Whenever anyone entered the apartment building they were inspected; required to strip before the Medics, and be subject to close inspection for injuries or bites that could mean they were infected, an Undetected; a potential zombie.
No one wanted an Undetected on the inside, someone infected, just not yet crazy enough to start eating friends and family, but only hours away from doing so.
Cas's neighbour, Miriam, had been staying with her since the woman's husband had fallen to an attack practically on the doorstep of their own building. Miriam, a small sweet natured woman in her late fifties was still grieving but found comfort in the necessities of post-Outbreak life.
Both women had taken part in the day's foraging detail. Miriam's seeming god given skills as a gardener meant the building's inhabitants no longer had to use a tin opener in order to eat fruit and vegetables for most of the growing year. Both she and Miriam had been inspected on their return, and then attended an open 'building meeting' to discus the new building maintenance plan. Cass made sure to mention her worries on where they were suffering skills shortages.
Luckily, the building was blessed with Adam, one half of a couple, Adam and Eve. They lived across the hall from Cas. Thanks to Adam's abilities their building had a limited power supply. When asked about how he had achieved this, Adam answered, "Solar power." Though Cas had yet to find any evidence of solar panels on the roof, and knew the available space was not enough to generate the power Adam's tinkering had given them. All she had found on the roof was a large jerry-rigged box of wires and some aerials. They had given off an unpleasant buzz as she approached. She never returned to the roof.
Rainwater was collected, filtered and stored for safe drinking. But they were going to need to train more tenants with maintenance skills; it could not all fall on one man's shoulders. Besides, in Cas's view, Adam was more than a little... Well, odd. He rarely spoke, and when he did used rather colourful language.
The day ended predictably; a cold shower, warm pyjamas, and the sleep of a body after long and honest toil.
Cas woke suddenly. It was dark. Locating the source of her waking, the soft sound of rattling breathes and clicking teeth, she felt nothing but the cold sense of survival. Quietly, she rolled from her bed to the floor, and crawled on all fours toward the door. She used her ears rather than her eyes to check for the proximity of the Undetected.
One word ran through her mind, 'Kitchen, kitchen, kitchen!' That room held a wealth of sharps and makeshift weapons.
Cold sweat ran down the sides of her face, pooled in the small of her back, the silent and cautious crawl to the kitchen seemed to take hours… And then the drawers were above her! A scramble to her feet, and a rifle through the top kitchen drawer armed Cas with a carving knife…. Just as a snarling, hissing Miriam stumbled into the room.
Cas screamed as she rushed her friend, slashing the carving knife in the air before her.
It took some time before Cas stopped screaming and hacking the knife down into Miriam's throat. The sound of a metal blade repeatedly hitting tile eventually registered and made Cas open her eyes. She had all but decapitated her friend.
Standing, feeling utterly detached, she wandered the rooms of her apartment, until Cas was finally content it was just her and her late flat mate in situ.
With a heavy sigh she headed for her bathroom. Under the force of the cold shower, Cas allowed the tears to come. She washed away the residue of blood and her feelings.
When she had made up her mind, Cas stuffed her door keys in her dressing gown pocket, left the apartment, and locked the door behind her.
She knocked loudly on the door opposite. Adam and Eve were rather reclusive, but Cas needed to be somewhere a dead Miriam was not.
Eve answered the door. Cas hitched a smile on her face. "Sorry I am disturbing you so late, Eve. My neighbour tried to eat me. May I stay with you tonight? My apartment will need to be cleaned before it is habitable."
The exotically pale woman smiled sweetly, "Yes, please, come in." She looked over her shoulder, "Adam, Cassandra will be staying with us tonight. Bit of a close shave with an Undetected." Eve turned her head a little further, but Cas had no trouble seeing the work of her jaw mouth the word 'Miriam'.
The dark haired man looked up for a second, grunting his acknowledgement, then whispered only one word, "Inspection."
Expecting this requirement, Cas had showered away the detritus of Miriam's death for more than her own comfort, and worn only her dressing gown. She pushed back the cloth from her shoulders, standing naked before the couple. In the long months since the Outbreak inspections by Medics became a daily occurrence, modesty had been long forgotten.
"Adam, you're being rude to our guest," Eve exclaimed with a smile, "Don't make Cas wait! I am going to… Put the kettle on." The words were delivered with a bemused lilt.
With a sigh Adam hoisted himself from the sofa. Dark turquoise eyes inspected her body. He started at her feet, constantly circling as his eyes rose. At times he verbally requested her to shift position. "Widen your stance."
Cas fixed her eyes on the far wall, feeling her modesty return with a jolt.
"Lift your arms." His gaze was close and unrelenting. No Medic had ever examined her in so meticulous a way. And Adam was breathing strangely, in shallow gasps through his open mouth, as if tasting the air around them.
"Hold out your hands."
Cas did as instructed, starting, wanting to withdraw when Adam's fingers lightly grazed over the backs of her hands. He gently turned them palms up, then winced.
"I… I nicked my finger when I grabbed for a knife to fight Miriam," Cas blurted in an effort to explain the small cut on her left index finger. The last thing she wanted was to be turned out and left to sleep with her nearly headless Miriam.
Several expressions passed over Adam's face. When he looked up into her eyes for a moment, he had settled on confusion. He inspected the cut further, pressing her fingertip with one of his own. Uncomfortable, Cas retracted her hand, and asked him if the inspection was finished. At his nod Cas picked up her dressing gown.
Eve chose that moment to bob back into the room. "I know you drink tea, Cas, but we haven't any milk, is that ok?"
Cas suppressed a smile. No one had had any milk for months now. "Thank you, Eve. May I use your bathroom?"
As Cas left the sitting room, she thought she heard Eve mutter to Adam, "Oh! Do we still keep all your beatnik poetry crap in the shower stall?"
When he heard the bathroom door close, Adam turned to Eve, pressing a blood-smeared fingertip to her lips. The quizzical expression on Eve's face turned to wonder.
"Pure?!"
"Yeah. No marks on her to indicate an unhealthy lifestyle or drug abuse. Her scent is 'O' Neg and so fucking Snow White it's not true."
Eve settled beside Adam on the sofa, resting her head on his shoulder, "Then, my love, I should offer her an apple."
Adam's eyes slanted as they tilted to his wife, his lips curved slightly, "Eve, you almost sound romantic."
"Oh, don't you dare compare my nature to that of Mary, Percy or any other in that incestuous little gang of…." Eve's long held rant was cut short by the sound of the bathroom door opening.
When she returned to the sitting room, Cas found the beautiful couple, smiling… With so many, many teeth…