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Kyle’s age and Carol’s gender. A crap combination. Could she pull her weight? Well, maybe. She had blood all over herself, which meant one of two things. Annie was about to turn into one of those things or she’d killed a bunch of those things. Parker couldn’t imagine Carol squishing a bug.
    “Something’s up with her,” Hughes said.
    Parker raised his eyebrows. “What?”
    “She doesn’t remember anything.”
    “Well, that’s just great.”
    “She knows who she is. She remembers everything except the last couple of months. She didn’t even know about the plague until Frank and I told her.”
    “Can you believe that shit?” Frank said.
    “She must be traumatized,” Carol said.
    “You think?” Parker said.
    Hughes grabbed Parker’s arm. Parker knew what that meant. Don’t be an asshole. Hughes was the only person Parker would let get away with that. Not that he could really stop him.
    Kyle returned from the back of the store.
    “Annie’s washing up,” he said. “She really wants to change out of those bloody clothes as soon as it’s safe to unload the truck.”
    Everyone got quiet. Parker stepped up to the door and pressed his ear against the plywood, the Beretta M9 in both hands. He heard nothing but the sound of the sink running in back as Annie washed up. “Quiet out there. We might be okay.”
    Ten more minutes, he thought, and if nothing comes and bangs on the windows and doors, they can slip out and unload the truck.
    Annie shut off the sink and Parker could hear his tinnitus again. Or the hum of the earth. Or whatever it was. He heard nothing else but his own heartbeat and his breathing.
    Kyle approached the door. He, too, placed his ear next to the boards. He didn’t seem to hear anything either.
    Parker thought that was too good to be true. Something had to be out there. They were in a town, for Christ’s sake.
    They both pressed their ears to the boards again.
    Then Parker heard something that sounded like footsteps on asphalt. Not the footsteps of a dog or a cat and certainly not a rat. Not a deer or a coyote or any other animal that might have wandered into town now that people were gone. No, Parker heard the footsteps of humans.
    Or things that used to be human.
    He and Kyle stepped away from the door.
    Parker twitched when Annie whispered from just behind him, “Is it clear?” He didn’t know she was there. He didn’t hear her sneak up on him. So that was a point in her favor. She knew how to move really damn quietly when she had to.
    “Shh,” Parker said.
    The footsteps outside grew louder.
    “They’re regular people,” Kyle said. “Not infected. Those footsteps sound normal.”
    The footsteps stopped outside the door. After a moment of silence, somebody knocked.
    Parker flicked his Beretta’s safety off.
     
    *   *   *
     
    Kyle felt a surge of elation when he heard the knock on the door. More survivors!
    But Parker looked spooked. The man stepped back and pointed his pistol right at the door.
    “Who’s there?” Parker said.
    “Please,” said a man’s hushed voice outside. Kyle could barely hear him through the boards. “We’ve got wounded out here. We need help.”
    “How many are you?” Parker said.
    “There are three of us. Please.”
    “Are any of you infected?” Kyle said.
    “No. But we were attacked. Not by the infected, but by other people. Then we saw your truck. You’ve got to let us inside before they see us. They’re armed.”
    Kyle looked first at Parker and then at Hughes. Hughes nodded. So did Parker. Kyle unlocked the door and opened it.
    Outside stood three men wearing black and pointing pistols at Kyle’s face.
    “Shit,” Parker said.
    The man in the center, the tallest of the three, saw Parker’s gun and aimed his pistol squarely at Parker’s head.
    Kyle heard Carol skitter away, but he had no idea how the others were reacting. He could not take his eyes off the intruders and their guns. Kyle still held a hammer in his hand