The Zombie Whisperer (Living With the Dead) by Jesse Petersen Page B

cheer uniform and had her stringy hair in a high pony that flipped as she jerked back from the bullet to her brain.
    “There are a lot of benefits to clearing this area,” Lisa said with a tiny smile that seemed pretty real.
    “Are you thinking date night?” I asked.
    She glanced at me. “Seriously, Sarah? I’m not answering that.”
    “Just curious,” I chuckled.
    She rolled her eyes. “Follow me, let’s do this thing.”
    She stepped out into the main hallway. There were signs directing us to the bowling center, billiard and table tennis room and a couple other entertainment venues (including a movie theatre, though I doubted we’d waste electricity on that).
    “It’s so closed off,” I said as we looked around.
    She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll toss one in the billiard area and one in the bowling alley, then we’ll clear the rest. It should cover a majority of the space.”
    “Outbreak was in the mid to late afternoon,” I agreed. “I doubt they were playing movies then. That space may have even been locked.”
    “Thank God for small favors. Now let’s go.”
    She pulled the pin on another grenade and tossed it into the billiard room. She pulled the door shut and did the same for the bowling alley. With an exchange of smiles, we headed off the clear the rest of the floor and declare our mission to reclaim the student union building a rousing success.
    #
    As we re-entered the lab building an hour later, I ran a hand through my sweat dampened hair and handed the gas mask back to Lisa. She shook her head.
    “Keep it. Until we know what the deal is with the baby zombie, you’re going to need it to protect you and
it
from the gas.”
    “Thanks.” I tucked it under my arm. “And thanks for taking me with you today. I didn’t realize how much I missed kicking zombie ass until I was doing it again.”
    Her brow wrinkled. “So how come you don’t do it as much? You are…” she sighed. “Good at it.”
    I laughed. “Well, that must taste pretty bitter coming from your mouth.” She shrugged and I continued. “Ever since Dave got his ‘powers’, it’s been easier to let him go out and handle the bad guys.”
    “Following the ol’ gender roles, are we?” she snarked with a laugh.
    I shook my head. “No, it’s not that. Dave isn’t being a caveman about it… much. The thing is, it
does
make sense. They don’t attack him, ever. Versus, they want to eat me. Even if he had a roomful of guys begging to head out with handguns, he would go out on his own. It’s just safer.” I sighed. “Anyway, I clear zombie from a distance while he herds and dispatches the bigger groups.”
    “Sounds… awful.” Lisa shivered.
    I shrugged. “I get it. He wants to protect me.”
    “By keeping you in a zombie-free bubble,” Lisa muttered.
    I knew I should defend Dave even more, but what she said wasn’t exactly inaccurate. Sometimes it did get frustrating to know there was work to be done zombie-wise and be ushered into a back room while he took care of it all.
    She waved at a couple of military looking guys in the hall and pushed into the lab area. She looked like she was about to say more but never got the chance. Why?
    Because Dave was standing right on the other side of the door, arms folded and face red with complete and utter anger, frustration, fear, and a bunch of other emotions I couldn’t even list. All of them bad, though.
    “Where the fuck have you been?” he snapped.
    “No caveman, huh?” Lisa said, her eyes going wide at his sharp, aggressive tone.
    “Stay out of this,” Dave said with a glare for her. “Just stay out of it.”
    I looked around. The lab was still half-full, despite the waning day and everyone was bustling around, pretending to work… and totally staring at us. I blushed.
    “Hey, dickwad, how about not doing this in front of the world?” I said, grabbing his hand and dragging him off into the same room where they’d done my ultrasound a few days prior. I slammed the door