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jingling. The door-knob bent down, then rattled. The lock kept it from opening. It rattled harder, harder, harder. Quiet. The footsteps trotted backwards, and vanished. We listened for ages, for anything, ears drowning the noise outside the windows and jumping at every crack and nuisance outside Jack’s door. Minutes passed. I removed my hand from Hannah’s mouth. She dropped her head into her hands.
    Les swallowed. His face was pale. I think his dog’s dwindling screams ran the treadmill in his mind. “Do you think he’s gone?” he whispered in a hoarse voice.
    “How should I know?” I went over to the window. Smoke rose from many different places. Down the street, a van had slammed into a light pole, tearing it down. The driver was gone. Blood splattered the pavement. A few infected danced here and there, crawling like animals, along the sides of houses, but it seemed they exited down the street corner, heading towards the gut of Spring Falls—No, I thought. They were heading for Downtown South Arlington. Anthony Barnhart
    36 Hours
    28
    Where my dad worked. But he was at home. So was my mom and sick sister. I suddenly yearned so strongly for all of them. “We need to go.”
    Hannah finally spoke. “Are you insane?”
    “My family is at home. My dad has probably protected them. They’re worried about me.”
    “Who cares if they’re worried?” Les said. “You’re safe here.”
    “For how long?”
    Hannah wailed, “It’s death out there!” Why did she need to be so loud?
    I went to the other window. The keys were in my pocket. The Smiths had vanished. The Jeep just sat there in the driveway. “My Jeep has enough gas. The sick people” but were they people ?—“seem to be leaving.” My fingers curled around the cool keys, running along the spliced grooves and ridges.
    “Going where?”
    “Towards South Arlington. I don’t know. But there’s not as many out there now.”
    “We don’t know where the Smiths are, or Mr. Gray,” Les said. He looked at the door. “Or the person in the house.” He gripped the paintball gun even tighter. White knuckles.
    They could argue all they wanted. I didn’t care. “I’m leaving.”
    “Not me,” Les said.
    Hannah said the same.
    I only shrugged. “Well. You guys are smart, I guess. But to all his own.” I went for the door.
    Les jumped in front of me. “No.”
    “You can’t make me stay,” I said.
    “Look. There’s someone or something out there. Maybe just outside the door.”
    “They left.”
    “You’re going to get us all killed.”
    Hannah repeated, “It’s death out there!”
    “Look out the window,” I said. “They’re leaving.”
    “You don’t know that. There’s no way you can know that. Maybe they’re hiding.”
    “And planning an ambush? These people act like animals, not people. No organization.”
    “Stop talking. Just stop.”
    Anthony Barnhart
    36 Hours
    29
    I pushed him out of the way, but he shoved me back. I fell into the dresser. Pain streaking along my back. He towered over me, suddenly taller. I kicked him in the groin and shoved him down onto the bed; Hannah leapt out of the way. Fuming, I ripped open the door and ran into the dark hallway. Hannah raced forward, shouted, “Austin! Get back in here!” I kept my back to her. SLAM . Turned. The door was shut. Click . She locked it tight. She was crying again. I could hear it through the door. Les was saying something under his breath.
    I tottered down the steps to the front door. I grabbed the cool handle. But I couldn’t go out. I thought of the two of them upstairs, refusing to move. Stubborn. And dying up there. Someway, somehow. And their bodies rotting, leaving retired skeletons. The bones yellowing with age. And me sitting at home drinking and eating, surviving the outbreak, and knowing I left them just to die. I let go of the door. Divorcing myself. I went into the kitchen. Can’t tell you why I didn’t go upstairs. But I opened a drawer and withdrew a