It All Comes Down To Zombies: Sarah (8 page)

The woman laughed. “Oh, Max.” She glanced at her watch. “Your shift’s up soon. Who’s covering?”
 

“Dottie and Abel.”

“Harvey’s still trying to get those two together, huh?”

The one called Kareem laughed. “Yeah. Dottie’s gonna kill Abel one of these days, and claim she thought he was a zombie. That’ll teach Harvey.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Do me a favor and make sure Bryce gets his little tail back in here. I lost track of him while we were climbing the hill. He might just be at the end of the line.”

“I’ll watch out for him and send out a party if he’s not with you.”

“Thanks, kid. Let’s go, lady and gent. Time to meet our fearless leader.”

The woman led Jimmy and Sarah to City Hall. As they got closer, Sarah caught snippets of the conversation being had out front.

“They sound like the planning committee,” Sarah noted aloud. “What’re you guys planning?”

The woman looked at Sarah and laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Sarah raised a brow. “That is why I asked.”

“Smart ass. Get inside. I’ll let Max know you’re here, and you can explain to him what you were doing skulking around the overpass.”

“Seriously? We were just trying to find a way around,” Jimmy called after her as he closed the front door.

The woman ignored Jimmy and entered a room at the top of the stairs, closing the door behind her.

“Planning committee?” Jimmy hissed.

“Yeah. They were planning something. It sounded like they’re going to attack another camp.”

Jimmy’s jaw dropped. “Boy, did we step in it.”

A man’s voice replied from the top of the stairs, “You have no idea.”

Sarah and Jimmy looked up. Sarah’s fist clenched around the .44 in its holster. This time, it was her jaw that dropped.

“Max?”

“Hi, Sarah.”

Jimmy turned to Sarah, disbelief clear on his face. “It is your Max.”

“Her Max?” asked the woman who had brought them there. “What’s he talking about?”

“This is my wife. Sarah, meet Isabelle. And consider the fact that I thought you were dead.”

Jimmy canted his head. “What does that mean? You thought she was dead, so…what? Are you fucking that woman? Jesus, Max, she doesn’t even hold a candle to your wife.”

Isabelle lunged forward as if she were going to leap down the stairs. Max held her back.

“You’re one to talk,” Max said with a smirk.

Jimmy started laughing.

Sarah stared at Jimmy, narrowing her eyes. Before long, she was laughing, too.

During three years of tumultuous marriage that follow three years of high school dating, a couple tends to form their own language. They have to when they find themselves in the types of situations into which Jimmy always dragged Sarah.

When Jimmy slipped his AK off his shoulder as if he were going to put it down, Sarah’s instincts kicked in. She yanked the .44 from the holster and aimed it squarely at Max’s head without taking her eyes off Jimmy’s.

“It’s been two days, Max. Two days.”

Sarah pulled the trigger just as Jimmy opened fire on the guards.  Max fell from the balcony as the other bodies hit the floor.