed to his request. He followed them out onto the balcony, waiting until the door was shut before he rounded on both of them.

     “You can’t leave us here,” he said. “I know you’re still pissed at me, but please. At least drop us at a hospital or something.”

     “I don’t think being pissed is the problem,” Vinnie said, lighting a cigarette and passing it to Maddie. “Is it?”

     Maddie shook her head, watching the paper on her cigarette burn away. Both men stared at her, Vinnie smoking silently, Caleb on the verge of tears. Finally Vinnie said, “You don’t smoke, do you?”

     “Nope.” She brought the filter to her mouth and inhaled, letting out smoke in a cough. Her throat and chest burned. She inhaled again, her head swimming. “It’s your friend,” she finally said.

     “Summer,” Caleb said. “Her name is Summer.”

     “Okay. Well, cleaned up or not, she needs a doctor. Her arm needs more than some peroxide and a band-aid.”

     “I told you, we tried! We sat there all night, and they never saw her. Kept telling me to wait.”

     “She needs to go back,” Maddie insisted.

     “That doesn’t seem to be an option,” Vinnie told her.

     “Well. Well, then….” She looked at Caleb uncertainly, not wanting to have this conversation in front of him. “Then she’s going to die.”

     “No she’s not!” He shook his head frantically. “Don’t say that. We got her fixed up. She’ll be fine now.”

     “You know that’s not true,” Vinnie said. His matter-of-fact tone seemed to set the kid off worse than Maddie’s words had; Caleb collapsed into the metal chair and started to cry. Vinnie raised a brow at Maddie. “I’m surprised to hear you say it, though.”

     Maddie flicked ash, watched it float down to her shoes. “Even without your bullshit,” she said, “I’ve seen two people with bites like that. And they’re both dead. Bill too, and all he got was a scratch. If those homeless people were sick-”

     “It could have been a dog!” Caleb looked up, desperate. “She said there were dogs. A dog could have bit her.”

     “That wasn’t a dog bite,” Vinnie said. “Did you even look at it?”

     The kid slumped. “No. She had it wrapped in a shirt. Wouldn’t let me see it, said it was gross.”

     “Well it’s gross all right,” Vinnie agreed. “I doubt the peroxide did any good. That thing is infected. You should have cleaned it for her last night.”

     “I thought the hospital would do it,” Caleb said miserably. “Like I said, she wouldn’t let me touch it.”

     “It wouldn’t have mattered,” Maddie said, taking another drag. Each one burned a little less than the last. She felt an odd combination of jittery and calm. “I’m telling you, Jack and Chrissy went to the hospital right away, and it didn’t matter.”

     “So what do we do? With her?”

     “I can’t listen to this,” Caleb said. He stumbled back into the apartment, slamming the door behind him. Maddie took his vacated seat, refusing to meet Vinnie’s eyes.

     “Madelyn,” he said, “What do we do?”

     “I don’t know!”

     “Yes, you do.” When she looked up, his hand was on his waistband, where he’d stashed the gun again, under his shirt.

     “You can’t shoot her,” she whispered, horrified.

     His face hardened. “You know what will happen to her. Whether I’m right or not, it’s not going to be pleasant.”

     Maddie remembered Jack, and the four people it had taken to hold him down at the end. This girl, Summer, was much smaller, but who knew what it would be like for her? Caleb wasn’t going to be able to help. Jessie was probably inside downing more vodka right now.

     “Maybe it was a dog,” she said.

     The look he gave her was filled with disgust. “You surprise me,” he said. “I thought you were different.”

     “What does that mean?” She had no idea what he was talking about. “Different how? Why?”

     “The way you kicked his ass,” he said. “When you caught them.”

     “Wait, Jack?” She surprised herself by laughing. “I was angry,” she said. “I hit my cheating fiancé because I was angry, and you think I can shoot some sick girl?”

     He shrugged. “I thought you had balls, that’s all. Guess I was wrong.”

     “It doesn’t take balls to shoot somebody,” she said. “They teach you that in the Army?”

     He reached out, lightning-quick, and grabbed her wrist, startling her into dropping the cigarette. She tried to shrink back but he held her, his grip hard and mean. “Watch it,” he told her, his voice deadly quiet. “Having my tongue down your throat doesn’t mean you can talk shit.”

     “Fuck you.” Her foot shot out, connecting with his kneecap; he let go of her as his leg buckled. “Sticking your tongue down my throat doesn’t mean you can grab me.” She got to her feet, breathing hard. “Don’t touch me again.”

     He rubbed his knee for a moment, wincing, then straightened. She braced herself, and was surprised to see that he was grinning. “There she is,” he said.

     She shook her head. “What’s wrong with you?”

     He took a step toward her, stopping when she moved back and raised her fists. “A lot of things,” he told her. “Keep that anger, sweetheart. You’re gonna need it.” He nodded his head toward the door. “Let’s go in. We can talk more later.”

     Wary, she moved past him and into the apartment, careful to keep space between them. If he grabs me again… But he didn’t.

     “You guys ready?” Jessie frowned when she saw Maddie’s face. “Everything okay?”

     Maddie nodded. “Yeah. Fine.” She glanced over the bar, into the living room. “Are they ready to go?”

     “I think so,” Jessie said. “The girl is tired, but she should be okay.” She lowered her voice. “Those bandages aren’t doing so great, though. She’s already bled through.”

     Maddie grimaced. “Okay.” She shot Vinnie a look. “You want to re-wrap her, before we go?”

     “Lot of good it’ll do.” When she glared at him he held his hands up. “I’ll do it. Don’t hit me again.”

     When he’d walked away, Jessie stepped closer. “You hit him? What the hell for?”

     “Don’t worry about it.” Maddie picked up the baskets from where she’d dropped them and set them on the counter. “You have any plastic bags? We can put this stuff in them, look less like we robbed the place.”

     Jessie pulled some bags out of the cabinet under her sink. “Did you?” she asked, shaking the plastic sack out. “I mean, you leave for food and stuff, come back with no food, no bags and somebody who’s bleeding. I got her story, but what the fuck happened down there?”

     Maddie hesitated for just a moment, then decided, fuck it, it was time for Jessie to know everything. Especially if what she thought was going to happen to Summer actually did happen, and Vinnie pulled out his damn gun.

     “A riot,” she said, tossing things into the bags as quickly as possible. “People are scared. Whatever this flu thing is, it’s fatal, Jess. People get sick, and they die. All of them.”

     Jessie froze, her face slack with shock. “What do you mean, ‘all of them’? Like, all the ones who get pneumonia or something?”

     “No.” She grabbed her sister’s shoulders, forcing her to look Maddie right in the eye. “No. No pneumonia. They just die. They have a cold, and they cough, and then they’re dead. Like the photographer.”

     “Oh. Oh my god.” She brought her hands up, covering her mouth. “Oh my god.”

     “There’s something else.” Glancing into the living room again, she saw that Vinnie was occupied with changing Summer’s bandages. Nonetheless, she dragged her sister into the corner, next to the door. “That guy, Vinnie? He thinks…” Maddie tried to find a way to say it so that it sounded sane, then realized it couldn’t be done. Best to just be out with it. “He thinks the people who die become zombies.”

     For just a moment she thought her sister would be outraged, or horrified by the sheer insanity of such a belief. When she wrenched herself out of Maddie’s grip, Maddie thought the anger on her face was for Vinnie. She was stunned when her sister stepped away from her and sneered. “Seriously, Maddie? Can’t do any better than that?”

     “What?” Maddie reached out, but Jessie evaded her grasp. “What do you mean?”

     “I saw the way you look at him,” Jessie said. “And the way he looks at me. You think if you tell me he’s some psycho freak, I’ll back off?”

     Maddie gaped. “What the…are you serious right now? You think I’m lying so you won’t sleep with him?”

     “He was my date,” Jessie said. “I have dibs.”

     “Dibs?” Maddie shook her head. “You can’t call dibs on people, Jess.” When her sister started to respond, Maddie rushed on. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. That’s not what this is. I’m serious. He believes in zombies.”

     “Everything okay, ladies?”

     Maddie jumped. Vinnie stood on the other side of the kitchen bar, regarding them both with a bemused expression. How much of that could he have heard?

     “We’re fine,” Jessie said, all but purring at him as she leaned over the counter. “Just getting these things bagged up. Are they ready to go?” When Vinnie nodded, she snatched up the bags and stalked away, not giving her sister a backward glance. Maddie watched her go, at a loss.

     “You okay?” Vinnie asked her.

     She nodded. “Fine. Does Summer need help down to the car?”

     “We’ve got it,” he said. “You go ahead.”

     As she headed for the door he came around to meet her, pressing the keys into her hand. Maddie willed herself not to flinch away as he leaned in, putting his mouth close to her ear.

     “You can ride shotgun,” he murmured. “I think you have…dibs.”

     The line into the pharmacy stretched a block and a half down the street. As they approached the crowd, Maddie was conscious of the fact that she and Vinnie were the only people not wearing masks. Uneasy, she gripped his hand harder.

     “Excuse me,” she said, tapping the person in front of her gently on the shoulder. “Is this the line to get in?”

     The man turned, looking her up and down before responding. “No. For the vaccine clinic.”

     “Oh. So we can go around?”

     “If you don’t want the vaccine.” His tone of voice made it clear what he thought of that decision.

     “We don’t,” Vinnie said curtly, tugging her forward. They made their way to the entrance, pushing through the crush at the front. Maddie pressed herself against him, regretting already her insistence that she accompany him.

     Once inside he handed her a basket and jerked his head in the direction of the medicine aisle. “This way.”

     “You don’t think we should get shots?” Maddie asked, hurrying to keep up with him as he strode across the store. “The news said-”

     “I know what they said.” He turned and eyed the long line for the clinic, which appeared to be staffed solely by two harried nurses. “Waiting would take forever. Besides,” he said, lowering his voice, “They don’t have an endless supply. Most of these people are wasting their time.”

     Maddie looked at those waiting, her gaze lingering on the families with children in their group. Their faces were all obscured by the masks, but she could feel their desperation.

     “They’re not going to be happy when the shots run out,” she said.

     “Which is why we need to get in and out of here fast. We don’t want to be here when that happens.”

     Maddie shuddered at the warning in his tone. She tried to imagine what she’d do, if she had a child for whom she wanted the vaccine and they told her it was gone. It’ll turn ugly, she thought.

     “Let’s make this quick then,” she said. Settling the basket handles in the crook of her elbow, she surveyed the shelves. “What are we here for?”

     “Tylenol, Advil, any kind of pain killer. Are you allergic to anything?” She shook her head. “Good. Band-Aids, gauze, tape. I have a lot of stuff at my place, but it can’t hurt to have more.”

     Loading a few things into her basket, she glanced at him. “How much of this would you say you have?”

     He shrugged. “A couple cases, I guess.”

     She blinked, surprised. “Why?”

     “You never know when you might need it.”

     “Uh-huh.” She raised an eyebrow. “Are you one of those people, you know, with the canned food in the basement and stuff?”

     “A prepper?” He laughed. “I guess so.”

     “Aren’t those guys…”

     “Crazy?” He laughed again when she blushed. “Maybe. Although it doesn’t seem so crazy now, does it?”

     Maddie looked away. “No. I guess not.”

     “Fill your basket,” he ordered. “I’m gonna go see what their batteries look like.”

     She nodded and got to work. Bypassing the name brand items, she chose giant bottles of generic meds, adding a dozen of each to her basket. After a moment of hesitation, she grabbed boxes of cold medicine and threw them in too; not every cold was the flu, after all, and who knew what they’d need. She was considering whether to take some cough drops when she was startled by a sneeze.

     “Bless you,” she said automatically, before recoiling from the woman beside her.

     “I’m not sick,” the other woman quickly assured her. She wiped her nose and gave Maddie a rueful smile. “Allergies. They always flare up in the fall.”

     “Oh.” Maddie’s knees weakened with relief. “I’m not sick either,” she said defensively, noticing as the woman glanced into her basket. “Just….stocking up.”

     The woman nodded. “I get it.” She hefted her own basket, filled to the brim with boxes of allergy medication. “Better safe than sorry.”

     Maddie was about to respond when the woman sneezed again. When she rifled her pockets for a clean tissue and came up empty-handed, Maddie opened her purse. “Hold on, I might have something-”

     “Hey!” Both women turned to find that a large man had stepped out of the vaccine line. “Hey, are you sick?”

     The woman shook her head. “No, no, it’s just aller-”

     “You shouldn’t be here if you’re sick,” someone else in line said. “You’re supposed to stay home.”

     “I’m not, I just have-”

     “There are children here.” The first man took another step toward them, his fists clenched at his sides. “You want to get these kids sick?”

     “Stay away from my baby!” A woman a few places back in line placed a protective hand on the child strapped to her chest. “My baby can’t get sick!”

     “Your baby should be at home,” someone shouted. “Leave the vaccine for those of us who need it!”

     The mother whirled around, her voice high-pitched and indignant. “Who said that? My baby needs the vaccine!”

     “We gotta go to work! You can stay home with your baby! Some of us have no choice but to be out!”

     As the mother continued shrieking about her baby’s God-given right to a vaccine, the first man continued to advance down the aisle. “You don’t even have a mask on,” he said, his voice trembling with rage. “Are you trying to kill everyone?”

     “I’m not sick!” the woman protested, looking around wildly. “I have allergies! I have- Hey! Hey! Get off of me!”

     The man, having finally reached them, grabbed hold of the woman’s arm. Over her protests, he started to drag her toward the front of the store.

     “Hey man, let her go!” Maddie came forward, only to find herself shoved back into the shelves. Boxes and bottles rained down around her. The push seemed to ignite something in the watching crowd; several more people surged forward, grabbing onto the woman and shoving her toward the exit.

     “I have allergies!” the woman screamed. “I’m not sick! I’m not sick!”

     “Leave her alone!” Maddie made to move toward the woman again, although to what aim she couldn’t say – so many people had hold of her now that there was no way to stop her from being ousted from the store. As she walked toward them, however, she felt a tug, and realized that someone had grabbed her hair.

     Maddie reacted instantly, bringing her arm up and around as she turned, forgetting that she still held the full basket in her hand. As the plastic connected with the side of her attacker’s head she felt a sharp pain in her scalp; the guy stumbled back with a hunk of her hair in his fist.

     “You hit me,” he said, dazed. “You hit me, you bitch.”

     “You pulled my hair out!” Backing away, Maddie wondered where the hell Vinnie was. How far away is the fucking battery section? “Don’t touch me,” she warned, brandishing her basket in front of her.

     The man made no move to approach her again; with a hand pressed to his head, he backed away as well. Behind him, Maddie saw that the line for the clinic had devolved into a shoving match, as people tried to get closer to the front and others tried to hold their spots. The allergy woman had disappeared.

     “We need to go.”

     Maddie jumped, surprised to find Vinnie had come up right behind her. “Where the hell were you?” she hissed.

     “Batteries.” He showed her his full basket and then grabbed her arm, pulling her toward the door. “Let’s go.”

     Maddie dug in her heels. “We need to pay for this stuff!”

     “Seriously?” Vinnie tightened his grip on her and yanked, nearly pulling her off her feet. “We’ll come back and pay later. Right now we need to go.”

     As they neared the door the crowd became impossibly dense, with people pushing and shoving; it wasn’t clear who was trying to get in and who was trying to escape the melee. Maddie saw that someone had become pinned up against the side of the door, unable to move due to the crush around them. Somewhere, a baby was crying, loud, piercing cries that seemed to egg the mob on in their madness.

     Suddenly, there was a loud pop. Maddie’s breath caught in her chest and she stumbled, falling out of Vinnie’s grip. The flow in the through the door abruptly reversed, and people began to scream and shove their way out. Another pop came, and the pharmacy filled with the acrid smell of smoke.

     Maddie’s vision grayed. Bodies pressed against her from all sides, squeezing the air out of her lungs. She stopped moving, sagging against those around her; try as she might, she couldn’t make her legs work. Am I shot? She didn’t think so, but someone had been – they were screaming, a high-pitched scream that vibrated in her head.

     “Maddie! Run!” Vinnie’s shout came back through the crowd that now separated them, jolting her. “RUN!”

     She tried. She struggled against the crowd, fighting her way through. Eventually they all but carried her through the door and out onto the sidewalk, where people were dispersing in all directions. Looking around, she failed to spot Vinnie.

     Run, she told herself. He’s fine. Run.

     She ran, the basket banging against her side as she took off down the block. The walk sign at the corner glowed orange but she ignored it, jogging across the intersection without a sideways glance. Three blocks later she wanted to slow down, to stop and catch her breath; her chest and sides were burning. Gritting her teeth, she kept going, until her sister’s building was within reach.

     Gasping, she leaned against the brick and bent over, afraid she was going to be sick. Every inhalation felt like fire. Should have used that gym membership.

     She had no idea how long she stood there, gasping for air; eventually the pain receded, and she felt confident that she wasn’t going to puke. She still had her hands on her knees and her head down when she heard Vinnie’s voice.

     “Madelyn!”

     Straightening up, she barely had time to register his arrival when he was on her. The wall scraped her back as he pushed her against it, his hands in her hair. She gave a muffled “Oh!” when his lips met hers; his tongue slipped in her mouth, hot and desperate with adrenaline and fear. When he finally pulled away, she gasped.

     “Are you okay?” he asked, cradling her face. “Are you hurt?”

     She shook her head. “No. Not hurt. You?”

     “No.” He seemed to suddenly realize what he was doing and stepped back, dropping his hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

     She grabbed his shoulders, cutting him off. Rising on her toes, she kissed him again, hard. He tensed, his hands held out away from her, and she thought for an embarrassed moment that he wasn’t going to respond. Then his mouth opened under hers, and he pulled her up against him, crushing her.

     I haven’t kissed another man in 6 years, she thought. He tasted different than Jack ever had, like cigarettes and mint gum. His hands were in her hair again, tugging her head back with a measure of control that bordered on roughness. She felt herself throb.

     The sound of a horn startled both of them; they leapt apart, breathing heavily.

     “Is that…?” The horn blared again, the car careening down the street toward them. “Isn’t that your car?”

     Vinnie turned. “What the hell?” He watched the car’s approach for a moment before grabbing her arm. “Back up.”

     “What?”

     “Back up!” Moving quickly, he hauled her up against the side of the building, just as the front wheel bumped up over the curb and onto the sidewalk. The car came to a shuddering stop.

     Maddie noticed the girl in the passenger seat before Vinnie did. “We might have a problem,” she said. Caleb burst out of the driver’s side door and came hustling around the front of the car.

     “I know, I know, I took your car, man, but I had to, okay, I had to, she needed help, you have to help her, she-”

     “Shut up,” Vinnie growled, reaching out to grab the kid by his collar. “You came back? You come back here, after stealing my car?”

     Caleb put his hands up, shaking his head frantically. “I’m sorry, man, I’m sorry, okay? But she called, and she needs help. You have to help her!”

     Vinnie shoved him away before looking in the car window. “Who is she?”

     “A friend.” Caleb opened the door and helped the girl out. “She’s a friend, okay? You have to help her.” The girl stumbled, sagging against Caleb’s side. “You can help her, right?”

     Maddie looked her up and down. The first thing she noticed was that the girl’s shirt wasn’t, as she’d first thought, a red-and-white patterned blouse, but rather a white blouse that was now spattered with what could only be red blood.

     The second thing she noticed was the gaping bite wound on the girl’s forearm.

     “You can help her,” Caleb repeated, his eyes filled with tears. He looked at Vinnie. “You can. You can help her. Right?”

Day Eleven

     Staring into her sister’s fridge, Maddie concluded that they’d chosen the worst place possible to ride out the supposed apocalypse.

     “These eggs expired four months ago!” Clutching the carton in her hand, she peered into the still-dark bedroom. “What the hell do you eat, Jess?”

     “Take-out,” Jessie groaned. Moving slowly, she rolled over in the bed and glared at Maddie. “Can we not talk about food right now? I’m gonna hurl.”

     “Well, I’m hungry,” Maddie said, “And the only thing you have in your kitchen is old food and vodka. I can’t even find the danish you were talking about.”

     With another moan, Jessie darted out of the bed and into the bathroom.

     You’d think she’d have better tolerance, Maddie thought, eyeing the closed door with distaste before turning back to the kitchen. “Looks like we’re not having breakfast,” she told Vinnie.

     “Dammit!”

     “Whoa.” Maddie held up her hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger.” She paused awkwardly. “Uh…never mind.”

     “What?” Vinnie looked up from his phone, confusion on his face. “What did you say?”

     “Nothing.” Maddie gestured toward the phone. “What’s wrong?”

     “I still can’t get through.” Scowling, he threw the phone across the room, where it bounced onto the sofa. “Every time I try, I get the same damn busy signal.”

     “Same thing with mine,” Maddie said. “I tried calling my mom, but it doesn’t go through.”

     “Did you try texting?”

     Maddie nodded. “Doesn’t work either.” Every text she’d sent had bounced back, undelivered. “Is it…do you think they cut the cell towers? For the quarantine? Do they do that?”

     “No, I don’t think so.” Vinnie paced. “Could be the lines are overloaded.”

     “Oh.” Maddie chewed her lip, thinking. “Think we could find a landline?”

     “I don’t know. Dammit!” Vinnie turned and slapped his hand against the wall.

     “Vinnie-”

     “Give me a minute.” Pushing past her, he yanked open the balcony door and stomped outside, lighting one of Jessie’s cigarettes.

     Maddie watched him brood through the glass, wary and uncertain. She was unfamiliar with men who were this obvious about their anger and frustration; taking his cues from his mother, Jack had been a silent grudge-nurser. She’d known how to handle her former fiancé; with Vinnie, she was adrift. She considered going outside with him, cajoling him in to talking through their options, but she really didn’t relish the prospect of being yelled at.

     “What’s wrong with him?”

     Maddie glanced at her sister, surprised to see her upright. “We can’t make any cell calls,” she explained. “How are you feeling?”

     Jessie grimaced. “Like shit.” She looked outside and gasped. “Is he smoking one of my cigarettes?”

     “I’m sure he’ll buy you more,” Maddie said, rolling her eyes. “You shouldn’t have them anyway. Mom said you quit.”

     “Yeah, well. What Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

     Maddie opened her mouth to argue further, then decided against it. Not worth the energy. Instead she asked, “Do any of your neighbors have a phone?”

     “How should I know? I don’t know my neighbors.” Jessie made her careful way to the sofa. “Who does he need to call?”

     “I have no idea. Maybe the cops? To report the car?”

     “He didn’t do that last night?”

     Maddie shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not when I suggested it, anyway. He could have after I went to bed, I guess.”

     “Speaking of that, did you know that you snore? You kept waking me up.”

     “I do not!” Maddie glared at her sister. “You’re no treat to sleep with either. You drool. It’s disgusting.”

     “Whatever.” Closing her eyes, Jessie leaned back, gingerly easing her head onto the cushion behind her. “Can you get me some Advil or something? My head is killing me.”

     “Big surprise,” Maddie grumbled. Rifling through the cabinet, she found the bottle she wanted, and a jelly glass that looked relatively clean. She handed her sister the pills and some water before sitting down beside her.

     “What are we going to do?” Jessie gulped down the pills with a grimace. “How are we going to get to Mom’s?”

     “I don’t know,” Maddie said. “Even if Caleb hadn’t taken the car, we wouldn’t be able to get past the barricades.” She glanced out the balcony door. “That’s what has him pissed off. He thinks…well, he doesn’t think it’s safe here, and now he doesn’t know what to do.”

     “Who is Caleb? One of his friends?”

     Maddie hesitated, not sure how much she should say. If she told Jessie about the attack, she knew she’d have to deal with her sister’s histrionics, and she didn’t feel up for that right now. On the other hand, when it came out later, Jessie’s reaction might be ten times worse for being kept in the dark. I don’t have to tell her everything. Just enough.

     “No, not his friend,” she said. “He was the photographer’s assistant. You know, from the wedding?”

     “No, I forgot all about the guy who died at your wedding,” Jessie said, rolling her eyes.

     “Shut up. Anyway, he came to my apartment yesterday, to return the deposit, because, well, you know. While he was there one of my neighbors went a little….crazy. Vinnie showed up, and he…defused the situation. The kid – Caleb – he didn’t have anywhere else to go, and he was upset about the neighbor thing, so we decided to bring him with us. Out of the city.”

     “Oh. So you didn’t even know him and you left him with the car?”

     Maddie sighed. “The kid was scared. He seemed harmless.”

     “They always do,” Jessie said.

     “I’m sure you would know.” Maddie dropped her head into her hands. “But like I said, it doesn’t matter. Even if we had the car, where could we go?”

     “My place.”

     She jerked her head up, surprised to see that Vinnie had come in. “What’s at your place?” she asked.

     “Well, food, for one thing.” He swept Jessie with a look full of contempt. “If we’re going to be stuck here – and I’m not sure that we are, yet – we should be somewhere that has supplies.”

     “I don’t get many visitors,” Jessie defended.

     Her words sent a pang through Maddie’s chest. Looking around, she tried to remember the last time she’d been to the apartment and was embarrassed to realize that she couldn’t. They lived on opposite sides of the city, in very different neighborhoods; Jack hadn’t even taken the train past the 30th block station, insisting it wasn’t safe, nor did he want Maddie parking her expensive car anywhere in the downtown area. She could have argued, and probably should have, but it had been easier to accept his rules and stay uptown; he’d provided her with an easy excuse for not visiting and seeing how her baby sister lived.

     Shaking off the guilt, she sat up straighter. “Okay. So we need to get to your apartment. How do we do that?”

     Vinnie frowned. “I need a phone. I have a friend who can pick us up, I hope.”

     “We could call a taxi,” Jessie suggested.

     “With what phone?” Vinnie asked.

     “Oh. Right.” Jessie blushed.

     “What about Roy?” Maddie asked. “He must have a phone at the bar, right?”

     “We’re not going back to Roy’s,” Vinnie said. “Not after the way we left.”

     “What about the bodega down the street? Maybe they have a payphone or something.”

     Vinnie thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Are there any other places like that nearby?”

     “There’s a place that sells cigars and stuff down the block,” Jessie said. “And a pharmacy, but that’s a couple blocks down.”

     “We can walk a couple blocks,” Vinnie said. “If we do that, we can pick up supplies at the pharmacy while we wait.” He clapped his hands together. “Great. Go pack a bag.”

     “Wait, me?” Jessie looked at each of them, incredulous. “I barely made it out here to the couch. You expect me to walk six blocks?”

     “We can’t leave you here,” Vinnie said impatiently. “I guess Maddie could stay with you, and I can run down-”

     “No.” Maddie jumped up. “You shouldn’t go out there alone.”

     He raised an eyebrow, surprised. “You think I’ll be safer with you?”

     Glancing at her sister, she grabbed his arm and pulled him away, into the kitchen. “Listen,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I still think you’re full of shit on this. But if you’re going to the pharmacy, you shouldn’t go by yourself. Sick people go there.”

     Vinnie smirked. “I think I can handle it.”

     “I’m sure you can,” Maddie agreed. “But if you can’t, then what? We sit here and wait for a guy who isn’t coming back?”

     “She’s right, though – she can’t walk the six damn blocks. She’ll puke on her shoes before we make it down the stairs.”

     “Then we leave her here. She can pack her shit, throw together whatever will be useful, and wait for us.”

     “That’s not really any different than you two waiting together,” he pointed out.

     “I know.” Maddie huffed, frustrated. “It’s just….I can’t just sit here. I barely slept last night. I need to do something. She’s used to sitting around and waiting for people to do things for her.”

     “And you’re not?”

     Maddie held his gaze. “I am. But I don’t want to. Let me help you.”

     He stared at her hard, taking her measure, and finally nodded. “Okay.” He turned back to Jessie, who was eyeing them both with suspicion. “Pack a bag. Clothes, shoes – sneakers, not that shit you were wearing last night – whatever you need. Any first aid stuff you have, pack that too. We’ll be back.”

     “How long?” Jessie asked.

     “However long it takes,” Vinnie said.

     “You have time to shower,” Maddie told her. “Which you should probably do. You smell like a bar floor.”

     “Thanks a lot!” Jessie looked at each of them, the annoyance on her face turning to concern. “You two will be okay, right? You seem…”

     Maddie forced a smile. “We’ll be fine. Pack up. We’ll be back before you know it.”

     Before she could say more, Vinnie grabbed her hand, and they were out the door.