Girls Save the World in This One - Ash Parsons Page 0,94

She used to be one of my closest friends.

“It matters because that’s where we’re going next,” I say.

27

I just wish we had those security cameras with us now,” Hunter says, but there’s no edge to it.

And we are about to run into the unknown.

We had waited in the stairwell, out of sight of the zombies in the first-floor hallway, until they wandered off, while we rested, hoping that Rosa might find her way back to us.

Eventually we had to admit that she might not come back. Probably wasn’t coming back, even if she wanted to. There was no telling where she was, or what situation she might be facing.

Janet said Rosa might have barricaded herself in a room, or met up with another group of survivors.

No one wanted to say what else might have happened.

But we had to keep moving, had to go on to our next plan. We’re hoping Rosa is, too.

We can’t wait in the stairwell forever.

We stand ready in the stairwell, behind the second-floor hallway door.

The others are ready; well, Annie’s as ready as a girl armed with a defibrillator case can be, I suppose, and the others are ready to get the hell out of here, after hearing about the woman in the hazmat suit pointing to the hamster-tube-skyway thing.

So, we’re going to rush out of our safe zone again. Out there.

Where zombies are.

But we have a plan, and I know if we can just get to the hamster tube . . . this whole nightmare could be over. We can get out, get screened, get quarantined, whatever.

And I can call my mom.

“Yeah,” I agree. “Everyone ready?”

I try not to put an overemphasis on everyone, but it’s there, unspoken. After the loss of Mia and also probably Rosa, I can’t think about them right now, or I won’t be able to do anything. And we have to go. We have to get out.

To do that, we have to stick together.

Cuellar must have been shaken by the loss of his barracuda, Mia, because in spite of himself and his harsh words before, he’s not insisting on going first anymore, and he seems content to follow along with our group.

Then again, what are his options?

The only thing he asked was, what happens if we get to the tube and the opposite side is blocked again? Like the atrium doors were.

So, I told him that unlike the atrium we can lock the zombies out of the tube by closing the hatchway behind us. And on the way to the tube we’ll stop at the fire-safety station for the ax.

Cuellar’s mouth flattened and then rose into a tight grin at that.

Janet made us all stop and practice a formation, of sorts. She said it was the way the ancient Romans used to be so good in battle; they would form a turtle shell with their shields close together, then fight while being protected and protecting each other.

“We don’t have shields, but we do have long weapons, most of us anyway,” Janet said, smiling gently at Annie and her defibrillator.

“If we practice and stay close together,” Janet continued, “in a sort of turtle formation, we can protect each other’s backs.”

So, we practice, lining up in pairs, moving tightly together in a circle on the landing, like an imitation of an elite SWAT team or something.

Then we break and get ready, stretching or rolling our necks, checking our shoelaces and stuff.

Siggy makes quiet little “Vvvv! Vvvv! Cssssh!” lightsaber noises as she practices swinging and jabbing out with her drawer plank. She catches me watching and strikes a big Jedi pose, like a movie poster.

She holds the pose and nods her head.

“Ahhh yeeeaah,” she says, drawing it out like a surfer. “Dead-leeee.”

I snort and she laughs back.

We’re as ready as we’re gonna be.

I ease open the door, and peer out. It’s clear, so I lead the way down the hall.