long. You don’t know how difficult it was, how afraid I was.”
More tears flowed.
I didn’t know what to say in the face of so much painful emotion. I was glad that Murphy had taken it upon himself to comfort her.
“I found a quarter in my pocket. I used that when I finally got up the nerve to tap on the door. It took so long to get a response. Do you know what it feels like when your last hope dies?” Mandi cried some more.
I wanted to answer yes. The Ogre taught me that lesson a long time ago.
“I thought…I thought…Well, it doesn’t matter. You did respond. One of you did, anyway. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Murphy said, “It was Zed who heard it. It was Zed who insisted that you were in there.”
I said, “We got you out together, Mandi. Neither one of us could have done it alone.”
Chapter 17
I awoke looking at the bunker’s concrete ceiling. Murphy sat nearby, busying his hands with the parts of a handgun that I didn’t recognize. He glanced at me and said, “Good morning, sunshine.”
Mandi was still asleep so I spoke softly. “Good morning, Murphy.”
“I thought you were going to sleep all day,” he said.
I tainted my tone of voice with a little indignation and said, “I think I earned it. What time is it?”
“How would I know?”
“What?”
“Zed, you know my watch is still at the county jail.”
I rolled my eyes. “So it could be seven in the morning.”
“Heh, heh, heh. Don’t get your panties in a wad, man. I’m just messing with you.”
“Sorry. I could use some coffee.”
“You and me both.”
“What’s that you‘ve got there, Murphy?”
“While you guys were sleeping , I went down to level three to root around and see what I could find, which was pretty much nothing. But I got this Ruger nine millimeter.”
“Is it a good gun?”
“As good as any, I suppose. It’ll take the same nine millimeter ammo as the Glocks.”
“Was there any ammo down there?” I asked.
“Just a few rounds, but I found a couple of empty magazines. You and I both have plenty of ammo, at least for now. We can spare some nine mill to fill the Ruger magazines. Then Mandi will have a gun to protect herself.”
“I passed out when you guys were talking last night, Murphy. What do you think of her?”
“She seemed all right to me. What are you asking?”
I scratched my head. “I don’t know. I mean, she seemed al l right to me too. I guess I just don’t want to get backstabbed by another Mark.”
“I don’t think she’s like that, man. I have a good intuition about people. I think she’s a good one.”
I shrugged. I felt like I didn’t have any kind of intuition about people. “Sounds good. Was there any food down there?”
Murphy shook his head. “Depends on your definition of food. What’s your temperature today?”
“It’s not high enough to start thinking other people are food, if that’s what you mean. Water?”
“Nothing. That big cistern down there has holes like the ones on the other levels.”
“That’s too bad. This could have been a great place to ride this whole thing out, but with everything broken or missing...” I punctuated with a shrug.
“Maybe worse than that, Zed. Without a house on top to keep it hidden, it’s a deathtrap. It’ll probably keep the infected out. I mean, if you fixed the doors that we blew. But if anybody with a few weapons wants in, well, you saw how easy it was for us to get in here.”
I rummaged in my bag for something to eat and drink. I found two packages of donuts and a bag of peanuts. I set the peanuts and a package of miniature donuts aside for Mandi and opened the remaining donuts. She was one of us for the moment, and she needed a share of the food.
Murphy added, “I saved her something too, a package of cupcakes.”
“Cool. That’ll get her started. So what do you think? Are we still at square one? We’ve got almost no water and this is the last of our food. At the moment, we’ve got
More tears flowed.
I didn’t know what to say in the face of so much painful emotion. I was glad that Murphy had taken it upon himself to comfort her.
“I found a quarter in my pocket. I used that when I finally got up the nerve to tap on the door. It took so long to get a response. Do you know what it feels like when your last hope dies?” Mandi cried some more.
I wanted to answer yes. The Ogre taught me that lesson a long time ago.
“I thought…I thought…Well, it doesn’t matter. You did respond. One of you did, anyway. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Murphy said, “It was Zed who heard it. It was Zed who insisted that you were in there.”
I said, “We got you out together, Mandi. Neither one of us could have done it alone.”
Chapter 17
I awoke looking at the bunker’s concrete ceiling. Murphy sat nearby, busying his hands with the parts of a handgun that I didn’t recognize. He glanced at me and said, “Good morning, sunshine.”
Mandi was still asleep so I spoke softly. “Good morning, Murphy.”
“I thought you were going to sleep all day,” he said.
I tainted my tone of voice with a little indignation and said, “I think I earned it. What time is it?”
“How would I know?”
“What?”
“Zed, you know my watch is still at the county jail.”
I rolled my eyes. “So it could be seven in the morning.”
“Heh, heh, heh. Don’t get your panties in a wad, man. I’m just messing with you.”
“Sorry. I could use some coffee.”
“You and me both.”
“What’s that you‘ve got there, Murphy?”
“While you guys were sleeping , I went down to level three to root around and see what I could find, which was pretty much nothing. But I got this Ruger nine millimeter.”
“Is it a good gun?”
“As good as any, I suppose. It’ll take the same nine millimeter ammo as the Glocks.”
“Was there any ammo down there?” I asked.
“Just a few rounds, but I found a couple of empty magazines. You and I both have plenty of ammo, at least for now. We can spare some nine mill to fill the Ruger magazines. Then Mandi will have a gun to protect herself.”
“I passed out when you guys were talking last night, Murphy. What do you think of her?”
“She seemed all right to me. What are you asking?”
I scratched my head. “I don’t know. I mean, she seemed al l right to me too. I guess I just don’t want to get backstabbed by another Mark.”
“I don’t think she’s like that, man. I have a good intuition about people. I think she’s a good one.”
I shrugged. I felt like I didn’t have any kind of intuition about people. “Sounds good. Was there any food down there?”
Murphy shook his head. “Depends on your definition of food. What’s your temperature today?”
“It’s not high enough to start thinking other people are food, if that’s what you mean. Water?”
“Nothing. That big cistern down there has holes like the ones on the other levels.”
“That’s too bad. This could have been a great place to ride this whole thing out, but with everything broken or missing...” I punctuated with a shrug.
“Maybe worse than that, Zed. Without a house on top to keep it hidden, it’s a deathtrap. It’ll probably keep the infected out. I mean, if you fixed the doors that we blew. But if anybody with a few weapons wants in, well, you saw how easy it was for us to get in here.”
I rummaged in my bag for something to eat and drink. I found two packages of donuts and a bag of peanuts. I set the peanuts and a package of miniature donuts aside for Mandi and opened the remaining donuts. She was one of us for the moment, and she needed a share of the food.
Murphy added, “I saved her something too, a package of cupcakes.”
“Cool. That’ll get her started. So what do you think? Are we still at square one? We’ve got almost no water and this is the last of our food. At the moment, we’ve got
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