Apparently, Merlin hadn’t gotten the memo about limiting the time one spent alone, outside of a car, on the street, because they’d parked half a block down from the boarded-up storefront Merlin finally stopped in front of.

It was still early on a very bright day, which meant that red lights from the other windows weren’t very effective, but it also made the storefront they were standing in front of less obvious than it may have been with the contrast with darkness. Merlin stared at the boards as if he didn’t expect them. “How are we supposed to get in?”

Justice kept looking up and down the street, ready to defend them or run if some low life tried to attack. Way at the other end of the street, there were a couple of men headed their way, but from this distance, he couldn’t tell if they were sex-worker customers or street toughs. “Maybe your place doesn’t open until nighttime? Some don’t.”

Some worked all day and night, in fact.

Merlin looked at Justice like he was a moron. “Well, of course it doesn’t open until nighttime. Not that it matters. I’m not looking to buy anything.”

That sounded bad to Justice. “If the place isn’t open, then they don’t want you in there. What, were you raised in a barn?”

“A manor. There was a barn at one point, but I never went near it.” Merlin answered absently so that Justice didn’t question the truth of his statement, but it was a strange answer to what most people considered to be a rhetorical question.

Apparently, Merlin didn’t wish to carry the conversation further, suddenly finding the door frame more interesting. “These screws are weathered. They’ve been here awhile.”

“A lot of people fled the city when the zombies came. Maybe your friend closed shop and headed for higher ground. He could be staying at your manor.” There. Brought that topic back around. This time Merlin would have to address it.

Merlin snorted. “Seriously doubtful. There’s no way his sort could get up there.”

His sort? What did that mean? The more Merlin answered, the less Justice understood. Unless he was just a straight-up racist, which he didn’t seem to be. “What is his sort?”

This time Merlin looked at Justice slowly, up and down, and then backed up from the shop to take full measure of the building. Merlin’s gaze dropped to Justice’s groin, and he smirked as if he liked what he saw.

After Justice cleared his throat, Merlin focused on Justice’s face again. “He’s here. I can smell him. But how is he getting out? This wood hasn’t been moved in weeks, and he’d starve to death without going out for supplies.”

“Smell him?” Nothing made sense. Worse than Merlin’s confounding vagueness was the fact that Justice had lost track of the men who had been walking up the street earlier.

Either they’d gone to the establishment they were on their way to, or they were preparing an ambush. Given the current climate of hostilities even in broad daylight, Justice seriously doubted anyone walking on the street could be trusted.

Plus, as they said, most of these places didn’t open until nighttime.

“Justice, you still got that axe in the Hummer?”

“Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know.” Justice faced Merlin, who was looking at the car.

“What?”

“What, what?”

Merlin looked as if he smelled something bad. “What are you looking at behind you?”

“There were some guys…”

“Fuck them. Focus.” Merlin walked in front of the window of a store next to the one it appeared that he wanted. A female zombie did a desultory dance on a rickety pedestal.

“I know you’re new, Merlin, but the amount of damage a zombie can do is dwarfed by the evil that is mankind. Unless you want to be the next undead thing in the window, I’ll keep an eye on our backs.” Justice folded his arms and glared along the street.

“Yeah, I know. It’s a real dick-eat-dick world, but you lost them.” Merlin tried the door to the establishment with the dancing girl and found it locked. “Besides, we may find it very handy to bring them along as snacks.”

“Snacks?” Justice whirled around to find Merlin in front of the window again. He was doing some strange sort of snake dance right under her, looking up as if he was trying to catch her eye.

Once her gaze met his, she seemed mesmerized. Her eyes widened, and her dancing slowed. It was as if suddenly it dawned on her that she was standing in a window dancing. She looked around where she was, brows knitted.

Merlin remained still while she took in her surroundings. She started to sway again. He snapped his fingers to draw her attention back. She blinked slowly and then looked to the door, then at him.

Whatever was happening, it wasn’t natural. Justice took a step back. “What are you?”

Merlin held a hand up at Justice. “Shh.”

With the zombie in his thrall, Merlin stared at the knob of the locked door meaningfully. For a moment, she looked as if she might resume dancing, but instead, she stepped from the little stage and took a place on the other side of the glass door.

As fascinating as this was, Justice couldn’t help but wonder if whatever whammy Merlin was putting on the zombie might wear off. Where would that leave them? “Merlin, wouldn’t it just be easier to break the glass?”

“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to break the glass with your fucking head.” Merlin put one hand on the knob and the other on the glass.

Justice didn’t know what to think of the proceedings. Hadn’t they just been talking about the idea that the zombies were still humans? There hadn’t been much time for that to sink in before Merlin started demonstrating that when it came to the undead, there was still some intellect.

Wasn’t this the sort of breakthrough Justice had dreamed of? Wasn’t this what he wanted? He thought of Lewis, of his life before all this. Sure, they’d had their troubles; everyone did. But it had been good. Pretty good.

Okay, so the relationship had been in its death throes of “let’s have an open relationship” that often preceded an actual breakup in his experience, but that was before all this undead nonsense. Today was a new day. And maybe…

The zombie toyed with the door’s lock. There was a click, and Merlin twisted the knob.

“Wait!” Justice ran to Merlin before he could throw open the door.

Merlin turned. “What?”

“I just… Be careful. You don’t know that the whammy you put on her will hold.” Whammy? “I mean, what did you just do?”

“I put the whammy on her, obviously.” Merlin grinned. Clearly it wasn’t so simple, but Merlin wasn’t answering questions, and it was probably less dangerous for them to be inside. “Come on, that’s going to be the least interesting or challenging thing you’ll see all day. Don’t you want to see what’s behind door number one?”

“The least interesting? I’m not sure my heart can take much more interesting.” Justice took a couple of steps closer. Going inside sounded scary, but Merlin was giving him a devilish smile like a dare, as if this weren’t walking into the belly of the beast but extreme flirting.

He must’ve looked indecisive, because Merlin said, “Okay. Then you can come in here with a tame zombie and your partner, or you can stay outside with your street thugs.” Merlin looked over Justice’s shoulder.

Turning, Justice saw two men running toward them from across the street. How the fuck did they get so close?

~~This series will continue in daily increments through the end of March 2026. After that, it will be once a week on Tuesdays~~