Girls Save the World in This One - Ash Parsons Page 0,64

here, and since no one else is here now, that means everyone who made it out of the ballroom made it out.”

I nod and Imani gives me a quick squeeze.

“I don’t know what’s out in the lobby,” I say when she lets go. “But I don’t want to wait for zombies to get to me here. And I think that’s just a matter of time.”

Janet nods, and her mouth quirks to the side, a half smile.

“Okay, but what next? After we get into the ballroom lobby?” Rosa asks.

It’s a good question.

On the back of the door is a fire-evacuation map.

I step up to it, jabbing my finger at the diagram. “Okay so the scientist guy said that we were locked in the ballroom. Which didn’t work, as it turns out. Probably because the people compromised the locks from the inside, and that let the zombies break the doors down.”

Imani steps closer to the map and squints at the doors I’m pointing to.

She still smells nice. Like apples. I probably smell like terror and BO.

“He also said that the exhibit hall was locked down,” I continue. “But I’m here to tell you, I think the zombies already got into the exhibit hall.”

“Right.” Imani nods at me. “That guy who bit that kid.”

“Yes,” I agree. “And maybe more people besides him? Like what about that girl with the nosebleed? And remember that other woman we thought was a cosplayer? Not to mention anyone else they may have come into contact with or infected.”

“So what?” Annie asks. “What does it matter if they’re infected? They’re locked in, we’re locked out.”

I turn to her.

“It means that we don’t know how many doors are locked through the building, or if someone has established some kind of evacuation method.” I shake my head, remembering the scientist trying to talk to the audience. “His plan didn’t work, but he had planned something.”

Imani points a manicured nail at our hallway on the fire evacuation map.

“We’re here. This is the stairwell at the bottom. See this hatching up top? That’s the escalators. It’s not far at all. And from there it’s a straight shot either down to the front doors or up to the third floor.”

“Okay, I’m following all this,” Linus says. “But it doesn’t tell me what we should do now.”

“Keep up, handsome.” Mia’s voice has a flirtatious, tough-broad lilt. “It means we should probably make some assumptions. Like that all the exterior doors are locked, for starters.”

“Exactly, just like the scientist said,” Imani agrees.

“And I think we should assume that there is a single point of exit,” I say. “Did you guys see the cosplayers in hazmat suits?”

“Oh God,” Rosa says.

“Right. What if they were trying to get a temperature on . . . the spread of the infection, or whatever. And then they made the call to lock us all up to contain it?” I ask.

“He said that. So, the scientist . . .” Linus’s voice trails off.

“Was trying to help us!” I finish.

Behind us, Annie lets out a high-pitched giggle.

We glance at her. Annie shakes her head, giving an ignore me or go on hand wave.

Stress.

Linus’s British accent makes the terrifying truth less scary, somehow. “I understand. What’s the point of running to a door if the door is locked?”

“Right,” I say. “We might be locked in, with our backs against a wall.”

“A door that is now a wall,” Imani finishes for me, our thoughts running parallel as always.

“So, what do we do instead?” Mia asks, giving me a look like she’s a teacher who knows I’m ready for the verbal quiz.

“We go upstairs,” I say. “Maybe we can get a signal once we’re out of this hall. Or if not maybe we can see out once we’re by the exterior windows. And there’ll be fewer zombies up there, I bet.”

“We can find out where the exit point is.” Annie’s voice is quavery,