Life After The Undead (Book 1) (17 page)

The
doors
slid
open
and
we
stepped
inside.
“I
don’t
think
the
zombies
are
going
anywhere anytime
soon.”
I
punched
the
button
and
the
doors
slid
shut.

“I
don’t
know.
They
might.
They
’v
e
all
left
Florida.”

I
raised my eyebrows.
That
was
news
to
me.
“Where
did
they
go?”

Pearl
shrugged.
“I
don
’t
know.
Oregon
I
guess.”

The
doors
opened
and
we
headed
into
the
dining
room,
which
was
filled
with
mainly
teenagers
and
a
few
adults.
They
were
all
talking
loudly,
and
no
one
looked
up
as
we
entered.
I
was
reminded
of
my
school
cafeteria
as
we
grabbed
trays
and
loaded
them
with
food.
We
headed
to
a
table
at
the
back
of
the
room,
and
Tanya
and
Nancy
gave
us
dirty
looks as
we
walked
by.
I
glanced
over
my
shoulder
as
we
passed.
Tanya
leaned
into
the
table
and
whispered
to
the
other
girls.
We
found
two empty
seats
and
sat
.

I
looked
at
the
food
on
my
plate—pizza
with a
salad
and
chocolate
cake
for
dessert.
It
might
not
have
been
much
better
than
school
food,
but
it
was
better
than
cold
slop
from
a
can.
I
greedily
bit
into
the
pizza
and relished
the
cheese
that
ran
down
my
chin.

“How
long
have
you
been
out
there?”
Pearl
stared
at
me in
amazement.

I slurped
up
the
mozzarella
and
spoke
with
my
mouth
full.
“I
don’t
know.
I
kind
of
lost
track
of
time.”
I
wiped
the
grease
on
the
back
of
my
hand
and
swallowed. “You
said all
the
zombies
left
Florida,
do
you
know
why?”

Pearl
nibbled
her
slice
of
pizza.
“I heard
some
of
the
teachers
say
it
was
because
of
the
humidity.”

I
stuffed
another
bite
into
my
mouth
and
pushed
my
eyebrows
together.
“What
would
humidity
have
to
do
with
it?”

“Something
about
speeding
up
the
decaying
process.
They’re
dead,
you
know,
and
they decompose
right
before
your
eyes. Humidity
would
speed
up
the
process
of
decomposition.”

“That
would
mean
the
zombies
would
have
to
be conscious
of
their
condition.
Are
they
really
that
smart?”

Pearl
shrugged.
“I
don
’t
know.
How
else
would
you
explain
why
they
left?”

I
finished
my
pizza.
There
was
no
way
to
explain
it.
I
was
still
having
a
hard
time
believing
it.
I
was
beginning
to like
Pearl,
and
I
believed
she
was
different
from
the
others.
I
decided
it
was
time
to
get
to
know
her.

“Did
you
lose
your
family
to the
zombies?”

Pearl
set
down
her
pizza
and
folded
her
arms
on
the
table.
“We
all
did.
Tha
t’s
why
we
’r
e
here.
If
you
have
family,
you
get
to
live
with
them
in
the
cities.”

“Are there
a
lot
of
people
in
the
cities?”

“I
don’t
know.
I
don
’t
think
so.”

“Where
are
you
from?”

“North
Carolina.”

“How
long
have
you
been
in
Florida?”

“About
ten
days.”

“What
do
you
think is
going
to
happen
to
us?”

Ten
days
was
enough
time
to
figure
out
what
was
going
on.
She
probably
knew
something,
had
some
idea
what
people
had
planned.

Pearl
picked
up
her
slice
of
pizza.
“Who
knows?
What
we
need
to
worry
about
now
is
surviving.
We
have
it
pretty
good
here.
The
zombies
won
’t
bother
us,
and
we
get
to
live
our
lives.”

“Yeah,
but
to
what
end?”

Pearl
stared
at
me.
“Why
does
there
have
to be
an
end?
Can’t
you
be
content
to
be
alive?”

Her
question was
a
little disconcerting
, although there was some truth to it.
I
should
be
happy
to
be
alive,
but
we
also
had
to
face
the
fact
that
everything
we
knew
had
changed.
Life
wasn
’t
the
same,
which
meant
survival
was
a
whole
new
game.
I
cou
ld’v
e
pointed
that
out
to
her
and
probably
started
an
argument,
so
I
decided
to
keep
my
mouth
shut.

After
we
finished,
we
went
into
the
lobby
with
several
of
the
other
kids
and
watched
Sleeping
Beauty
.
I
found it
difficult
to
focus
on
the
film
because
my
mind
wandered elsewhere.
Florida
was
a
large
state,
but
it
surely
couldn’t
house
that
many
people.
And
what
was
the
business
of
the
East
Coast
dealing
with
zombies
for three
weeks?
That
was
really
troublesome
to
me.
Why
hadn
’t
there
been
any
warnings?
Was
someone
trying
to
cover
something
up?
It
didn’t
make
any
sense.
Even
if
they
played
it
up as
a
biological
attack,
someone
would,
or should,
have
done
something.
How
many
survived?
How
many
were
still
out
there?