Life Among The Dead Read Online Free Page B

home’s crawl space. Small vents in the roof allow thin shafts of daylight in along the old boards above them. This hardly dents the pitch-blackness of their surroundings.
    They sit in silence trying to be as still as possible, listening to the muffled moaning from below. They can hear floorboards creak under the feet of the dead, even through the thick insulation they nest in. The air they breathe is heavy with tension, there are particles in it that scratch their throats and burn their lungs.
    Becka can’t take the silence any more. She needs to speak to her unseen friends. She needs the comfort of communication to alleviate the fear she is feeling.
    “ There sure is a lot of this shit.” She says finally in a whisper.
    “ What shit?” Derek asks, relieved that someone finally spoke. The growing tightness of his chest is bringing on an asthma attack.
    “ This cottony stuff.” Becka points, however the gesture is lost in the darkness.
    “ My mom… just had it blown in… with winter coming an all.” He explains between ragged breaths. Stress always seems to bring on these spells. The minute irritants he is taking into his lungs are not helping either.
    “ Is this the itchy stuff?” Becka asks. She lifts her hands off of the cloud just in case. She can feel her skin crawling at the thought of it.
    “ No… something else.” Derek assures his friend. He concentrates on calming down, and trying not to hear those things below. Stevie is somewhere close by; he can hear the boy breathing in staggered rasps.
    When he is more composed, Derek pushes the hatch down. He wants a peek at the second floor, and the light will help him check on the other boy.
    Becka creeps over to Derek wanting to be close to her friends and the light. Her psychosomatic itchiness has gone away. The dim shaft of illumination from the hall reflects off the white insulation, almost blindly. It reveals Stevie lying in a fetal position. His knees are to his chest held tightly with one arm. The other arm holds his ankles to his bottom.
    In the hall they can see the intruders. They all stare up at the hatch with vacant eyes that hold no intelligence. Their faces are slack and without feeling. The figures pace the hall reaching up as if they could grab hold of the kids. Their movements are slow and clumsy like those of drunken people.
    “ Close it.” Becka says backing away.
    “ Stevie, do you want to see before I close it?” Derek asks. Stevie says nothing. The hatch is pulled up and all is black again. They stay close to one another. Listening to the dead and hearing each other breathe. Their new positioning allows Becka to almost see Derek in relief against one of the small vents.
    Silence washes over the trio again in the timeless void. An eternity is passing slowly in their claustrophobic negative space. Becka is on the verge of a panic attack. She can feel it build in her stomach. Her legs twitch as her hands fidget blindly with some round pebbles she located from random piles that are scattered on top of the foam. She has the urge to scream to let out her anxiety instead she tries to lighten the mood.
    “ Aren’t you guys going to argue about what they are?” She asks with a nervous laugh.
    “ Not this time. I think we can concur. Right, Stevie?” Derek nudges the lump in the blackness that constitutes his pal. The lump does not respond.
    “ Stevie?” Derek’s hand finds his bony shoulder. Not even a shake arouses a reaction.
    “ Steven?” Becka calls out in the dark. Her voice fails her half way through his name. Becka and Derek can feel the foam move as the lump sits up with a groan.
    “ Fuck!” Derek lets out as he jumps to his feet and moves away as quickly as he can. His head thumps on a rafter hidden in the shadow that envelops them. The pain does not deter him. The heavy boy wades through the knee-deep foam in retreat. “Becka get away from him. He’s one of them!”
    He had traveled several yards deeper into the dark.