Shane tried a couple different channels, but it was the same on all of them. We sat in silence then, just watching the static on the screen.

We both jumped, Shane hissing when it jarred his ankle, when a single shot rang out through the building. I stood, turning back to Shane with wide eyes. His voice and face were completely calm as he said, "Kyle just had to take one of them out."

I blinked when I realized what Shane meant.

That was always something that surprised me. That Shane was so easily on board with what was going on. Then again, Shane was never really one to question something that had basically waved a red flag right in front of his face.

It sounded so ridiculous, so ludicrous, even coming from Shane. What was worse, though, was that him saying it made it more real. What he meant was that Kyle had had to take out a freakin' zombie. That's what this was.

"Is this real?" I asked, my voice a little scratchy. I kind of felt like the world was swirling away, breaking into tiny pieces around me.

Shane looked down and took a breath. "I think so."

"How could it happen so fast?" I asked, sitting back down on the table.

Shane shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe because the universe is getting back at all the people who said it couldn't happen?"

I looked up to find him smiling a little, obviously trying to keep things light. I shook my head, and tried to give him an answering smile. There wasn't one to be found though and I asked, "Kyle should have come back, right?"

Shane looked at his watch. "I'll give him five more minutes." He glanced up at me. "If he isn't back are you gonna let me walk on this?"

"Would you let me go myself?" I asked, answering his question with one of my own. Of course, I wasn't really asking permission. I was going to go whether he wanted me to or not. It would just be easier if he wasn't arguing about it.

Shane surprised me by taking a moment to think. "Do you know how to shoot?"

I paused, taken aback by the question. "I... yeah. My dad took me shooting a lot when I was a kid."

"Smart man," Shane sat forward. With a frown he said, "I think my gun slid under the couch when that thing jumped me."

"Thing?" I echoed, laying flat on my stomach to peer under the couch. Sure enough, Shane's gun was there and I pulled it out, handing it back to him.

He took it and looked at me, eyes incredibly serious. "Yeah Raleigh. Thing. That's what you have to think. They aren't people."

I looked over at the body, and my face must have shown my uncertainty because Shane said softly, "Come on, Rals. You've seen the movies just like we have. If you think of them as people, it's hard to kill them. If it's hard to kill them, then you get dead." He shook his head a little. "And I don't want you dead."

"So... we're for sure going with the zombie thing? Isn't that a little fast?" I looked at the dead woman again. "I mean, you know how crazy that sounds right? It's insane."

Shane scoffed, the sound drawing my attention back to him. "Raleigh, it might make you question my sanity, but I promise I am smack dab right in the middle of my own mind. Okay? It's not crazy. " He shook his head, scoffing again. "I shot that thing in the heart, Raleigh. Two rounds, right into its chest. To not so ironically sound like Shane from The Walking Dead: Could someone who's alive take that? Why was it still comin'?"

This was still insane.

The real question is: was he the crazy one for jumping on board, or was I the crazy one for resisting?

With a weak laugh I asked, "Is that Shane really the one you want to sound like?"

It actually scared me how much sense this was making. Shane was a good shot. He knew right where he put those rounds and he was shooting to kill. She should have been dead. Permanently.

So why had she gotten back up?

Shane sat back with a shrug. "He wasn't exactly wrong when it came to the dead. Or when it came to people." He paused, letting the weight of that settle in. "Are you ready for that?"

Instead of answering him, I looked back at the door. "Has it been five minutes yet?"

Shane sighed, checking his watch. "No. He's got a few more minutes."

I frowned at him. It had to have been longer than five minutes. It certainly felt like it had been longer than five minutes. He finished off the sandwich and said, "What are we going to do with the body?"

If he'd been trying to distract me, it worked. "What?"

"The body," Shane repeated. "It's going to start stinking. Dead body isn't a great smell."

"I... um. I don't know. Can we just... drag it outside maybe? Kyle and I could move it." I looked at the item in question.

We both jumped, again, when the front door swung open. Kyle came through and I hopped up, relief sweeping through me as I hurried around the couch, throwing my arms around him.

I know right? I even surprised myself on that one. But like I said, Kyle would eventually be family.

"Kyle! I could kill you! Are you okay? We heard a shot." I felt as he stiffened and pulled away to find he had a vaguely stricken expression. We both blushed and I took several steps back. "Sorry. I was just... Never mind."

I went back around to where Shane was, scowling when he stifled a laugh at me. Turning to his brother he said, "What's up, Kyle? Why the shot?"

Kyle reported like he was in a military debriefing, hands behind his back as he spoke. "The building's clear. Most of the apartments were empty to begin with, and those that were occupied look abandoned. Some had stuff missing, but most look like the residents just hadn't made it back home."

"I bet they cleared out last night, trying to get to family or whatever when the news broadcasts were still running. It got worse after we shut it off," Shane said, thinking. Then he asked what I wanted to know. "The shot fired?"

Kyle shrugged. "There was one in a third floor apartment." He paused and frowned. "It didn't have any bite marks. At least, none that I could see."

We were all silent for a moment, until I said, "Let me see."

Both Kyle and Shane looked at me. "What?" Shane asked blankly.

I inhaled unsteadily, my mind racing. "We need to know if it's just caused by a bite, or if it's like in The Walking Dead where if you die, you turn. If I can see the body I might be able to tell."

It's still kind of funny that we were comparing this to TV shows and movies you know? But, I mean, it wasn't like this was a normal outbreak. This wasn't a strain of cholera or the flu or anything that we actually knew how to deal with.

The only playbook we had here were those provided to us by movies and books and shows. So we just used that as a starting point.

"Why do we need to know that?" Shane asked, his voice argumentative.

"It's like you said." I crossed my arms, frowning. "It's better to risk a little now and know, instead of getting caught blind."

Shane grimaced as I threw his words back at him. "Fine," he said and tried to get up again.

I pushed him back down. "No. I can go. Just give me your gun."

We stared at each other, silently arguing. Though honestly I think he was fighting with himself as much as with me. Shane needed to know I could take care of myself, but at the same time he didn't want me to be in danger. It was sweet, but kind of a pain in my ass.

Eventually, he just growled and handed me his gun. "The safety's off. Don't shoot yourself in the foot."

He continued scowling, obviously unhappy with this arrangement, but he also couldn't justify keeping me here.

"Shane!" Kyle protested. "She can't—"

"She's good," Shane interrupted.

"But," Kyle continued.

"I said, she's good." Shane turned to me. "You got this?"

I nodded, the movement showing more confidence than I actually felt.

Kyle looked back and forth between us. "I'll go with her."

I shook my head. For some reason I felt like I needed to go by myself. I don't know if I was trying to prove something to myself or to them. "Look. I'll be fine, okay? I'm a big girl. Besides," I pointed at Shane, "someone needs to make sure he stays off that ankle, since he obviously won't listen to my instructions."

They both opened their mouths to argue more, but I was already out the door. I went to the end of the hall, then up the stairs, Shane's gun heavy and comforting in my hand.

I paused at the top of the stairs, looking down the hallway. Kyle had left all of the doors open except one, so I headed toward it, kind of wondering why he had closed the door if the zombie inside was really dead. I nudged the door open, wincing when it creaked slightly.

Stopping just outside, I peered in from the hall, but couldn't see anything from where I was.