too much. And I told him he shouldn’t base his opinions on what he saw at the party.”
Relief coursed through me.
“Good.”
I started to turn, and she caught my arm.
“He said he wasn’t, Hannah. I know you’re drinking too much, too. I can smell it on you.”
I faced her and rolled my eyes. “I slept like shit and grabbed clothes off the floor because I’m lazy and tired and in a mood. I’m wearing the same stuff I wore on party night. Instead of going back to bed, I’ll do laundry.”
She reluctantly released me, and I could see in her eyes she wasn’t buying my bullshit anymore.
“That’s not what you were wearing.”
“Now you’re the clothes police? Whatever, Emily. I’ll clean up and stop stinking up your air. If I continue to be offensive, just say the word and I’ll find somewhere else to go.”
“You know that’s not what I’m suggesting.”
“Right. I better get started on my laundry.”
Even knowing that she could smell it on me, I needed another drink. When I reached my room, I pulled all the shades so my creeper wouldn’t spy on me and took several gulps. Then I stripped naked, wrapped myself in a blanket toga, and spent the morning as a drunk washerwoman.
Around lunch, Emily tried to get me to eat some mashed-up crap that looked too much like vomit. It was an easy pass for me. Dinner, a simple baked potato with butter and cheese, didn’t appeal to me any more than lunch. She only asked once before leaving me to my rerun of Drop Dead Fred.
At some time during the night, I woke up on the couch with my bladder screaming at me. I fell when I tried to get up, then banged my knee on the damn end table when I tried to navigate to the guest bathroom. None of it hurt. Probably because my world was still spinning. I sat with a sigh and stared at the window as I peed.
A face appeared.
“Jesus fucking shit!”
I fell off the toilet mid-piss and got it everywhere.
Even drunk off my ass, I knew enough to be angry as I stood, shorts and underwear around my ankles, and yanked the shade down. Kicking off my wet bottoms, I stumbled from the room.
People ran. Their screams filled the air, almost muting the groans of the infected that sprinted in the streets. Fear congealed the blood in my veins. I’d be an idiot not to feel it. But I didn’t run like the rest. Not when Emily called my name or when she tugged on my arm. Rooted, I watched the woman with the torn off cheek turn toward us. A sense of acceptance joined my fear as I faced my impending death.
The dream shifted.
Arms around Emily, I watched the massacre below. The cheekless woman was dead on our lawn. Others still ran after humans or broke into houses. I could hear fighting in our living room. Emily shook. I probably did too. I couldn’t really tell. Most of my attention was on the people running outside.
A woman stumbled and went down to her knees. I could see the panic in her wide eyes, so like Katie. Fear crawled its way up my spine, wrapping around my lungs. Squeezing.
I tried to shut my eyes but couldn’t.
The infected lunged for the woman.
But it wasn’t the woman anymore. It was Emily that the infected bit again and again. Emily’s screams that filled my ears.
I jerked away from the person I still held. She tilted her tear-streaked face up to look at me.
“You left her,” Katie whispered with sad eyes.
There was no transition from sleeping to waking. Not really. The sobbing and screams that had escaped during the nightmare continued as I slowly became aware of my bedroom, daylight, and the open door.
Emily sat on the edge of my bed, softly saying nonsensical things like, “It’s okay,” and “you’re safe.” We knew both were lies.
“I’m fine,” I said through my snot-filled sobs. “You can go.”
She exhaled heavily.
“I think you’re so used to saying that that you don’t stop and ask yourself if you really are, Hannah.” She took my hand before I could get angry. “I cleaned up the urine all over the downstairs bathroom and washed your clothes.”
Last night came flooding back, and I did get mad. Pulling my hand from hers, I scowled.
“I was mid-pee when that asshole, Merdon, looked through the fucking window. Given recent happenings, the sudden appearance of a face scared me so bad I fell