Cryonic by Travis Bradberry Page B

burst through at any moment. After a couple minutes of standing guard, we realized that we were safe behind the door.
    â€œApparently, they don’t know how to turn doorknobs,” I said with a chuckle.
    â€œLucky for us,” Celeste added.
    We grabbed Alex and ran up to Celeste’s floor. The doorway at the end of the hall was open. Two of the infected were on the floor eating what was left of someone.
    â€œShould we do something?” Alex asked.
    Alex’s comment captured the creatures’ attention. As soon as they saw us, they started hustling in our direction.
    â€œFuck that, let’s just get into the apartment,” I said, opening the door and beckoning my companions inside.
    We slammed the door shut. The ghouls in the hallway howled and scratched on the other side for several minutes but then abandoned us to return to their meal.
    â€œI know them. They’re my neighbors. That was their little boy they were eating.”
    â€œOh, no. I’m sorry, Celeste,” I said gently, resting my hand on her shoulder. “You two should go and get cleaned up. Take your mind off things for a minute. I’ll stay out here and make sure we don’t get any uninvited guests.”
    â€œI’ll go in Carson’s room,” Alex said. “You don’t need to see that.”
    Alex and Celeste headed back into the bedrooms. Things remained quiet on the other side of the apartment door so I put the gun down and went over to the windows to look outside. It was just past dawn, and what I could see of Harlem was in ruins. Smoke from building fires dotted the landscape. The streets were overrun with undead in every direction. It was clear the Chinese weren’t going to be coming in to save us. We were trapped.
    Alex and Celeste emerged from the bedrooms looking clean and composed. I pointed to the scene outside the apartment.
    â€œI think we need to go.”
    â€œGo where?” Alex asked.
    â€œAway from all this.” I motioned at the street below. “Outside the city.”
    â€œWe’ll never make it.”
    â€œYou need to realize something, Alex. It won’t be long before all of them make their way in here, and that will be the end of us. Just look down there. You see that horseshoe-shaped crowd in front of the building? Those freaks are trying to get through our front door.”
    â€œStill, they can’t open doorknobs, and we don’t have a car. We can’t just run for it,” Alex said.
    â€œCarson has a car,” Celeste said with a smile. “They gave him one when they promoted him to supervisor.”
    â€œThere we go, Al.”
    â€œWe’ll never make it out of the city. Americans are not allowed to leave the city without authorization. They have checkpoints.”
    â€œWe’ll never know until we try, but if we stay here, they’ll eventually break that door down. That’s certain.”
    â€œAnd there isn’t much food here for three people,” Celeste added, sorting through the rations.
    â€œWe’re going to have to come out eventually. Isn’t it better to do it now, before the building is overrun?”
    â€œI don’t know, I don’t know,” Alex fretted, pulling back his hair with both hands and pacing around the room. He stopped and looked out the window. I thought he was building nerve, but then he got that white-faced look—the same look he had when I needed him to free me from the hospital bed. “We should just wait it out. The army could come storming through here any minute, and then we’ll be fine.”
    â€œOh, really? We’d be fine, huh? What do you suppose the army is going to do with us when they find us? Two fugitives and a person harboring them? We’d be better off with the freaks.”
    I could tell Celeste was on board, but Alex sat down and put his head in his hands. He couldn’t be convinced, but I wasn’t going to leave without