Free A Little More Dead by Sean Thomas Fisher Page A

and eased into the bar. Sophia’s flashlight cut through the
darkness like a lightsaber , illuminating the tables
and chairs surrounding a T-shaped stage with a brass pole mounted at each end. She
jerked her gun to their reflections in a mirrored wall and nearly pulled the
trigger. Paul gave her a warning look, realizing it was too much too soon. If
they were still alive a year from now, they might be more adept at putting such
painful tragedies like Matt and Mike behind them in short order.
    But this was only day seven.
    The pain blinded.
    And death closed in.
    There were a thousand different ways to
die in this world now and, ultimately, inexperience could prove just as lethal
as the biters. Paul put a shaky finger to his lips and pressed on while Sophia
relaxed her trigger finger and let out a long breath that tumbled through the
light. A gunshot rang out, shattering the giant mirrored wall. Glass shards
flew through the air as they took cover behind a Valley pool table off to the
side. Paul slid the shotgun into his shoulder, ears ringing from the indoor blast.
    “Holy shit, those things are shooting at
us now!” Dan cried in horror, leaning against the pool table.
    “I’m not one of those things !” a
female voice called out.
    “Neither are we!” Paul quickly replied,
not wanting to leave any room for misunderstandings. “We’re human!”
    A trigger clicked back. “What do you
want?”
    “We’re just looking for a safe place to
sleep for the night.” Paul looked at Sophia and Dan, heart racing. “We came
down from Iowa!” he added, hoping that would give them some kind of clout.
    “Good for you!”
    He cringed with her frosty tone and
started to get up.
    Sophia snatched his wrist. “We’re not
looking for any trouble,” she yelled out. “We can leave.” She ignored the sour
look warping Paul’s face. “Are you hurt?”
    It was a moment before the woman
replied. “Not yet.”
    Paul could feel the weight of her eyes
and gun upon them. He figured the place must be secure or she would’ve been
stripper-stew by now. Outside of the broken mirror, everything looked in order.
    “What’s your name? Mine’s Sophia.”
    “You’ve come to the wrong place, Sophia!”
    “Listen, if we come out will you promise
not to shoot? These two idiots have gotten me into enough trouble for one day
and I am too tired to deal with any more.”
    The woman laughed sharply. “That’s men
for ya , isn’t it?”
    A tension-filled silence gripped the
room as the mystery woman quietly deliberated their fate. “Alright, come out
with your hands up or I will shoot you dead and that is a guarantee.”
    “Okay,” Sophia said, trading a hesitant
look with her husband. She started getting up and Paul pushed her back down. He
rose to his feet, holding his shotgun over his head like he was crossing a muddy
river in Vietnam.
    The woman hit him with her flashlight,
making him squint.
    “Can they get in here?” he asked, even
though he already knew the answer. The question, however, placed them on the
same team. Us against them.
    “You think we’d be having this conversation
if they could?”
    Sophia calmly stood up, her flashlight
and pink gun held high. “This is my husband, Paul, and our friend, Dan,” she
said, quickly establishing a human connection.
    “Sorry we scared you,” Paul added.
    “Sorry about the gunshot,” she said,
setting the flashlight on the bar. The beam of light rolled off to a darkened
Golden Tee in the corner. The woman was gorgeous, with blond hair flowing over
her puffy purple coat like streams of honey. She stared at them for a moment
before speaking again. “I’m Wendy.”
    Dan got up next, his brow folding when
he saw the blond bombshell standing behind the bar. “You could’ve killed us.”
    “If I wanted to kill you, honey, you’d
already be dead.”
    Sophia kicked him in the leg. “How long
have you been here, Wendy?”
    Wendy took a slow drink from a rocks
glass with a finger’s