Fifteen

"Dalton!" came Maylee's voice from the darkness.

No wait, not darkness, Dalton realized. His eyes were just shut. And his chin really hurt.

He opened his eyes. He was on his back in the basement, looking up at the hole he had made. He blinked at the blurry light from the hole. A shape was looking down at him. He blinked again and saw it was Maylee. He groaned and sat up.

"Shit," said Maylee. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" he asked.

"You fell. And you've been like that for like ten minutes. I thought you were dead."

Brooke's head appeared next to the hole. "Is he awake?"

Dalton nodded up at them.

Brooke sighed. "Thank god. Now get back up here before you get really hurt. This was a terrible idea."

Dalton shook his head and climbed to his feet. "No way. This is working."

"Maybe she's right," said Maylee.

"No!" said Dalton, glaring up at her. "Let me do this! I can do this. And we'll get to talk to Mom because I did it."

He stepped away from the light of the hole, looking for another light. The unfinished basement was cluttered and dusty, with abandoned tools lying on the floor where the landlord had left them. Dalton knelt and found a wrench, then a rusty hammer, then a flashlight.

He clicked the flashlight on and a dim, dingy light came from it. Like the battery was weak. Have to hurry, he thought. Battery won't last long.

"Dalton!" came Maylee's voice.

Dalton stepped back into the light. "I found a flashlight!"

"Great," said Maylee. "You can use it to blind the dead people. Just get up here."

"Dammit, Maylee. Let me do this."

Maylee frowned down at him. Brooke appeared back in the hole. Maylee pushed her away. "Okay. Go. But be careful."

Dalton nodded, clicked on the flashlight, and stepped away from the light. He decided to check outside first.

Using the dim light in his hand, he slowly made his way to the door. The door had a small window with a curtain. He pulled the curtain back and peeked out. He couldn't see anything, so he stepped back and looked at the door itself. It was locked, just like he'd expected. He put an ear to the door and listened. Nothing. Or at least, nothing loud.

Then again, he realized, how loud would dead people be?

He grabbed the deadbolt and turned. The lock clicked open. Dalton stopped to listen. Again, nothing.

He drew in a breath and pushed the door slowly open.

The grass of his backyard greeted him. Dark and silent. The moonlight he'd seen before was gone. Cloudy, Dalton thought. Just great.

He stuck his head out to look around. Just in time to see a corpse stumble around the corner.

Crap! He snapped off the flashlight and ducked back inside, shutting the door as silently as he could. He heard the thing drawing near. He'd gotten a good look at it. It was the man they'd seen out the window earlier. The one with his head bent all the way back. So maybe it hadn't seen Dalton. Had it?

The shape of the corpse appeared in the door's window. It moaned, muffled by the wood of the door. It stopped just outside the window.

Crap. It saw me. Or it can smell me.

And he hadn't gotten a ladder ready to climb back up the hole. Was there even a ladder down here? How could he be so stupid?

He swallowed, his heart pounding, and stared at the shape in the window.

With a groan, the shape shuffled out of view.

Dalton breathed out. It hadn't noticed him.

He clicked the flashlight back on and scanned the basement for a ladder. He found one, rusting in a corner. He grabbed it and dragged it to the hole. It was the kind that opened to stand on its own, which was a relief. He opened it and placed it under the hole. He looked up at Maylee.

"Okay. All clear," he said. "You guys start banging in about five minutes."

Maylee nodded and disappeared from view.

Dalton drew himself up and turned to head for the door.