III

The "Living"

Lisa listened to her breathing as it filled the tiny space. With the door closed, there was no light at all in the money drop compartment. She had tucked into a fetal position to fit inside, and her spine was killing her. She had to remember to call her chiropractor if she survived all this, assuming her chiropractor wasn't killed by zombies.

She didn't even want to think what might happen if she didn't take her epilepsy medicine soon. She tried to distract herself, to think of anything that would keep her body under control, but her loud choppy breaths continued no matter what she did.

The vault's front door opened with the piercing sound of metal on metal. It was too late to change the plan. Either the zombies would be out there, or they wouldn't. Her breathing got louder. By the time she came out of her hiding place, Lisa thought, it would already be decided whether she lived or died. The gun went off. The zombies were out there. It was up to Kaveh now.

She heard the moaning. How many were there? Were they eating Kaveh right now? Her back spasmed. She needed to get out of the confined space, but she stopped herself from opening the door. That wasn't the plan. She'd know soon enough if Kaveh reached the security guard.

A second gunshot reached her ears. There, he had the other bullets. There was another shot, then two more.

Kaveh would be out there, alone with the zombies, until the end. The only chance for the rest of them to survive was for him to shoot as many as he could before they ate him.

The shots stopped, and Lisa heard nothing but her own breathing again. She listened harder, to figure out what was going on, and she noticed a distant thumping that radiated out to her hands. It was her pulse.

She opened the miniature door the smallest crack and listened closer. There were no more moans. She opened it a little wider. She could see part of the opposite wall, where Speedy was coming out of his drop drawer just as cautiously. He saw her too, and they both froze.

There were no zombies in sight. The baseball bat was on the ground between them, but Lisa knew the first to climb into the open would be the first to get eaten. She might be able to get out and close the vault door in time, but it would make the whole plan useless.

Her back spasmed again. It didn't matter if they were out there. She couldn't take it anymore. She shoved the door open, pulled herself out and spilled onto the floor.

Her back wouldn't straighten. Every muscle was tight. She lay on the floor of the vault, helpless as a baby in a crib, the bat just out of reach. It had to be tension. It had to be a cramp, anything but a seizure. She forced her limbs to move, pushed off against the wall with her legs and grabbed the bat with her hands, but every part of her tensed back up. "Ow," she said involuntarily.

A moan came from the bank. She'd been heard. She clenched her lips and held still, but she couldn't stifle the noise of the quick breaths in and out of her nose.

There were two new gunshots, and the moaning stopped. Was Kaveh still alive? Lisa tried with all her strength to get up but only managed to reach her hands and knees.

Speedy crawled out of his drawer slowly, stretching each muscle as he went, and Lisa noticed him trying not to stare at the pile of blue deposit pouches they'd pulled out to make room in the drop drawers. When he was done, he crawled over to her and spoke with a grin. "He did it." Lisa wasn't so sure, but Speedy continued. "Go see what's happening."

Lisa thought about leaving the vault, and her pulse pounded in her ears. Her limbs went rigid again. She couldn't let anyone see her like this. She needed her medicine, but they needed to know what was out there first. "You go," she said as quietly as she could.

Speedy shook his head, still grinning. "You have the bat." His eyes drifted back to the money. He wasn't too scared to go, he was too greedy.

Lisa was now the senior living employee in the bank. If anything happened to that money, she'd get the blame. She reached out her hand to offer him the bat, but a noise came from behind them, something inside the vault. They turned around to find Helen peeking out of her drawer. "Are they gone?" asked the teller.

Lisa held a finger to her mouth to indicate silence. "We're not sure," she whispered.

"Why don't you check?" said Speedy, still eyeballing the money.