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Letter from the Narrator, Don’t Forget Flake City, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six , Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen.

Chapter Fourteen

Kaya woke with a start to the sounds of a familiar actor recounting the rules of Zombieland, confused, for a moment, about where she was. 

“Ughh.” Kaya said as she sat up, exhaustion creeping into her muscles before she even got moving. 

Sam had her prerecorded message play before some more music, so Kaya carried the radio with her to the kitchen, and searched for some junk food, finally finding a stash of chips buried deep in the pantry, as if someone had been hiding them for a cheat day. 

“Sorry.” Kaya said to the patio window door, as she ripped open the bag of chips. 

Outside, howls and screams from the zombies continued. 

“They weren’t like that last night, or even this morning.” Kaya thought to herself as she approached the patio. 

Quietly, Kaya slid the door open and peaked out, before finally gaining the confidence to step out and watch the zombies. 

They hadn’t been that active when she had been walking around, or she never would have made it this far. 

Kaya watched and saw the zombies all around them scrambling to find food. Clearly, anyone on the first floor had either been overrun or had evacuated, because the zombies seemed to move easily from outside to in, but eventually found their way back out. 

“The doors probably held.” Kaya said out loud. 

“I think so to.” Came a voice. 

“What?” Kaya asked, wondering if this was the same cause as voice she had been hearing, but the voices sounded very different. 

“Up here.” Kaya looked up and saw someone above her. Kaya rolled her eyes at herself and looked to the balcony above her. 

“The hallways are crawling, I made the mistake of opening a door to check and nearly died, but the doors are strong. The windows aren’t.” 

Above her, Kaya could see when she squinted against the sunlight, was a skinny guy, smoking a cigarette. 

“The doors are strong here. I put a heavy ass dresser against it just in case, but the weak point is these glass doors.”

“They can’t climb, at least not well.” Kaya observed. 

“Nope, I’ve been watching them.” The guy said. “I think maybe they could figure out stairs. But I think we are safe up here.”

“They definitely can climb stairs. My apartment is on the second floor anyway, couple miles from here.”

“How did you move through them?”

“At night they were calmer, same with the early morning, not like this, all zombies at a party style.”

The guy laughed. “I’m Jeff.” 

“Hi, I’m Kaya.” Kaya said pretending to shake his hand in the air. 

Jeff air shook her hand back. “You smoke?”

“I don’t smoke those too much.” Kaya removed a joint she had rolled for when she woke up from her nap. “I prefer these.” 

Jeff nodded, “nice.” He inhaled his cigarette. “Fourth floor has a little shop in it. I raided it first thing this morning. I can’t spare much, but I could toss you something if you need.”

“Yeah, the guy down here is a health nut. But I can exchange stuff with you too.” Kaya offered, glad to see a human who wasn’t trying to eat her face off. 

“Those beers he keeps, could you spare some?” 

“Sure. That store have any candles or flashlights?”

“Yeah they did. I’ll grab a bucket, send down what I can spare, you send me up some beer. I can’t do this shit sober.” 

Kaya nodded and returned into the apartment to search for the beer in the fridge. There was an alarming amount of drinks, with not much by way of food, so Kaya made a note to barter more of these beers for food, if possible, later. 

“Maybe some weed for food?” Kaya thought, wondering if she should split her stash up to make bartering smaller amounts of weed easier. “People will want all of what you have if you show them.” Kaya reasoned. 

When Jeff sent the bucket down, he gave her a flashlight and some batteries, with five large scented candles and two six packs of pillar candles. Hardly a ton of light, but Kaya figured if she opened some of the windows, she could have that light to use, and then she could save the candles for the evening, saving the flashlight and batteries for when needed. 

Sam had mentioned the people raiding, and Kaya was getting more and more concerned about how hard raiding and looting would be. 

Kaya filled the bucket with beers, making it look more full than it had been when he sent it to her, to try and build a good relationship with someone who had some food and whatever other supplies he had been able to gather. 

“I don’t drink much, so I figured I could fill the bucket.”

“Thanks, I’m a bit of a lightweight, this’ll get me good and started.”

“So, you said the hallways are crowded?” Kaya asked, wanting to make her own trip for supplies. 

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad. I got out there before they were too active, now they are everywhere it seems.”

Kaya considered this, wondering how much to trust the guy above her. 

“Well, he has a little bit of beer left, and I haven’t gone through the rest of his stuff. He’s not coming back for it though, I know that much. You want any booze he has?”

“Yeah, maybe, probably. What kind of supplies do you need?” Asked Jeff. 

Kaya considered her answer carefully. “Dried food, power’s out.” Kaya searched the balconies to either side of her. “I’ll also probably try and check the apartments to either side of me. See if I can’t find stuff, you need anything?”

“Man, any food that is easy to cook.  My oven still works, but I can’t cook for shit. And of course, no place is delivering.”

“He’s got frozens here.” Kaya offered. “I can cook over a fire. You have wood or food in exchange for frozens would be great.”

“Sounds good.” Jeff cracked a beer open. “I never imagined this shit would happen, and I sure as fuck never imagined I would survive.”

“Surviving is good.” Kaya looked up, “let’s keep it up.”

“Yeah.” Jeff shrugged taking a long chug of beer. “It’s just hard. News hasn’t reported anything yet. I can’t imagine why.”

“News station went down fast. Radio is up, that’s the best way to get news right now.”

“Fuck it all a radio? Really?” Jeff asked. 

“Yeah.”

“I have to go back to the kiosk. I saw a radio.”

“They got toiletries there?” Kaya asked, angry at toiletries she had forgotten like shampoo, conditioner, and lotion for her now rubbed raw hands. Kaya knew eventually she would be somewhere safe, and she would like to wash her hair when that happened.  

“Some little sample sized ones. I’ll grab what I can for you. I’ll need beer when I get back though.”

“I’ll send beer and frozen food, just get a round of stuff to get clean. And any sort of deep repair lotion.” Replied Kaya who was now starting to feel hopeful for her situation. She had packed her basics, but if there was a chance for more items, light things like a toothbrush, she should grab them- it would be good to barter with. Not to mention, with zombies, Kaya was certain there was no limit to the amount of soap one would want to have on hand. 

“Alright. I’ll finish this beer and go.”

“Shouldn’t you go at night? They seem less active.”

“Nah. I don’t want to go drunk, and I’ll be drunk later.” Jeff joked. 

Kaya laughed and finished her joint while he finished his beer, before bidding him good luck and returning inside. 

Looking around, Kaya tried to imagine a better use of the space. She didn’t need a luxury apartment, no, what Kaya needed was a fortress. 

“If the power is out, the washer and dryer won’t be good for shit.” Kaya reasoned, pulling on the dryer to wiggle it from its spot in the nook by the kitchen where the machines were located. 

Kaya was able to move the dryer in front of the door and moved towards the bedroom to find any supplies or bedding she could use. Kaya stripped the linens, glad they smelled reasonably fresh, and carried them to the living room. Kaya returned and grabbed pillows, stripping the cases off the pillows, and carrying the pillowcases to the glass door, and the naked pillows to the couch. 

Kaya now had some linens to sleep on comfortably on the couch and had found a linen closet with some clean towels, so a shower wasn’t out of the question. 

The guy had a closet in his room. and Kaya had been hopeful to find something useful. Inside, she found some sporting equipment, most of it too big for her to use safely, like the pads, but some rope, a Flake City Outdoor Club shirt, and a bag of discarded attempts at learning archery gave Kaya some hope that maybe she could salvage some use from the apartment before moving on. 

Returning to the living room, Kaya set the supplies of usefulness she had scavenged and returned once more to search for a warmer jacket. She found a puffy sky jacket with skis and poles and had an idea for getting across to the other balcony. That balcony had wood on the patio, which made Kaya hopeful for the supplies inside. This apartment, while nice, was lacking in key supplies so once she finished raiding it, she wanted to move on somewhere else and hunker down. 

“This storm could be bad.” Kaya told herself as she moved quickly. Eyeing the space between balconies, Kaya checked that the skis could fit the space. 

“These likely will not hold for long.” Kaya said bringing the ski back to the balcony she was on. “But it should let me push and throw things over, and I should be able to jump and get here too, these skis may help me.” 

Kaya left the skis and poles outside after knocking on the glass door of the next door apartment and not seeing anything come to the door. 

Kaya returned inside and sized up the pillowcases. Something told her she wouldn’t want to stay here long, so she wanted to get everything done in this apartment before moving on. 

Kaya waited until Jeff was back before gathering up some frozen food from the freezer that was losing its chill with the outed power, and put as much as she could fit into the two pillowcases, tying them up with some rope to send up to Jeff when he sent down her supplies. 

Kaya hit her vape pen a few more times while bobbing her head to the music Sam was playing. Kaya was enjoying having her favorite DJ running the radio station all the time, but did worry that Sam would be getting tired…Not to mention Sam made it sound like she was totally alone, which meant the telescope, the special, impossible to get access to, telescope, was unmanned. 

Kaya grabbed another soda and sipped this, considering the implications. The telescope was used by several research facilities and often they needed someone to move it, position it, maintain it…It was a highly technical piece of equipment that many parts of not only the country, but the world, would need, and likely notice if it went down. 

It wasn’t likely that Sam would be able to do any of that alone, it normally required a few sets of hands, which gave Kaya hope that maybe someone would notice the problem in Flake City. 

“I mean, surely we just need one person to get curious and fly a drone over, take some pictures of zombies…” Kaya stopped. 

“A camera. I need a fucking camera.” Kaya had a decent one in her apartment, but nothing worth crossing the space she had already covered, to go towards an area that was crawling with highly violent and active zombies, assuming her apartment wasn’t reduced to rubble by now.  

Kaya looked around the guy’s apartment for a while, but didn’t find a camera, so when Jeff knocked the bucket against the glass door, causing Kaya to jump, she made her way to him to begin her plan. Jeff lowered down supplies, shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste, another couple of candles, along with some trail mix and granola bars. 

“I have another load of dried stuff that may help” Jeff said, chugging another beer as Kaya tied the pillowcases of frozen food to the bucket and rope. 

“Beer on the next one” Kaya said as Jeff pulled the food up. 

“Whoa, nice haul.” Jeff said appreciatively filling the bucket with the remaining supplies he had scavenged. “I also found some papers, matches and a bag of tobacco.” Jeff said, adding these to the bucket. 

“Don’t you smoke?” Asked Kaya. 

“I have a few cartons of prerolled, I’ll be fine.” Jeff assured her. “This will help your weed last longer.” The guy who worked the shop had always kept the shop stocked with the cigarettes Jeff smoked, knowing when Jeff ran out, he would always go to the close by, over priced shop, and not the cheaper places outside of the building. When the shop keeper, Rick, got his face eaten off by the zombie formally known as Jeff’s next door neighbor, while another resident of the building ate his stomach, it had been easy enough for Jeff to sneak around, grabbing the many cartons Rick had stocked hoping to see profit. 

“Thanks” Kaya said, taking the supplies he had sent down.

“I’m thinking about going to the next apartment over, seeing what all it has.” Kaya told him. 

“Wood on the patio is a good sign.” Jeff said, lighting another cigarette as he looked over that edge, unsure as to how she would safely get across. 

“That’s what I was thinking. I grabbed this guys linens just in case, with the power out we both need ways to stay warm.”

“Yeah, I grabbed what I could from neighbors who left their door opened. It sucks you haven’t seen how it is inside, it’s like someone let a bunch of zombies in, or a bunch of people didn’t know they were sick, people had doors wide open, some were trying to leave? I don’t know, I was playing a video game.”

Kaya laughed. “Yeah, if it hadn’t been for the radio station I probably wouldn’t have known much was happening. I mean…my dealer was acting weird but…” Kaya let her voice trail off. 

Jeff inhaled on his cigarette, “So, you smoke weed, that does make you a paranoid person who buys into conspiracy theories?”

Kaya laughed. “No, but I keep an open mind regardless.”

“I think the government may be trying to kill us, or testing us, or something.” Said Jeff as he took a drag on his cigarette. 

Kaya considered this. “Because we are isolated, I guess that makes sense. But I think it’s more likely they paid the research lab to research some messed up biological weapon and it backfired on em.”

“Like in the movies?” Asked Jeff.

“Yeah. I mean, it makes sense, right?”

“Iuno, I still think maybe they are doing something to hurt us, or to maybe watch us…just feels very…Contrived.”

“Contrived how?”

“Just seems like they flipped a switch and many of the people turned into zombies, and the rest are being tested to see how we do. Some hide, some run, some get broken into like you did, and have to flee…Just makes me wonder. Plus, yeah, you’re right, isolated, so it’s easier to test. Like some sick Hunger Games where we don’t have to kill each other because the zombies are going to try to do that.”

“Well, with the Hunger Games they had other things that also tried to kill them, but yeah, we don’t need to kill each other, obviously, all the tips mentioned getting a group and trying to stay safe.”

“Well, all you and I need is for a few more people to make it to these empty apartments and get safe, and they can join the balcony gang we have.”

“Maybe we should put out a sign, let people know?”

“May attract the wrong sort, too.” Jeff replied.

“Sure. I imagine the greedy types will take over stores though.” Kaya paused. “The place I stopped at, to get some equipment, had a guy with a gun. Was very…ahem…firm.”

“Yeah, we don’t know how long this will go on, either. What if it’s weeks? We may need to raid those apartments for food to survive. Or move to them if our apartments are breached.”

Kaya nodded. “I don’t think this place will work for me, not for long. The building isn’t secure enough, not really.”

“It’s as secure as anyone else apartment.”

“Sort of my point. Need something more secure than an apartment building.” Kaya replied. “I don’t like being out and about in the world, but I don’t like not being secure either. I need somewhere very high, with multiple floors of distance. You aren’t wrong, people will be the problem, soon. Plus, this bad weather that’s coming. This place doesn’t have what it takes to hold out in a storm, I doubt there is enough wood enough to last the two of us all winter, so I’ll be moving on, hopefully before the first snow hits.”

Kaya stopped, before continuing, “I think we have a few days or so, before the snow hits. Maybe we should try and find a new place, together.” 

Jeff sighed. “I had a feeling you would say something like that.” 

“Am I wrong?” Kaya countered. “Or do you not want to team up?” Kaya also didn’t want to team up with this stranger, but knew there would be strength in numbers, if nothing else, there could be sleeping rotations so someone would always be on guard. 

“No, you are totally right, and teaming up is the only way to survive.  I just hoped for more time. And to not have to confront it. The snow could slow the zombies down. Nighttime clearly does, and the temperature gets colder at night.”

“It’s colder now than it was last night, and the weather reports are saying it will stay around freezing. The snow may slow them down, hell, they may even freeze, but we would too, and if they don’t freeze, moving will be even harder in snow.”

Jeff moaned. “But for tonight, I am drinking.” Jeff chugged back his beer before crushing it under his foot and throwing it at a zombie below. 

“Sure. I don’t know where to go yet. I am thinking I will reach out to the radio station, see if she knows of anyplace still standing and secure, reasonably empty. She isn’t announcing stuff, she may be saving it to tell people privately, I know her in real life, she’s cool.”

“Cool. I’m gonna pound back all the beer I can while listening to the college radio. Just like when I was in college.” Jeff popped open another beer and continued his mission to be Drunk By Dusk. 

Kaya returned inside and pondered what to do next. The hallways sounded loud with zombie screams, so Kaya hesitated to make too much noise, or to not watch the door, so she didn’t feel it was wise to have her guard down for a shower or a deep nap. Opting to instead freshen up, Kaya washed her face with the door to the bathroom open and brushed her teeth before brushing out her hair and changing into “Flake Outdoor Club” shirt she had found hanging in the guys closet, so she could wash her clothing in the sink and let them air dry by the fire place. 

While the clothes dried, Kaya gathered up the small pile of wood the guy had by his fireplace, which had been placed there haphazardly, making Kaya think the guy had maybe been trying to gather up wood to stay warm too, when he turned. The wood would be enough for a night or two of heat, if she was very careful and didn’t need much heat. It wasn’t much, and when it was to be the only source of heat, the wood would go fast. The apartment still had some warmth to it, but it was chill enough for Kaya to shiver if she stopped moving, and eventually forced her to put on her hoody and beanie again, knowing before long she would have to add a blanket. 

Kaya finally gathered up a bunch of papers and built a bed for the fire in the place, double checking the flue was in good working order and open, ready for use. 

Kaya was glad for her time reading about owning a fireplace, back when she had hoped to get an apartment with a fireplace, knowledge that had mercifully stuck in her head. 

Kaya had the matches sent down by Jeff, so she used a few of them, not having to worry about wind inside the apartment, to get the fireplace fire started. Before long, Kaya had some of the kindling lit and burning, slowly catching the fire logs on fire. 

The wood was old, probably from the season before, so it would be well seasoned but also dry, and likely to burn quickly, so Kaya kept an eye on the clock on her radio to see about how long each small bunch of quartered logs would last. 

The radio kept going, with Sam occasionally checking in with a live update, and towards the evening, she began to ask for anyone to call in for the radio show. 

“I suspect more than the college kids have survived, and I hope some people smarten up and begin to use the radio, please, call in, even if not to be on the show, to let us other survivors know you are alive…It gets lonely thinking everyone is dead.” Sam sighed. “Even if you don’t want everyone to know where you are. I can’t leave. Tell me your alive. Give a D.J. hope in living listeners.” Sam said. 

Something in Sam’s voice pulled on Kaya’s heartstrings, and something told Kaya that Sam was terribly lonely, and needed human interaction, more specifically, Sam needed a friend. Kaya finally decided called Sam and let her know she was alive, once the music came back on. 

“Hey Sam, it’s Kaya.” Sam said with a smile, into her phone. 

“Oh, wow Kaya you are alive! I heard your apartment building was on fire and largely rubble now, and I was so worried!” Sam tried to keep her voice level, but she was overjoyed to hear from Kaya.

“Yeah, I got out in the early morning hours.” Kaya said, filing away the news of her apartment and trying not to think of how ruined all her stuff would be now. ”Sorry I didn’t call earlier…I should have…”

“Are you okay? Are you safe?” Sam pressed, worriedly. 

“Yes. And sort of.” Kaya replied. “I have been searching for better shelter and raiding for supplies. People have already started taking claims of stores, as you know, so I am raiding empty apartments. But they all have zombies in em. Tons of em. Everywhere.”

“How many have you searched?”

“I’ve looked into a few, I have another survivor, above me, we can talk on the balconies. I am gonna move to the next apartment and search it, there doesn’t seem to be anyone in it, but Jeff, upstairs, says some doors were left open, so it’s a risk.”

“How do you get through the crowded halls?”

“I don’t.” I climbed up the outside, and next I will climb sideways. It’s how I got out of my apartment, I had to take the bathroom window and climb down.”

“Wow.” Sam said, surprised at how Kaya had been able to traverse buildings. “How are you doing on supplies?”

“I would be better if I had a place. I can only carry so many supplies and move easily while I am on the move… I need some place I can hunker down into. Was hoping you maybe knew of some places that were secure.”

Sam thought for a minute. “No, other than here, but we can discuss what makes a place safe tonight on the show, maybe give you some ideas. The storm is going to make life hard.”

“How bad does it look?”

“I would say in two, three days, we will be covered in several feet of snow, and have below freezing temperatures.”

“Damn.” Kaya said eyeing her wood pile. “That much snow, we won’t have public services either, it could be weeks before the streets are passable.”

“So, you, and everyone, need to get to somewhere safe. We all need supplies.” Sam sounded worried. 

“How are your supplies?”

“I have to search more of the station…but I am here alone, and I don’t want to wander off alone, without the equipment backed up and such…” 

“But do you think you have food hidden anywhere else?”

“Yeah, probably. The station is meant to be self-sustaining in case of disaster because of the telescope. I imagine there is food somewhere.” 

“Maybe the government will do air drops of supplies, just in case. Surely, they could land some on the roof of the station, the airport is right there.”

“I don’t think they will be helping us much.” Sam said bitterly. 

“Ouch.” Kaya thought about Sam’s tone. “So, we are on our own here?”

“Last I heard, we were being reclassified to someone else problem.” Sam said, filling Kaya in on some of the conversations Sam had enjoyed on the phone with the government. 

Kaya groaned. “They are going to try and cover this whole thing up I bet. I hope they don’t bomb us.” Kaya said out loud. 

“Me too.” Sam replied. 

“The upstairs person and I are going to join forces, I think, because it is probably safer in numbers. He seems like he may be safe enough. We have been trading supplies.”

“Good. Safety in numbers is wise. I wish I had someone here.” Sam said, tiredly drinking her coffee. 

“You need another DJ.”

“I need another human.” Sam said. “And supplies.” 

“Maybe Jeff and I can get over there. With two of us. We can carry more supplies.”

“That would be great. Make sure he’s trustworthy. I trust you.” Sam said. “I need to go; I have to prepare for the segment I am starting soon. You want to be on the air tonight?”

“If it gets slow, text me.” Kaya said, unsure if she would want to do that.

“I understand.” Sam said knowledgeably. “Even having someone to text is great. The college kids are dying off fast and the rest don’t have much phone power left, with the power constantly failing.”

“It sounded like the Zed House may get their power back up.” Kaya said, having enjoyed the story playing out on the radio. 

“Nah the little generator they are working with will only power a room or two, so while they will charge their phones, the house itself is not going to stay up with power.”

“Yeah the apartments I am in lost power too. I have some battery chargers, but I need to save my battery until I find a place with power.”

“I’ll add places that have power to the lists of things to discuss. Hopefully we get more listeners soon.” 

“The same fight it always is, isn’t it, Sammie?”

Sam laughed. “Yup, the more things change the more they stay the same.” 

“Keep fighting the good fight.” Kaya said to Sam as they hung up. 

Kaya opened up the chips she had found and chugged another soda the fridge by candle light from lighting the scented candle she had received from the barter with Jeff. 

Kaya wanted to eat whatever she would want from this place that wouldn’t travel well in her bag, so she figured she would go through whatever canned goods she could and then pack whatever dried things she could fit into her backpack. 

“Chips, while light, will get destroyed in my bag.” Kaya had told herself as she went to work devouring the bag of chips. The stash of soda was fueling Kaya, but she found some bags of coffee in the freezer that she stashed in her bag as well. “Things of barter value, or that I can use.” Kaya told herself as she inventoried supplies and ate her way through the packing rejects. 

Kaya’s muscles were aching from her climbing, and she suspected she would have more climbing to do before the week was out, so she ate freely. 

“I thought I would need a bigger bag, but this backpack just seems to keep having room…” Kaya said as she eyed the bag she had been gifted by Roxy. Sure, when Kaya first investigated the bag, she saw she had plenty of extra space, but she had since added many supplies and still, she had “just a little” more room for whatever she added. Every time. 

“Odd.” Kaya said, lifting the bag, which did feel vaguely heavy, but still, she could fit more into it and could also carry it. The weight would get to her, Kaya was sure, but somehow the bag seemed able to fit all the supplies she was fitting into it, so Kaya opted to reload her wax vaporizer, realizing she needed alcohol to clean her wax tool, soon, and hit her vaporizer to not care about the increasing irritation that she didn’t have her dab rig, despite having such a giant supply of wax. 

“Maybe the first aid kit…” Kaya said, searching the apartment for a first aid kit while another can of soup heated up on stove. 

In the bathroom, a small first aid kit yielded some alcohol wipes, so Kaya cleaned her dab tool off, after fully filling her vaporizer, and stashed the rest of the wipes into her bag. Kaya had a small kit already and knew she would need more supplies if this problem went on long term, so she added that to her needs list, wondering what supplies would be most needed with zombies and freezing temperatures. 

Upstairs, Jeff was several beers in, and heating up a couple of the pizzas. 

Outside, zombies screamed and growled on.

Kaya sent a message to Roxy, her dealer, asking if she had heard anything about her town, and asking if she would be able to air drop food somewhere, if it came to it. Thus far, no response. 

Kaya rolled her eyes and left it alone, for now, knowing it wouldn’t do her any good to be irritated to the dealer who had always been so helpful to her. Roxy had always been a bit odd and a bit mysterious, hence why this last time hadn’t even been that odd, although admittedly, by the time line they had put together, Roxy was in the city when zombies were starting to take over, and Roxy had been the only delivery service still working that far into the disaster, except Damian, who Kaya knew only in passing. 

Damian, as it turned out, was the delivery service that lasted the longest, taking a batch of tamales to Chloe’s early that very day, when the zombies were getting very active, but had been invited to stay in Chloe’s high rise and very secure apartment. Kaya, of course, knew none of this. 

Roxy, of course, like you, dear reader, knew all of this. 

Roxy also knew that a reporter was being brought in to fill the void in communications as some parts of the town still had power and kept looking to the news to broadcast about the situation. 

But Kaya, in the apartment she had crawled into and taken as her own, did not know any of this, and instead hoped that whatever powers that be would help Sam get some supplies at the radio station, if Roxy continued to not answer. 

“I wish I had grabbed my camera.” Kaya said as the sun began to dip down and the hordes of zombies began to quiet. The light was eerie and beautiful and Kaya wished she could get a good shot or two, versus the ones she was snapping on her phone. 

Kaya rolled up the bag of chips, having eaten through half the large bag, and decided she better start thinking of adding some work out to her day in this new world she found herself in, if she was going to keep scaling buildings. 

“What if I do make it all the way to the radio station, and Sam is willing to let me stay there, how will I get up there?”

Kaya knew the area around the radio station was incredibly full of zombies, and knew that the ground level door would be nearly impossible to access. She would need to find a way onto one of the balconies or observation decks, to gain safe access to the station without risking the safety of the station. 

“That could mean a lot more climbing, none of it safe or easy.” Kaya thought about the guy upstairs, when she heard him moving around, clumsily. 

“He may not be graceful, either, so how are you going to get him up?” Thought Kaya, pulling out the map of the city she had. There were places near the station they could hide out in, but nothing close enough to bridge across. They would have to cross to the station on the zombie infested ground and somehow climb up, after getting through a crowd of zombies. 

Kaya eyed the rope she had found in the guy’s apartment but knew it wouldn’t be enough to try and scale the building. Kaya could, she reasoned, maybe find a way up, but she would need to think on it, and would still need the zombies drawn away from the building, but the chances of Jeff having the skills needed to get up the building were slim. Hell, Kaya wasn’t even sure if she could. 

“We will need to distract the zombies, and she will have to let us in the door, the balconies are all so high up in that place.” Kaya reasoned, eyeing the map, she knew they still had plenty of space to cross before they even got to the radio station. It could take a long time to get through the zombies, and if the zombies were going to stay so active in the daytime, they would have to travel by night, which is more dangerous and more cold. 

Kaya began to pace as she rotated the little spindle on the radio to keep it charged and tried to think of the next plan. Below her, Kaya, could hear howls from the zombies, and the sound terrified her. They sounded hungrier, angrier, and more likely to break down doors, then they had even when they had been breaking down her door that morning. 

Nervously, Kaya climbed onto the dryer she had slid in front of the door and listened for sounds in the hallways. It wasn’t as bad as down below, but still the sounds were loud, and it was clear there were no small number of zombies in the hallways. 

Kaya slid off the dryer and pushed the couch closer to the fire, so she wouldn’t need it to be as roaring to keep her warm. With that space clear, Kaya pushed the washer, the heavier of the two machines, to the door, to have both blocking it off. The sound wasn’t too loud, thanks to the thick carpeting in the apartment, and some coasters Kaya had found and slid under the legs of the machine had helped facilitate the move of the machine. 

Kaya wondered if she should block off the doors to the balcony too but knew she would be in and out of that area and nothing but a human could climb up, and it seemed unlikely considering what was at the base of that climb. 

Down below, the zombies were starting to settle down, but still, a thick throng surrounded the building. Sometimes zombies would move into the building, and a small hole in the circle would open up, before another zombie took its place, a throbbing throng of bodiess, it made Kaya’s eyes blur when she stared too long, the same way ants crawling on a dropped piece of food in the park would pulsate like one being. 

Kaya shook her head and opted to instead just lock the door when she decided to rest, and maybe put the dresser that had been blocking the front door, in front of it, as a barrier in case anyone did climb up, but not until she laid down later. 

Kaya was exhausted, that much was certain, having not slept much the night before and not allowing herself much rest while the zombies were so active, but she also wasn’t sure about sleeping all night, if zombies were more active during the day, they should do less activity during the day, more at night, so she needed to get to that kind of schedule. 

“But then I am resting and not safe…Need to sleep in shifts…which means being in a group…” Kaya’s thoughts spun, as they had been, as she considered the many angles to their survival. 

Kaya thought about how to stay rested when the building was obviously crawling with zombies. “I can’t be too safe, what if they tried to break through the floors?” Kaya looked down, knowing she would at least get a warning before they were able to break through, but overall, Kaya was scared. 

“Even if I go to the next apartment, which may or may not be more secure than this one, how long before those hoards of zombies tear apart the walls?”

Sam had talked about the apartment buildings and parts of campus that were destroyed, torn down and torn into rubble by the zombies. Kaya took some comfort in the fact that the zombies were slowly winding down as the sun dropped behind the mountains and darkness began to slowly settle onto the city. 

Kaya realized, with a shock, that maybe her anxiety was getting the best of her and chastised herself. “Medication is medication, even at the end of the world.” Kaya told herself, reloading her vaporizer, intent on hitting it until she felt a bit more normal. Kaya eyed her bag of weed and opted to roll a couple of joints and to save the rest. 

“Mixing it with tobacco…” Kaya considered Jeff’s thoughtful suggestion. It wasn’t the worst idea, and she wasn’t opposed to tobacco when it was some of this nicer stuff. 

After puffing on her vaporizer, Kaya cleared it, reloaded it, and set about rolling a couple of spliffs and a regular joint, before stashing her weed away again. 

For the not first time that day, Kaya wished she had been able to grab her dab rig, before the bookshelf had crashed down and zombies began pouring in. Kaya wondered, also for not the first time that day, if there were any smoke shops that would be standing and not swarming with zombies. Kaya could think of one, near the campus next to the radio station, that actually would be fairly safe to hide out in, and they had an excellent selection in glass pieces. 

“Okay. And it’s next to that pharmacy corner store, so we can grab any supplies we may need.” Kaya said, grabbing her map and searching for a few paths to make the distance shorter. 

While Kaya looked for routes to the smoke shop, the radio station began to broadcast the start of Sam’s radio show. 

Kaya carried the radio outside with her map, her spliffs, and a soda, and set up to listen to the radio and search for a path to safety by the still working emergency lights that turned on at night. Kaya shivered and realized she wouldn’t be able to stay outside long. 

“You up there?” Kaya asked to the balcony upstairs. 

Silence was deafening, so Kaya continued to listen to the radio broadcast. Sam was doing her best to urge everyone to not be dicks and hoard the supplies, explaining that mathematically there should be more than enough within the city limits, for anyone still alive, to stay fed. 

“I mean, come on people, based on the people I see out there, and that I have calling in to the station, there can’t be too many of you. Sure, I don’t have the biggest listening numbers, but we can say that about ten percent of my listening numbers are still alive, which, if you use that as a sampling pool, means that as many as 10,000 people could be alive. Frankly, this seems unlikely. I think there are less than 1,000 people alive. The supplies in houses, apartments, stores, gas stations, etc, should more than feed the people still in this city for several weeks, at least. I have been in contact with the government. I don’t know what their solution is, and we will discuss that later, but, they do know what is happening here, and, I have to imagine they would likely air drop supplies to us.” Sam considered her next words carefully. “If they don’t want to keep us alive, they would have just bombed us already, right?”

Kaya shivered and returned inside to grab a blanket to throw around her shoulders and to try and make something warm. Kaya had found some tea bags, and set about making tea on the gas stove that was still, thankfully, working. 

The water was ready quickly, and before long Kaya had a large mug in hand, with a couple of tea bags and some artificial sweetener she had found.

Kaya grabbed a spliff and walked back outside, the hot mug of still seeping tea helping fend off the cold. The wind was gusting strong, but it was the chill it carried that made it so problematic. 

Above, Jeff could be heard opening the door, so Kaya was pleased with her ability to time out his next trip outside. 

“This radio show isn’t bad. I hope more people are listening to it.” Jeff said. 

“Yeah, I like it. I like Sam, she’s great, a damn good DJ.”

“Yeah. She made a good point- they would have bombed us had they wanted us dead, easy enough with our spot to bomb us. But they haven’t.”

“Would probably be too hard a story to contain, some people, surely some people are still outside the city wondering what happened to Flake City.” 

“Whatever the reason, it may be enough to keep us alive. Maybe they are just isolating us because look at those things, we got to keep them out, right? Out of the rest of the world?”

Kaya looked out, sipping her tea. “Sure. But I don’t think the government is innocent in this either.”

Jeff laughed, and lit his cigarette. “Agreed.” He exhaled the smoke. “The government hasn’t sent in troops, nor have they even shown they are trying.” 

Kaya considered Sam’s words. It was true, the government hadn’t bombed them, but Sam also had a whole section of the radio show sectioned off for talking shit about the people stationed to shoot anyone who tried to cross the only bridge out, and would shoot any boats that left the marina- it was clear they weren’t going to be helping Flake City anytime soon.  

Sam also had informed the city that communications were severely throttled and no information pertaining to what was happening, was getting out. 

Overall, things seemed…quiet, all things considered. Below, the zombies had quieted down, inside the building and out, and it even seemed like some zombies were trying to seek shelter from the night and cold by staying in the building.

Or, as Jeff and Kaya feared, the zombies somehow knew that’s where the food was, and they were trying to find people like Kaya and Jeff. 

For this reason, Jeff had begun to pack a bag, like Kaya had, with supplies for them. 

“Do you really have a place for us?” Jeff asked when they began talking about making the escape from the heavily infested building. 

“I think so. I have a place we can hold out in. Sam, the DJ, she will likely take us in, more so if we can bring her supplies and will help her man the station, she’s all alone there. We have food, and we can raid more. Plus, they may have supplies in the station, but she needs help before she goes looking.”

“How can we get in the station though? With all the zombies around it?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t figured that out yet. But there is a really secure smoke shop we can camp out in, and a store next door we can raid for supplies. The store is all windows so I doubt anyone is trying to hold up in it, so while it will likely have zombies inside, we can raid carefully and hide out in the smoke shop, which has bars on the windows and a thick locking door. I’ve been there before; it locks up tight.”

“Smoke shop will have some supplies we can use too.” Jeff said, lighting another cigarette. “Papers, cigarettes, snacks and drinks,” Jeff paused, “Hell anything of use we can either use ourselves or barter. Eventually those people in the stores, like that guy you ran into with the gun, they will need supplies same as anybody, and we just need to have what they need, to barter what we need, if this whole thing goes on for a while.”

“And if the water quality goes down people will be happy to have cigarettes. Eating tobacco can help kill a bunch of stomach bugs.” Kaya said knowledgeably. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, I read about it somewhere.” Kaya replied smoking her spliff. Kaya would have preferred a joint with only cannabis, but alas, Jeff was right, the tobacco would help it go further, and she had no idea when she would next be able to get access to more cannabis. 

“All the more reason to keep some on hand. That weed you smoke will be a hot bartering item too.”

“Yeah. First thing I am doing when we get to the smoke shop is to find a dab rig and use it. It’ll make my weed last longer, if I use all this wax instead. I can also probably use it to barter us into the station if food wouldn’t work.”

“But we will need weapons to keep those supplies safe too.” Jeff said.

“I have a baseball bat, machete, and a small little camping ax. Hopefully it’s enough.” Kaya thought for a minute. “I also have some archery supplies from the guy who lived down here. I don’t really know how to use it, but it counts.”

“You ever fire a bow?” Asked Jeff, leaning over the edge of his balcony to look at Kaya. 

“Yeah, I mean, a long time ago, I was at an Olym- old sports training facility and some of the archery people taught me a few things.” Kaya thought back to then. “I don’t remember it all, but I am sure some of that time will help.”

“You should draw a target, practice inside, before we get out there, you know?” Jeff suggested.

Kaya considered this for a minute. It’s not like the zombie she had pushed from the balcony was worried about getting his security deposit back. “Yeah, sounds like a good activity for tonight and tomorrow.” Said Kaya. “But I may try and move to the next apartment, see what they have in there. 

“I doubt they will have much, I saw a bunch of eviction notices on their door.”

“That just means they are used to living broke. May have wood or dry goods in their apartment. This guy has mostly protein bars.” 

 Jeff shrugged. “As long as their apartment door is closed, and nothing is in it. I don’t think I would risk it, not if we are going to be going across town anyways.” 

“Yeah, I keep using his ski to tap on the glass door, nothing yet. I’ll want to do it before they get all active again,” Kaya said, seemingly unhearing Jeff’s trepidation. 

“Just don’t get hurt. I haven’t heard from anyone else.” Jeff said quietly. “And it gets very lonely when everyone is a zombie.” 

Kaya thought about this. Sure, Kaya never left her apartment, or at least, very rarely did, but she did communicate with people often enough. 

Jeff, it seemed, may have been a more social person, or at least one who didn’t do well alone all the time, like Kaya preferred. 

“Don’t worry,” Kaya assured him. “We are leaving this place together, and we are going to get to safety, together.”

“Define safety.” Jeff said as a zombie fell out of a window below them, tumbling to the cold ground. The zombie shook themselves off and began trying to get back into the apartment building. 

“Hey! Fucker! You dead fucker!” Yelled Jeff.

“What are you doing?” Asked Kaya, alarmed. 

“Trying to figure out the parameters of their hearing.” Jeff answered before yelling a few more times. This zombie didn’t seem too smart, looking all around, and not seeing Jeff. 

“I know they say dogs can’t look up but surely zombies can.” Kaya said with a chuckle, thinking to one of her favorite zombie movies. 

“Dogs can to look up.” Said Jeff in response, a grin playing on his boyish face. 

“I guess all zombie movies are the same.” Kaya quipped. 

“Classic.” Jeff said. “I think that movie is available still online. If we had power it would be great.”

“I could watch on my phone, I have some battery packs, but I am saving those. No idea how long we will be at the smoke shop waiting for a way to get into the radio station.”

“We need to figure out how we will stay warm, inside the smoke shop. If they don’t have a fireplace, we will get pretty cold, pretty fast.” Said Jeff shivering as a breeze blew. 

“Yeah. I am working on that. We can’t possibly carry enough blankets, and I only have one sleeping bag. 

“I have a sleeping bag. Well, I found one. It’s warm.”

“How many apartments have you been able to raid?” Asked Kaya. 

“Not many, but one of my neighbors had grabbed a bunch of camping stuff, I guess they were going to try and make a go of it outside before getting eaten alive.”

“Makes sense. If you can survive the elements, the mountains are probably much safer than this stuff.” Kaya said. Kaya briefly remembered that voice she had heard urging her to go to the mountains. 

“Either way, I have some supplies.” Jeff said. “Sleeping bag, a tent, some cookware. I can survive, if we get somewhere safe. Even have a good backpack.” 

“Good. Make sure it’s packed and ready to go. If we get a chance to run, we will need to take it.”

“I don’t know how we are going to get down. The elevator is down and the stairwells are clogged with zombies worse than the hallways.”

“We have some climbing equipment, namely rope. I am thinking I can make a rope ladder, probably easier than trying to go down the way I went up.”

“Rope ladder seems much easier then climbing down using whatever as a guide. I’m not really a climber.”

“Neither am I.” Replied Kaya, slightly lying. 

“Then how the fuck did you get up here? Not a climber, she says, ha!”

“I used to do gymnastics and stuff, I am pretty strong still I guess, but I haven’t worked out in ages. I had to climb out and down from my apartment as well, that was my warm-up.”

“We may need that rope though, how much would we waste making a ladder?”

“That’s my concern, as well. But I thought a knotted rope would be much harder for you.”

“I mean, I was always able to climb down those ropes in school, easier than up. Just gotta do it once.”

Kaya considered this. “If you can get down here, I can climb down there, and I can hold the rope at the bottom, keep it from swaying as much for you.” Kaya answered, knowing there wasn’t much rope and any attempt at a rope ladder to go down three floors would likely take all their rope, leaving none for if they needed to climb into the radio station. 

“We may need a rope ladder for the station, so, if you think you can do a knotted rope down, we can try that.”

“I think if you go down first, I can follow.” Said Jeff nervously. I am worried about getting down to you though.”

“I could toss a rope up, and you could tie it off up there. Big leap of trust on my part.”

“Not really. Tie yours to the balcony too, it will help secure the line to have it anchored twice.”

Kaya nodded appreciatively. “Thanks.”

“We just met, I don’t blame you.” Said Jeff laughing. “Hell, I don’t know why you are trusting me at all.”

“Because we all need to be our best selves right now.” Kaya replied without thinking. 

“True enough.” Jeff said looking out. The zombie he had been yelling at was wandering around the outside of the broken windows, seemingly in search of food, long having forgotten the noises he had heard earlier. 

The evening continued into the night with Sam spacing out her radio talk show segments between bits of music and audio files from zombie movies. Sam also hinted at doing short story readings on the air later in the broadcast, to diversify the content. Kaya hit her dab pen and smoked some spliffs while sipping hot tea and Jeff focused on drinking all the beer possible in case they left the next day. 

“How big of a bag is it, do you think you will be able to carry it far?”

“I mean, we’re going to find out. But it’s a backpacking pack, it’s meant for it though, so, here’s hoping.”

“Well, make sure you pack the lightest stuff. I’m eating all the canned goods because I can save the dried goods which are lighter.”

“You’re gonna need more than that to survive though.” Jeff said. “I hope you plan on packing some cans.” Jeff said, having put more than a few cans in his own bag already. 

“I do. The most nutrient rich ones.”

“Okay that’s smart. How does all this stuff come to you? This knowledge to do these things?”

Kaya considered the question for a minute, staring into the darkness outside of the building’s emergency light illumination. “I don’t…really know. I guess I’ve watched a lot of movies?” Kaya shrugged, she really didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know.” She said finally with a sigh, before taking another sip of the tea. 

“I don’t know if all the zombies are the same.” Said Jeff, “You got any theories on that?”

Kaya considered this for a moment. “Hrm… Well, uhhh, I guess I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Cuz, the thing is,” Jeff took a deep swig of beer. “You can climb up this building. I can’t. I bet a bunch of other people can’t either. But some can. People are different. If zombies are people, if this is just people infected with something, wouldn’t some people, some infected people turned zombies, be different?” 

“Well, I haven’t seen one zombie yet climb a building.”

“We haven’t seen one destroy a building, but the radio said buildings were destroyed. If the military isn’t here, how were those building’s destroyed? Was that zombies, like a fuck ton of zombies? Was that some beefed out athletes?”

“It was buildings around the athletic center, if I recall the campus correctly.”

“Right. And that makes sense. But where are those zombies…now?”

“Maybe not here? Maybe they moved elsewhere, or dispersed?”

“Sure, yeah, maybe, could be…But does that mean they are still out there and we have to deal with them?” Jeff finished his beer and without hesitation opened his next beer. 

“Maybe. I mean, it’s possible, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s scary is what it is. How secure is anywhere with beefed up infected strong humans?”

“Well, I think the key is they can’t think. So, I can climb this building, a little, because of some skill, but I have a brain to think it out, and what makes that different is I can help you too. Zombies can’t think, they don’t have brain power.” Kaya took a sip of tea, “They can’t think. If they can, it is obviously very rudimentary, at best, and they can’t help each other. We can outsmart them. You are clever, I am clever, and they can’t think at all.”

“But they are out numbering us.” Jeff replied. 

“Sure. But aren’t most people kind of zombies already?” Kaya said. 

“Is this a practical or philosophical question?” 

“I think this early on it can be both, no-one really knows what is going on.” 

Jeff considered this for a moment. “Well, I guess yeah. Most people are pretty boring and mundane and literally everyone I have known and seen is a zombie now, but like, they always were. I haven’t even heard from people I know in the city who don’t suck. Which sucks.” Jeff light another cigarette. “I miss my friends. It’s not like we hang out every night even, you know? Hell, we hang out on our video games more than anything, but they are still my friends, and I talk to them a lot on my headset, every day.”

“You haven’t heard from anyone?”

“My power is down, and no one has answered their phones so, as of this moment I have no idea where any of my friends are…Friends as in people who aren’t already totally zombies. Mind you, some of us kind of are zombies.”

Kaya laughed. “Sure, but, I don’t think we have to worry much, these aren’t intelligent creatures, and while some seem fast, we can always bash them in the head or whatever, like in the movies.”

“But do you think some of them are faster than others?”

Kaya considered this, remembering what she had from her walk over. “I think…Yeah, I think some move faster than others, it seems to depend on how fast they were before the infection.”

Jeff inhaled his cigarette. “Yeah, I think so too.” Jeff drank some more beer. “Boss zombies would be terrifying.” 

“Oh, like from the games or whatever?”

“Yeah. Or like special infected.”

“Yeah. I love those games.” 

“Me too.” Sighed Jeff. 

“I wish we had power.” They both said together, causing them to break into laughter. 

“I had power at my apartment when I left, when did you guys lose power?”

“Yesterday.” Replied Jeff. “Like, early on, when the building still had mostly alive people in it. I think people going out to get supplies for power outages lead to more people getting infected at the stores or something.” 

“Well, maybe other places have power too.”

“I hope. The temperatures are cold. It isn’t bad for us now, but its going to be worse, it think. The last weather report I saw said nasty storm was coming in.” Jeff drank some more beer.

“Yeah, we will need to find somewhere with a fireplace, I think.” Kaya said softly. “Who knows how long Sam can keep power at the radio station.”

“Well, those places have all sorts of back up power, don’t they?”

“Do they ever. If not the radio, the telescope, but its all housed in the same building so, she gets the benefit of that.”

“The telescope?” Asked Jeff. 

“Yeah, inside the radio station it’s got this huge telescope, super specialized telescope, worth a bajillion dollars.” Kaya smiled, hitting her vape pen in lieu of lighting another spliff or joint. “It’s incredibly expensive and the government needs it to work, it’s part of the conditions of the contract with the radio station, it has to be manned at all times and all sorts of other crap, but the advantage is the power, water, all that, stays on, and the place is really secure.”

Jeff considered this. “Okay, so it will stay working for a while.” 

“Yeah.”

“Until it isn’t needed anymore?”

“I guess,” laughed Kaya. “but this thing is always needed.”

“Well,” Jeff said taking another swig of beer. “Doesn’t that mean it will probably need maintenance or something soon? Don’t those kinds of instruments require updates or something?”

“Yeah, sometimes.” Kaya said. “But, most the DJ’s know how, it’s not hard, anyone could do it, you just need to be taught. She needs help, she’s alone. If we get there, I bet she will let us in to help her, even if we didn’t have many supplies. But we are gonna have supplies too. Hell, depending on how we get in, maybe we can grab extra’s, and the three of us can ride out this snow storm, in real style.” Kaya said cheerfully.

“Sounds like a nice holiday.” Jeff smiled. “I always hated the awkward month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Screw it. We can skip the week after Christmas, that weird before New Years time, too.” 

“We’ll grab a bunch of booze and food, and have a great time, champagne for everyone!” 

“Assuming she lets us in.” Said Jeff.

“If not, we find someplace else. We find a safe enough building, fortify it up, and ride it out. I bet the cold slows them down. I can’t wait for the freeze.” Kaya said half brightly, glad she had such a large supply of wax for her vaporizer as she hit it again. 

“I’m glad of two things.” Said Jeff. 

“What’s that?” Asked Kaya. 

“That I’m a happy drunk and you have a lot of weed.”

Kaya laughed. “I was just thinking how lucky I am to have wax and this vaporizer. It uses very little, so I can get pretty ripped. And my dealer randomly brought me a ton.”

“You use a dealer?”

“Yeah. I know they have a mail order service for medical, but she has always been able to give me better deals, so I use her instead. She’s more reliable too.”

“Hard to come by.” Said Jeff, having a friend who smoked weed regularly. 

“No kidding.” Kaya inhaled again. “She has a plane. I kind of kept hoping she would fly in some supplies but…if the Government already made it a no fly zone I’m sure, they would probably shoot her down.” 

“How long do you think they will leave us here?” Jeff asked.

“I mean, I hope not more then a couple of weeks.”

“They may not…I mean…What if they don’t.”

“Then I guess we settle in for a the long haul. Either at the station or somewhere, maybe in the mountains.”

“Mountains sounds smart. I don’t trust that the government will keep the studio up and going for months, and I bet they do leave us stranded for months…If not longer”

“Nah, they can’t keep us for years, supplies would dry up.”

“Maybe they don’t care.”

“You need to drink more if you are trying to have me believe you are a happy drunk.”

“Hey, I’m good,” Jeff assured her. “I just have a healthy mistrust of our government and how they are handling this. No message except what they have given from a late night radio DJ?” 

“That is probably a wise mistrust.” Said Kaya.

“Yeah. But, like you said, we are humans. We can think. You can climb a building, I can scavenge some stuff, we managed to find each other and connect enough to try and plan out survival…The zombies can’t plan and try to survive, not like we can.”

“No they don’t.” Kaya said sipping her tea. 

“But they also don’t require rest, I think.” Said Jeff. “We should try and rest.” 

“Can’t rest, not for long.” Kaya said. “Gotta guard the door. I keep drinking fluids so I can only doze off for so long.”

“You need to rest!” Said Jeff. 

“It isn’t really an option.” Kaya yawned. “Besides. I will sleep when we get ourselves safe.” 

“Then maybe instead of you going across, I should start passing you things down, and we can just be there in person.” Jeff suggested.

“Maybe, but you’ve had too many beers to do that. If you sober up, you can climb down, we can sleep in shifts, but we should probably just stay vigilant until we get somewhere safe.”

“Kaya, that isn’t sustainable. The zombies haven’t been active, I haven’t heard anything from them in ages. They may not need rest, but they are zombies, even before they got infected, right, so they are inside and not doing anything. We can catch some sleep, in the morning we can get vigilant again and run in the evening when they all calm down.”

Kaya considered Jeff’s words. “Yeah. Naps are smart. Besides, the tea isn’t doing much. I didn’t sleep much last night or today. But, I think I will finish out the segment with Sam’s show.”

Jeff laughed. “Oh for sure, I am absolutely not turning this shit off!” Jeff said chuckling into his beer. 

And so the two passed the rest of their evening, taking trips inside to pee, check their fires, make tea, etc. 

Eventually, Sam ended her part of the program, her usual time slot, and Kaya and Jeff bid each other good night, with Jeff good and drunk, and Kaya buzzed from her vape. 

Jeff cuddled up in his bed, and Kaya made herself comfortable on the couch. 

Kaya, having pulled the couch closer to the fire place, laid some blankets and sheets down on the couch, using most of them to pad the surface, and wrapped herself up in a thick blanket. Kaya had her sleeping bag, but her paranoia at a zombie breaking in and her having to run made her hesitate to have anything unpacked from her bag, so Kaya slept ready to grab her bag and run. 

Kaya had her backpack fully packed, including her stash, next to her body, and her boots next to her on the floor beside the couch so she could swing her feet into them at a moments notice. 

It was like this that Kaya grabbed a few hours of sleep, before shrieks of zombies outside woke her up again. 

Thank you so much for reading this (albeit it long) chapter of Flake City! Make sure you are subscribed/following my blog to not miss any of the free to read goodness I drop every Friday! For those asking, I also have merchandise available for Flake City, including face masks and pillows, all of which support Flake City, and of course, myself. Don’t Forget Flake City.

Thanks for reading!

❤

Abbi