Atheist's Nightmare, Part Five

“Well Hannah, you can just call me Jack. And no, I don’t want to kill you.” I say slowly, keeping an eye on the two, huddled behind their bed. I look over at my blade laid out just within my reach and I catch her eyes following mine.

“Really?” She asks a slight lilt of hope in her voice, rubbing her hands over the bared arms of her roommate.

“Really. All I want is some of the water you have over there and I’ll be on my way.” I say, nodding to the stacks of water bottles, “maybe the Gatorade as well.”

“We need that though…” Hannah says, a bit of force carried in her tone.

“I’d be willing to trade you some food for some water, I have plenty of food.” I offer, reaching down and taking my blade into my hand again and moving to the door to check the hallway. “We still have plenty of time to jump rooms if we hurry; the Shamblers are busy trying to bash into the dorm a few rooms down.”

“No!” Hannah’s panicked roommate loudly cries, drawing a harsh glance from Hannah and I, who take the time to cover her mouth as she begins to struggle in Hannah’s grasp. The girl looks younger than Hannah and, like Hannah, is merely dressed in a sleeveless tank top and drawstring pants. The girl is obviously much younger than Hannah, perhaps seventeen or eighteen years of age.

Hannah makes shushing noises as she pets the girls short cropped hair repeatedly, trying to calm the panicking girl. I look over at the two before peeking through the crack in the doorway, watching the Shamblers moan and groan as the hammer relentlessly against the door. I heave a sigh of relief as I watch the zombies’ well, shamble, down the hall around the gathered mob.

I look over at the two and creak the door closed once more, padding silently across the room towards the water.

“Hey, I didn’t say you could have any!” Hannah protests, waving an arm to get my attention.

“I’m just taking three bottles for now,” I say as I slip the lukewarm bottles into my leather side satchel, pulling out several sticks of beef and cheese wrapped in hermetically sealed plastic. “Here, have some food.”

Hannah and the girl scramble to catch the offered food products after I toss them, greedily pulling on the plastic to get at the food within. The nameless girl devours the cheese stick in two bites, chewing noisily as she starts on the meat stick. Hannah, obviously as hungry as her counterpart, merely takes a few bites from her offered foodstuff before wrapping it back up and placing it by her hip on the ground.

“So what’s your plan?” I ask, pulling a stick of beef jerky for myself to indulge in as I squat near the water. “Hoard water and Gatorade in a room; wait for the dead to shamble on out of here?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Hannah offers, rubbing her hands up and down the bare arms of her hungry friend.

“And now?” I ask, eyebrow raised in question as I chew my processed meat thoughtfully.

Hannah looks down at the ground, the girl taking one last great bite before cuddling into Hannah as if seeking warmth. “The halls are too dangerous for us to go… and the big ones are going room to room, searching for survivors. They came in the other night, we were forced to hide under the beds for hours before it was safe to come out.”

“How did you know it was safe?” I ask, looking at them with curiosity burning in my mind.

“The… the one that talks, that prays… it called them back.” Hannah says with an involuntary shudder. “I could hear it, hear him, chanting in Latin. Chanting to call them back.”

“Latin? You know it was speaking in Latin?” I press, hoping to get some kind of information about the foe I may have to soon face.

Hannah nods, pulling the smaller girl up to have her look at me. “Janet here knows Latin, she’s a Linguistics major; she knows several dead languages… ancient Greek, Latin, even a few Asian ones.”

“Janet, eh?” I smile at the girl, smiling even wider as her face flushes and she buries it in Hannah’s chest. “Cute name for a cute girl.”

Hannah laughs, running her hand over Janet’s hair as she shakes with embarrassment. “Yeah, Janet’s kind of shy, aren’t you Janet?”