All Together Now: A Zombie Story Read Free

rooted in his pocket until I found his wallet.
    According to his license, this man had been Gary Boyer. He had four credit cards, a gym membership, and a photo from his human days. He was standing with a woman, two small children, and Donald Duck in front of that giant golf ball in Epcot.
    "Are you coming?" Michelle asked as she passed.
    I couldn't speak just then, so I dropped the wallet and got to my feet.
    From a distance behind us came the quiet moans of Chuck, ever following.
     

5
     
     
     
    THE KIRKMAN SODA BOTTLING PLANT was the third Harrington exit off I-65, but off the first was Ernie's filling station.
    For the record, I didn't want to go. I was just as hungry as Michelle and Levi, but we'd been avoiding buildings the whole walk for a reason.
    A zombie alone in a field is one thing, easy to spot and relatively easy to put down. But the only way to truly know how many zombies are in a building is to go inside.
    The other problem is the people who are still living, crouched in whatever shelter they can find, terrified, maybe insane—the last week has had that effect on people—and armed.
    If they see something come into their shelter walking on two legs, they might shoot first and check to see if it was a zombie after.
    Ernie's has a glass front, so we could see most everything from outside. But we couldn't see what might be hiding between the aisles of motor oil and candy and travel goods, or in the bathrooms, or in Ernie's office.
    It was Michelle who made me see the logic in it—but don't put this on her. In the end, it was my stomach that did the convincing.
    "Daddy's plant is five or six miles from Ernie's," Michelle said. "But it will take us longer to get there."
    "Why?"
    "Because of Bridgeport Heights, Autumn Creek, and Tree Side Point."
    "What?"
    Michelle stared at me, waiting for me to catch on. When she saw I wasn't going to, she rolled her eyes and said, "The subdivisions Daddy owns off the next exit. Plus there are two other subdivisions and an apartment complex. We'll have to go around them."
    She was right, of course, and I felt stupid for not thinking of it.
    It's nothing but fields and farms from Brownsborough to Ernie's, but the second Harrington exit leads to neighborhoods that stretch out on either side. Here I was protesting going into one building and trying instead to march us into an army of rotting suburbanites.
    "It's already late afternoon and the sun will be down before we can get to Daddy." Michelle put her hands on her hips and sighed. "We may need to find someplace to stay tonight. But first we need food, and Ernie's is our best bet. It's the only thing off this exit."
    "There's the Harrington Inn," Levi said, shifting a gnawed toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.
    "That's on the opposite side of the overpass," Michelle said. "And the next building on the same side as Ernie's is the jail, and that's at least two blocks away."
    "Sounds safe," I said, throwing my hands up. "While we're at it, why don't we swing by the Java Jive. I could use a latte, maybe a muffin. If we hurry, we can still catch the 7 o'clock movie. I want to see the new James Bond , but only if you guys want to. We can see something else."
    "Funny," Levi said, not laughing or even smiling.
    "I'm hungry," Michelle said through gritted teeth, her eyes locked on mine. "Tonight, I'll be even hungrier. Tomorrow morning I'll be weak and we have a lot of walking still to do. We'll go slow and be safe. If the place is crawling, we'll backtrack and go around."
    Every so often, it surprises me this is the same Michelle Kirkman I grew up hating almost as much as I hate her father. She's been a rich brat as long as I've known her, but now that money doesn't mean anything, she's different.
    My dad used to say you know you're hungry when gas station food sounds good. There was more to our argument, but I don't remember the rest and in the end Michelle's plan made sense.
    It was after six when we got to