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good to her dead, or bitten. He’ll have to be careful.
    He faces the back of yet another house, this one a white two story. He performs a cursory inspection. There is a sliding glass door entering the house. Gates blocked the alleys. The soldier can see the dead on the street heading east towards Jimmy’s. Probably curious about the explosion, he thinks. He had assumed they are attracted to sound as one way of finding food.
    Proceeding to the back door he crouches below the fences in the alleys. One wooden riser puts him on the redwood deck. He doesn’t know what is in store for him in this house, but he feels he must enter. The determined soldier finds the door slides open freely.
    Pushing through a set of vertical blinds the man follows the muzzle of his almost empty M-16. His breathing deepens as he feels tension build in his chest. He pulls a cord along the blinds to open them so he can glance around the home. He carefully takes baby steps inside. Dan doesn’t want any surprises.
    Except for the light spilling in from behind him, it is dark. He takes in his new surroundings; he is in a dining room. In the middle is a large oval table. To the right of the table he can see a door that he suspects leads to the kitchen. On the same wall a window is cut out looking into the next room, two bar stools sit underneath it.
    The soldier slowly walks around the table toward the window and glances in. Amid the shadows he can see the outlines of cabinetry and in the center there appears to be a large island. On the far wall he sees a door that may lead to the alley between this house and the next. He continues, passing a china hutch that displays serving ware and tea sets.
    The dining room ends at an archway. The hardwood floor meets carpeting. The soldier creeps into a living room he would die for. If the situation was different he could see spending some time in here. On the right hand wall a huge entertainment center stands, within it sits the largest television Dan has ever seen. Upon shelves, orbiting the set like satellites, are various gadgets. He can’t tell what they are, just black boxes with red and green LED lights shining away.
    The sunlight from the sliding door behind him ends and Dan is in awe. Before the gargantuan T.V. is a massive couch, large enough to seat a basketball team comfortably. It is in the shape of a horseshoe and is recessed into the floor. A coffee table is placed down in the middle creating an island.
    “ Fuck me.” Dan is forced to whisper. He thinks of his own cramped apartment. “Must be nice.”
    Two recliners are at the far wall, their backs to a large picture window. The soldier walks past the impressive geography of the living room to the window. There is a heavy fabric curtain beneath a thick layer of lace. He locates the pull cord and cracks the blackout shade slightly.
    Peering out to the street through the translucent lace Dan can see the dead continuing their parade east. Some are dressed for work while some are still dressed for bed. And they always will be, Dan sadly realizes. A blonde woman passes by who isn’t dressed for anything. She is completely naked. Dan can’t take his eyes off of her. There is something even odder about her then her lack of clothing. He notices she is not injured. There isn’t a mark on her that he can see. Another zombie bumps the naked woman and she stumbles around in a circle. Dan catches a glimpse of her entire body. Not a bite. Not a scratch.
    Dan slowly pulls the cord to open the crack wider before she leaves his range of vision. He can’t see how she contracted it. The living dead girl is soon out of sight as she passes the hedges that separated this home from the Admiral’s. Dan is looking at the driveway and disheartened when he sees it is empty.
    He leaves the curtain open for light. They shouldn’t be able to see inside if it’s dark in here, he figures. His attention returns to the house. He looks past the window to a small breezeway.