Chapter Five

**

The elevator arrived with a resounding ding, causing the two men within to cringe. It seemed to them that every noise they tuned out in everyday life was now like a siren, attracting everything near and far. As the doors slid open, they found themselves on the thirty-third floor of the Millender Center Apartments – the penthouse. It was the highest residential building in Detroit, and they had decided that it would be the best option for a safe haven, an island above the teeming undead. They didn't know what the state of the rest of the building would be, how many people would be in it or even who would still be alive, but they were going to barricade themselves off from the rest of the world.

But first they had to get in.

Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin exited the elevator, looking cautiously around, but soon saw that the hallway they had stepped into was straight, short, and the only area that could contain someone was the fire exit to the side, which still had the break glass intact. But they didn't relax, as at the end of the corridor was their destination.

"Again – we knock to see if anyone or thing is inside. If there's no response, we go in, do a sweep. Assess what's there and then what we need. Then we just need to get supplies, restrict access, and we're golden."

"Oh, is that all Chris? I was worried for nothing."

"Shut the hell up, Alex."

Sabin walked up to the door and glanced at his friend. There were no words to describe how much he didn't want to be the one to knock, to find out what was potentially in the apartment. But there was no choice, and it was not the time to delay. He knocked firmly on the door three times.

They waited.

When there was no sound from within, he repeated this action, this time followed by Shelley putting his ear to the door to listen.

"I don't hear anything."

"So open it."

"Me open it? Why do I have to open it?"

"Because I said so!"

"That's not a reason!"

"Fine then, because I'm older and I say so."

"But I'm prettier, and age before beauty, so you open it!"

This whole exchange was conducted in hoarse whispers, and was finally settled by a game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'.

"You know, we've got to stop deciding life or death things with that stupid game." Shelley grumbled, gripping the doorknob.

"You're only saying that because you always lose. Do you really think it'll be unlocked?"

Shelley looked at Sabin and grinned, turning the doorknob. When the door didn't swing open, his face fell. "Well, it would've been awesome if it did work, ok?" Shelley said, kneeling in front of the lock. "You're just lucky I'm so multi-talented and know how to pick a lock."

"You learnt on YouTube, Alex, and you broke nearly all of my locks practicing. Don't try to pull that with me."

"I got you new locks, didn't I?" Shelley responded as the lock clicked. Picking up his weapon as Sabin held his at the ready, he swung the door open.

Sabin let out an involuntary whistle. "This place is nice."

Shelley shot him a warning glance, and Sabin focused on the task at hand. Shelley closed the door, and together they did a sweep of the apartment to see if there were any other inhabitants. When they found none, Shelley went back to the main entrance and locked the door, and Sabin walked through, taking the time to properly survey his surroundings.

"As advertised," he called from the bedroom. "Two bedrooms, two bath. Balconies, living, kitchen... and hey, furnished. This'll do just fine." Sabin heard a grunt coming from the lounge, and entered the room to see Shelley relaxing on the couch, belt undone, hand resting on his stomach, looking as if he was watching TV at home. Sabin sat down on the couch opposite, and found himself just staring out the glass doors. His eyes started to droop, and as safe as they could be, the Motor City Machine Guns slept.

**

Shelley awoke with a start. He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to wake up fully. He stood up and stumbled into the bathroom, where he was promptly sick. Turning on the cold water, he rinsed his mouth and splashed cold water in his face. He was looking at his reflection when he remembered the events of that morning. Pulling off his shirt, he gingerly felt his arms. They had been bruised when the zombie had gripped them, but nothing, Shelley considered, that he hadn't endured in a wrestling ring. He noticed five particularly deep bruises on each arm – finger sized – which he carefully washed. He then stuck his head under the tap and drank as much as he felt he could carry.

Once done, he went back to the lounge, where Sabin was still asleep. Shelley knew there were still things that needed to be done, but the sun was high in the sky, and he didn't know when would be the best time to do it. He left Sabin to sleep while he had a further look around the apartment. Using the real estate application forms and pens that had been left in the kitchen as scrap paper, he itemised everything that he could find that he thought would be useful. Once he had done that, he wrote a list of everything they were going to need. It was as Sabin woke up that Shelley again had the realisation that at the end of the world, he was writing a shopping list.

"Hey buddy," Shelley greeted Sabin. "When you're ready, we have some shopping to do."

**

In the end, it didn't take them long to decide where they would go and when. Both men wanted their 'shopping' expedition to be done with, and both thought that while there was still some living in the city – "decoys", Shelley said grimly – they would have a better chance of avoiding any trouble. That same afternoon, they collected their weapons (they found themselves feeling safer when they thought of them as weapons, not just a golf club and a crowbar) and list in hand, headed downstairs.

**

"Wal-Mart. I fucking hate Wal-Mart. It's not safe even when everyone is normal. Fucking Wal-Mart."

"Alex, it has everything we need. Better to only stop once, right?"

"But won't it be full of people?"

"God I hope not. But look, it's closed. Hopefully that means there'll be no one in there. Drive around to the back, maybe it'll be easier to get in by the loading dock."

As they drove around, they saw clear signs of a fight having happened. Tools reassigned as weapons littered the ground, mangled corpses, and trails of blood. Shelley was silently praying as they drove around, hoping that there wouldn't be trails in front of their destination. He breathed a sigh of relief when they got there and found that the only blood appeared to be dry, at least a day old. They climbed out of the car, and after climbing the fence to reach the tools, found bolt cutters. With these, they managed to get into the store. The power was still out, but the daylight was shining in through the windows above.

Sabin looked across at Shelley when he heard him muttering, and realised that he was repeating "Please be empty, please be empty, please be empty."

Sabin just grinned.

"It's looting time."

**