Novels by buttersqt

Chapter 8: Finally, the Grocery RunBy 8:09 that night, we were headed for a grocery store well outside Rye, far enough away that John was less likely to be recognized — or, at the very least, somewhere no one would expect to see him.Art’s F-150 looked noticeably different from how it had that morning. He had welded steel mesh guards over the windows and added a grille guard across the front. People probably would have stared if we had rolled into a Walmart like that in the middle of the day, which was another reason waiting until dark had been the smarter choice.The small grocery store was about thirty minutes outside Rye, and by the time we pulled into the parking lot, it was fully dark. All three of us were wearing caps and jackets, and John had even dyed his brown hair black that afternoon. We were committing to the whole disguise thing. If the apocalypse somehow didn’t happen next week, this was going to make one hell of a story.I was already in the canned-goods aisle, trying

You’d think that because I knew exactly when the apocalypse was coming, we would already be out gathering supplies. Instead, John insisted it would be safer if we stayed inside until dark, when there would be less chance of someone recognizing him. Art agreed with him, which meant I was outnumbered.They were probably right, but that didn’t stop me from feeling increasingly anxious every minute we sat around doing nothing. In my first life, we had survived mostly on the questionable amount of canned sardines and Spam I kept in my apartment, and even that hadn’t lasted long. Chloe had been pregnant and eating more than usual, while Tomi ate like the world wasn’t ending whether we were surrounded by undead cannibals or not.So while we waited, John had taken over Art’s laptop. Hopefully with a VPN running so nobody could easily trace what he was doing, because judging by how seriously he was staring at the screen, he was probably trying to reconstruct his un-zombification serum in case

“The pathogen came from my research. Actually, from Dad’s research originally. I found his old work years ago and developed it further after the government contracted Asterion for a new super-soldier project.” John was explaining all of this far too casually while stitching up the wound on my shoulder. “Today was supposed to be my last day with the company.”I turned when I heard him cut the suture. Once he was done, I pulled my shirt back on and faced both of them properly. Art looked like he was still trying to process everything John had just admitted, while my brother had finally stopped looking so casual. His eyes were lowered now, guilt settling heavily over his face.“Do you know how many fellow Marines were sacrificed for that project?” Art asked quietly.He said it so low I almost missed the whole sentence, but I had known him long enough to hear the anger underneath it.“I know anything I say is going to sound like an excuse, Art, but I didn’t know until recently that they h

I tackled John while screaming like a banshee before he could open the car door all the way, and the two of us went crashing onto the concrete. Something struck my right shoulder as we rolled, sharp enough to make me cry out, and within seconds I could feel blood soaking through my oversized white shirt. John’s hand closed around my head almost immediately, but I barely registered it over the ringing in my ears.“Fuck,” I heard Art curse somewhere above us. By the time I managed to lift my head, he was already kneeling beside us.John was staring past me with a stunned expression, so I followed his gaze and found his car engulfed in flames only a few feet away.“It waited until you opened the door,” Art said, his expression hardening as he studied the wreckage. “Someone wanted to make damn sure you were standing beside it when it went off.”Art helped me stand up, was that also in your dream? he asked.“No,” was the only thing I managed to say. I was still too stunned by the sight of

By the time my word vomit finally ended, Art had gone completely silent, like he was trying to figure out the safest possible response to a woman who had apparently lost her mind.“Art, you know I don’t bullshit about things like this. I’m serious,” I said, immediately getting defensive because of the silence.“I — I know.” I heard him sigh through the phone.“Would you still do anything for me?”I knew it was underhanded to play that card, but he used to tell me that all the time back when we were in that awkward dating-but-not-dating phase neither of us had ever had the courage to properly define.“God, Patty,” he said. I could hear the frustration in his voice, and for a second I felt bad for him, but I couldn’t afford to waste time feeling guilty. Every minute I wasted was another minute John could be in danger, and if God had really given me one chance to save my brother, I wasn’t going to squander it.“Fuck. What do you want me to do?”I smiled so widely my cheeks hurt. “Can you

Warm sunlight hit my face and woke me up. I opened my eyes fully convinced I would find myself gagged and bound somewhere, with Art still trying to keep me from turning. Instead, I was staring at the ceiling of my apartment on 59th Street.My hand immediately went to my right shoulder, where an ugly, deep bite should have been proof that the infected teenage girl had gotten me. There was nothing there. No wound, no blood, not even the burning pain that had been spreading through my body before I lost consciousness.For a few seconds, I thought Art had somehow succeeded. Maybe he had actually found what he said John was working on to stop the complete downfall of civilization. But the longer I looked around my apartment, the less that explanation made sense. This place shouldn’t have looked untouched.The same day Art found me bitten in that alley, raiders had broken into this building while we were still using my apartment as shelter. We heard them coming up the stairs, and my neighbo