EYEHEARTZOMBIES

The dim light didn’t really make it easy to see, but it was still brighter out here than in the library. The rain was still letting up and was now more spits and drizzles than anything that could really be called rain. Seth waited for Ruth to pull something out of the bag. She had a scowl on her face as she rummaged through its contents, obviously looking for something of quality.

“Hmmm, this is odd,” she said, pulling out a little card. It was from a hospital on the other side of town, a St. Jude’s Memorial, and it stated that the girl had an Rh deficiency in her blood. It listed her name as Naomi. The last name was on the card, too, but it had been blacked out with a marker. “Guess she didn’t want anyone to know her name. Odd. I wonder what you’d have to go in for to come out with an Rh negative card?” Ruth went back to rummaging in the bag.

While she was digging, Seth looked around at the street some more. It wasn’t completely deserted. He saw a woman walking through an alleyway on the otherside, slowly like she had a limp or something. She was still back by the far end of the alley. She wore a loose mumu or plain dress that just hung down without any sort of form to it. She shuffled a few steps before Ruth spoke again. “Nope, nothing else. Just that she is… was… Rh negative and her name was Naomi.” She chuckled. “I guess we could call her Ms. Watts.”

Seth turned around to look at Ruth again and was about to answer her when he heard something small, far away. He listened for a second, his mouth half open with his comment, then he closed it and smiled, finally realizing what he heard. “You hear that?” He smiled wider. “It’s an ambulance. They sent someone! I didn’t think they would!” He turned to look back down the street past the library to see if he could see any flashing lights yet. “Come on, we should go tell everyone else. Let ‘em know they’ll get to leave soon and go home.” He started walking towards the stairs without seeing if she was following.

He pulled open both sets of doors and everyone inside turned to see what was going on. “Hey guys. Ambulance is coming.” He pointed back up the street to where he thought it was coming. “I heard the sirens outside. Well, WE heard the sirens, Ruth and I.” He heard the door close behind him and knew that Ruth had come in, too. “So you guys should all get to leave pretty soon. I’m sure they’ll just come and take statements then take her away.”

The older trio just smiled small smiles at him and nodded. The coughing man, Seth couldn’t remember his name, still looked pissed off and flustered that his afternoon was being tied up like this. Virginia smiled broadly, obviously glad that the dead girl was going to be taken care of and taken out of her library. Elijah looked glum.

Ruth ahemed behind him and he startled a little and turned to look at her. She held up the pink Hello Kitty purse and said “We found this out in the alley. I think it belonged to her. A little card in here from a hospital says her name is — was — Naomi. Her last name has been blacked out, though.”

Again the group just kind of nodded and smiled. No one really seemed to care about the little dead girl, but that kind of made sense. It wasn’t like she was anyone to them. Just some girl that put a bump in their afternoon at the library. Seth hoped the ambulance would hurry; he wasn’t really thrilled with his company…for the most part. He went and set back where he had been, a seat away from Elijah. Ruth followed after a few seconds. Nothing to do now but wait for the ambulance.

Seth sat with his arms propped on his knees, aimlessly staring at the ground. He found himself looking at Naomi’s shoes. Her brown Mary Janes were both still firmlly attached, but she wasn’t wearing any socks. He wondered how long ago she had left the hospital and why she’d left. He could hear the sirens getting closer to the building, the volume gaining. He guessed that it’d show up in a couple of minutes, maybe less if they were really hauling ass to clear out as many emergencies as possible. He wondered if the electricity would come back on soon.

Naomi’s right foot twitched.

Seth blinked and set up a bit straighter. Her foot twitched! No, that wasn’t possible. He had to just be seeing things. He looked at her chest again. He could just make out the beginnings of breasts so Ruth must be right in her age estimate. It didn’t move at all. He looked at her face, her eyes. Nothing was moving. He could have sworn he saw her foot twitch. She’s been dead for thirty minutes, he told himself. There’s no way she could have moved. Maybe it was rigor mortis or something. He was halfway tempted to check for a pulse again, but told himself that was just his nerves making him stupid.