army?"
His smile was a tight grimace. "Three months. I'm home on leave from BCT. I'm supposed to leave for Arizona next week for AIT."
Lila wrinkled her nose at all the military acronyms. "Why does all that mean?"
"Basic combat training is the same for everyone," he explained. "After that you go for advanced training in different places. At FortHuachuca I'd be learning intelligence gathering techniques."
Torture training? Lila wondered but didn't ask.
Ari gave back the nearly empty bottle. "What about you? Where were you going when this happened?"
"Classes at NYU." She thought of her professors and other students and wondered what they were all doing. Had anyone made it to class today?
"What's your major?" he asked the obligatory question as if they were making small talk at some party.
"Undeclared. I'm in the Liberal Studies course at the College of Arts and Sciences. Pretty soon I'll have to decide on a field of study." Two years into the program and she still wasn't certain what that field would be.
Then she realized it probably didn't matter any more. Here she spoke of the future as if everything was normal, but they now lived in a world overrun by zombies. In a few brief moments, between taking a ride to school and the train coming to an abrupt halt, the world had changed, and along with it, her perception of how the universe worked. She'd believed life was life and death was death with little overlap besides an occasional near death experience. Now she would never be the same. None of them would be.
Lila looked at Ari and lowered her voice. "Are you scared? Cause you don't act scared."
A real smile flashed across his mouth and he gave a sharp bark of a laugh. "Am I scared? Good question."
* * * * *
Chapter Five
He was numb and his stomach felt sour and sick like the morning after a night of partying but without any of the fun of getting drunk. Was he scared? He was beyond it, running on pure adrenalin and instinct. Even as he'd demonstrated how to load and fire a rifle or searched for a radio or gathered supplies his brain had replayed killing the zombie over and over. He felt the jolt of the pole in his hands as it hit the thing's body, the yielding flesh when he tried to impale the neck and, worst of all, the sensation of sawing through flesh and bone with the too blunt edge of the metal shelf. Beyond afraid, beyond horrified, he was fucking traumatized.
"I've had better days," he said dryly.
Lila smiled, a little quirk of her lips that brought out a dimple in one cheek. "Yeah, me too. If you'd asked me earlier in the day, I would've said last night was about the worst experience I'd gone through in my life. This kind of puts it in perspective."
"Why, what happened last night?"
"I broke up with my boyfriend of two years, and I thought it would go better than it did. He's usually a calm guy, but he was upset to say the least." She shook her head and her bangs fell over her eyes. She absently pushed them back, a gesture he was becoming familiar with. Ari wanted offer her a barrette or something.
"Anyway, it was an ugly scene," she continued. "I was feeling pretty crappy about it on the train right before all hell broke loose."
"Hell on earth," he murmured, leaning his head back against the cool metal display rack and watching the others' faces as they argued. "Have to say, it's more fun fighting zombies in a video game than in real life."
"What you had to do must've been awful." A frown puckered her brows, and the strands of hair she'd pushed back fell forward again. He longed to brush them out of her eyes that were a deep shade of blue that almost bordered on purple.
"Yeah, well, we all might have to be ready to kill the way things are shaping up," he answered gruffly.
"I don't even squash bugs when I find them indoors. I take them outside and let them go."
"These aren't bugs. They're not even really alive. I think you can feel justified in putting them out of their misery. If those bodies'
His smile was a tight grimace. "Three months. I'm home on leave from BCT. I'm supposed to leave for Arizona next week for AIT."
Lila wrinkled her nose at all the military acronyms. "Why does all that mean?"
"Basic combat training is the same for everyone," he explained. "After that you go for advanced training in different places. At FortHuachuca I'd be learning intelligence gathering techniques."
Torture training? Lila wondered but didn't ask.
Ari gave back the nearly empty bottle. "What about you? Where were you going when this happened?"
"Classes at NYU." She thought of her professors and other students and wondered what they were all doing. Had anyone made it to class today?
"What's your major?" he asked the obligatory question as if they were making small talk at some party.
"Undeclared. I'm in the Liberal Studies course at the College of Arts and Sciences. Pretty soon I'll have to decide on a field of study." Two years into the program and she still wasn't certain what that field would be.
Then she realized it probably didn't matter any more. Here she spoke of the future as if everything was normal, but they now lived in a world overrun by zombies. In a few brief moments, between taking a ride to school and the train coming to an abrupt halt, the world had changed, and along with it, her perception of how the universe worked. She'd believed life was life and death was death with little overlap besides an occasional near death experience. Now she would never be the same. None of them would be.
Lila looked at Ari and lowered her voice. "Are you scared? Cause you don't act scared."
A real smile flashed across his mouth and he gave a sharp bark of a laugh. "Am I scared? Good question."
* * * * *
Chapter Five
He was numb and his stomach felt sour and sick like the morning after a night of partying but without any of the fun of getting drunk. Was he scared? He was beyond it, running on pure adrenalin and instinct. Even as he'd demonstrated how to load and fire a rifle or searched for a radio or gathered supplies his brain had replayed killing the zombie over and over. He felt the jolt of the pole in his hands as it hit the thing's body, the yielding flesh when he tried to impale the neck and, worst of all, the sensation of sawing through flesh and bone with the too blunt edge of the metal shelf. Beyond afraid, beyond horrified, he was fucking traumatized.
"I've had better days," he said dryly.
Lila smiled, a little quirk of her lips that brought out a dimple in one cheek. "Yeah, me too. If you'd asked me earlier in the day, I would've said last night was about the worst experience I'd gone through in my life. This kind of puts it in perspective."
"Why, what happened last night?"
"I broke up with my boyfriend of two years, and I thought it would go better than it did. He's usually a calm guy, but he was upset to say the least." She shook her head and her bangs fell over her eyes. She absently pushed them back, a gesture he was becoming familiar with. Ari wanted offer her a barrette or something.
"Anyway, it was an ugly scene," she continued. "I was feeling pretty crappy about it on the train right before all hell broke loose."
"Hell on earth," he murmured, leaning his head back against the cool metal display rack and watching the others' faces as they argued. "Have to say, it's more fun fighting zombies in a video game than in real life."
"What you had to do must've been awful." A frown puckered her brows, and the strands of hair she'd pushed back fell forward again. He longed to brush them out of her eyes that were a deep shade of blue that almost bordered on purple.
"Yeah, well, we all might have to be ready to kill the way things are shaping up," he answered gruffly.
"I don't even squash bugs when I find them indoors. I take them outside and let them go."
"These aren't bugs. They're not even really alive. I think you can feel justified in putting them out of their misery. If those bodies'
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