Free Zombies! (Episode 6): Barriers Collapse by Ivan Turner Page A

just being a savior or of being a hero. He was afraid of being noticed at all. Even if the people who worked wherever it was they took him kept quiet, he would still be the star rat in the lab. The attention he would get would be more than his type of ego could handle.
     
    But there was still more.
     
    Just having survived the disease had buoyed his spirits. Even if the apocalypse were to come down that very night, he would be able to survive where others could not. Unless of course, he was eaten. But now that fear was gone as well. His encounter with the two zombies at the deli had shown him that they simply had no interest in him. Perhaps there were remnants of the bacteria in his system. If they could smell it or otherwise sense it, it might turn them off. But he was sure now that he could literally step into a concert hall filled with zombies and move about with complete autonomy. With that sort of power, he could join the police force and clear the city of the creatures without ever being in danger. Or he could go to the address on the back of the business card given to him by the stranger at the deli and fight zombies for money. Or he could just do nothing.
     
    …and remain ever bored.
     
    On Friday afternoon he finished his classes and stayed late to grade papers. As an English teacher, the only time he had nothing to grade was at the very beginning of the year when he hadn't yet assigned anything. It was almost five o'clock when he left the building and by then he was bleary eyed. He walked slowly to the train station and sat staring at nothing all the way home. He made himself a quick dinner and then fell asleep in front of the television. He slept that way until almost midnight and then roused himself enough to make it to his bedroom.
     
    Saturday brought with it a new light. He woke up late and went back to sleep still. He had resolved himself to doing no work. He'd even left all of the papers in the school. When he finally pulled himself out of bed, it was nearing lunch time. He ran in for a shower and then showed himself out the door. There wasn't much for him to do. He browsed in a book store, browsed in a video store, browsed in a clothing store. As the day aged, Arrick realized that each store held more and more of nothing he wanted or needed. Toward dinner time, he stopped in the grocery to pick up a few things and then went home. Once there, he cooked another light dinner and went for the couch and the TV.
     
    The dirty old business card was on the end table. On the front was the advertisement for Bella D'talia Meats. Arrick had never heard of them. On the back, scribbled hastily down, was the address for the zombie fights. Beneath the address read the words "Fri and Sat only @ 9". Standing from the couch, Arrick went slowly into his bedroom and stared at himself in the full length mirror. He was hardly a fighter. Thinking back on his encounter from the other day, he recognized that he had actually been losing that fight. The only thing that had saved him was the fact that the zombies simply hadn't been interested in eating him. In fact, the first zombie hadn't had any interest in him at all until he'd attempted to keep it from the crowd. If he fought a zombie in the ring and could take it out quickly, he might have a chance.
     
    Opening his drawers, he pulled out a pair of blue sweat pants and a matching T-shirt. It was early in the evening so he still had time, but he was eager to go. He dressed quickly, used the toilet, washed, and brushed his teeth. It was like he was getting ready for some obscene date. It didn't escape him that his last date had ended in a fight with a zombie.
     
    By the time he was ready, it was seven o'clock. He went to the computer and punched the address on the card into Google Maps. He got a good view of the area's map and then checked out the satellite photos. The pictures were probably old because they showed a run-down warehouse that looked as if it hadn't been used in