Alive! Not Dead! by R.M. Smith Page B

at me.  “You aren’t a zombie!”
    I raised my hand to them as they drove up beside me.  “Nope,” I smiled.  “I’m just a regular guy out on a walk.”
    They all laughed a little at that.  The guy stepped out of the jeep, stretching out his hand.  “I’m Mike Markowski, but you can call me Ski if ya want.  These two ladies are Cindy and Mindy Thompson.  They’re sisters, not twins.  Cindy is my girlfriend.”
    “Nice to meet you guys,” I said noticing how strikingly attractive Mindy was.  “I’m Dan Kinglsey…are you guys from the military base?
    Ski looked confused.  “No? We’re from Spokane.  We were gonna try to make it to Seattle.”
    “Seattle is trashed,” I said, “mostly flooded.  I’ve been traveling east away from there.  A lot of the highway is destroyed as well.”
    “Shit,” Ski muttered.  “I was from there.  I was gonna see if my folks were ok.”
    “Yeah our parents were from there, too,” Cindy added.  Mindy nodded.
    “Sorry guys, but Seattle is pretty much gone.”
    They all looked at each other, saddened.
    I asked, “How is Spokane?”
    “Pretty well fucked, too,” Ski said. “Well girls, I guess Seattle is pretty much out of the question.”
    “We don’t know that,” Cindy said. She had long dark hair, not at all like her sister’s blonde hair.  I wondered if maybe Cindy dyed hers.
    “That’s what this gentleman just told us, hon,” Ski said.
    “No offense,” she said, addressing me, “but we just met him.  How do we know he’s not just making it up? He could be lying.”
    “You can check if you want,” I said, smiling.  “And no offense taken.  Feel free the check for yourselves.”
    “Is the road pretty bad all the way to Seattle?” Ski asked.
    “Not all the way.  There are some spots where you can drive without any troubles, but some places it’s all washed out so you’ll have to change vehicles because there’s no way you’ll be able to get through, not even in a jeep.”
    “Dunno,” Ski laughed, “ Roper’s pretty tough” he said as he thumped his open palm down on the hood of his Roper Jeep.
    I smiled. “I bet it is.  But, I don’t think it’ll be able to get across the river at Vantage.”
    “Son of a bitch, that’s right! Bridge is down, huh?”
    “Yeah.”
    “ Fuck.”   He thought about it for a minute.  “How did you get across?”
    “A yacht.”
    “No shit?” He scratched his chin.  “Yours?”
    I laughed.  “No.  But I needed to get across so…”
    “What are you looking for over on this side?” Cindy asked.
    “Just trying to survive.   West of the river is not very nice.”
    “Neither is east of it,” Ski added.
    I asked “You seen many deads?”
    “ Deads?” Ski asked.  “Oh, you mean zombies?”
    “Yeah.”
    “For a while there were a lot of them,” Ski said, getting back into the jeep.  “Now, it seems like they’ve all vanished.  Dunno where they could’ve gone.”
    Military base , I thought.
    “Hey, why don’t you sit in back with Mindy?” he said.  “Might be more comfortable for ya.”
    “Thanks I appreciate it,” I said as I got in.  Mindy gave me a polite smile.
     
     
    Mike “Ski” Markowski, his girlfriend Cindy Thompson, and her sister Mindy were sitting at the top of some weathered hard-wood bleachers watching Ski’s nephew, Sam play pee-wee softball.
    It was the bottom of the fourth inning.  Sam’s team was in the outfield.  They were losing 12-6.
    “Guys, I gotta go the bathroom,” Mindy said as she stood, brushing dirt off her jeans.  She was 23, blonde and beautiful.  When she stood, several men sitting around her on the bleachers turned to look at her.  They moved to give her a path.
    Ski a nd Cindy didn’t pay attention. They were more attuned to the game at hand.  This was the fourth game of the pee-wee season.  Sam’s team had done very well, winning three out of four games.
    Sam waved at them as he stood i n the outfield.  He