We made a mistake not securing Racers General Store when we first got there. It wasn't a busy time of day, but there were several people in the aisles. The store was eight aisles of goods wide by fifteen paces long, and the front counter had two pay stations. Behind the front counter were the by request items only, things like stim packs.

  My Puppy Eyes told me that we were not screwed yet. I spotted two aiways, five overtaken, and one aiways who was in the process of turning. I had done the obvious when we got there.

  "Zombies!" I screamed. "Run for your life!"

  They already knew. One aiways, the teller working the counter, was hiding there, hoping they didn't think to jump over the counter, hoping they only used visual and audible cues to locate victims. I hadn't thought about that either. What did they see through those infected eyes of theirs? Could the overtaken switch ocular lenses to see heat signatures? If so, the person behind the counter didn't have a chance.

  The aisles gave us an opportunity to run to the back. The zombies noticed us when we came in and the door dinged, but I directed us left and down an empty aisle. I thought of locking ourselves in the bathroom, where there was a toilet and running water, but instead I headed to the back office. We hurried to the back, then down a short hallway with a set of lockers for the employees and through the door to the office, where we locked ourselves inside.

  The office had two sitting chairs by the door, followed by a desk with a nicer chair, a computer terminal, a safe in the wall, and a large digital display on the far wall that was currently showing inventory levels.

  "Thank @3Beak," I uttered between gulps of oxygen. "The room wasn't locked."

  I grabbed one of the chairs and dragged it up against the locked doorway. It wouldn't do much good, but it made me feel better, so why not? @astrowave sat in the other chair, heaving for air as well. I made my way to the plusher chair at the computer terminal and reopened communications.

  kittyboy: "We made it. Thanks @zerogstar!"

  zerogstar: "What should we do now?"

  I didn't know. Wait, I guess. A crunching noise distracted me, and I noticed that @astrowave had grabbed a bag of mozzarella-flavored Zap 'Ems, a popular chip brand. I was a little jealous that he had already moved on from eating oxygen to eating food. My stomach rumbled.

  kittyboy: "Stay put. No one should leave the ship. Not even to get us. We'll assess the situation. Continue looking for Repulser and @foxcutter over scans, network, whatever you can do. But stay put."

  "Did you have to grab the cheese flavor?" I asked @astrowave.

  He raised his big, broad shoulders in a shrug and chomped down another chip. "Didn't really have time to be picky."

  zerogstar: "Understood. Over. Good luck."

  He extended a chip to me. I was so hungry that I took it and made an icky icky pooh face as I devoured the chip. My stomach was grateful, but my tongue was not. I could have modified my taste buds, but my cursed desire for authenticity got in the way. For the sake of authenticity, I said to myself. He handed me another chip, and I was more than willing to accept it.

  "Let's check out the terminal," I said to @astrowave. "See what we can do."

  Thumping against the door made me jump.

  "Unless they get a cutter and learn how to operate it, I figure we're safe," I said.

  They could bang all they wanted. They weren't getting through that door. Right?

  But that door was our only way out of the store. And I had picked the building where the door to the plaza opened automatically for customers. We would need to do something about that.

  The colony's buildings were like miniature space outposts in a way. If a meteorite were to damage the pyramid roof enough to compromise the atmosphere within the colony, then each building, like Racers, would still be sealed off from the void of outer space. This was more common on small colonies that couldn't afford large redundant protective layers. It was cheaper to buy standard independent units and link them together.

  If I could use the terminal to lock the front door, we would at least have a contained area to secure and defend. Trapped inside with several zombies was better than ending up with a store full of them.

  I did some quick math. Based on the dimensions of the store, maybe 700 overtaken could pile up in here. If I ran a buy one, get one free deal and sold them at $100 qcoins each, I could make a quick $35,000 qcoins. Would anyone pay $100 qcoins for a zombie?

  I stared at the large display on the wall. As I had suspected, it rotated with information. The display went from inventory levels, to daily sales totals, to cameras in the store, and then back to inventory levels. When the video feed flashed, it confirmed that everyone in the store, even the aiways behind the counter, was now an overtaken. Three were behind the front counter, sort of stuck there, wandering aimlessly in the tiny space now that there were no more aiways in the store to attack.

  "I'm going to see if I can lock the front door," I told @astrowave.

  I waved him off this time when he offered me another nasty cheese chip so that I could focus on hacking.

  This hack was among the easier ones I've done. A general store on a small colony was going to have about the same level of security as the operating system on a flamingo bound for Eros.

  I plugged into a port and rebooted the terminal, looking for information on the system. They were running shakeOS version 128.4.1 and hadn't upgraded the operating system in the last four years. I laughed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Aiways should know that's the wrong attitude when it comes to security.

  Whomever was running the store probably figured they would use it until it stopped working. Why not? It's Dactyl, a small colony that only allowed preapproved travel from Ida. What could possibly go wrong? I queried the known vulnerabilities of shakeOS version 128.4.1 and then zoned out as I listened for the password check on the login to reject me. I pressed escape-s-command and typed all the spiders in the world.

  A little tune started to play.

  Spin, spider, spin,

  in the room where you begin,

  to weave a web that's strong and wide,

  to catch the secrets that we hide.

  Spin, spider, spin.

  Let the nightmare magic in.

  When the song was done, I had complete control of the terminal.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  I zoned back into reality and looked over at @astrowave with a satisfied smile. "I'm in!" I didn't care about the accounting system, staffing, inventory. I cared about store controls for the lights, power, doors, atmospheric regulation. I found it and toggled the door.

  > door open

  Shit!

  I wasn't sure what I had done. I nervously tried to undo it, glancing at the display on the wall. It was showing daily sales.

  > lights off

  The room went dark. Fuck! It was like the system was built backwards. I had to re-feel my way around the operations. The display flashed to the video feed, and now I saw a mostly dark store. One aisle was illuminated from separate lights coming from the refrigerated section, showing two shadowy figures wandering down the aisle. The open doorway to Racers General Store mocked me brightly.

  My legs bounced as I worked my hack.

  "They're coming in," @astrowave said in a low tone, eyeing the display.

  "I know. I know."

  > lights on

  The display toggled back to inventory, leaving us blind to what was happening outside. I tried a ping, but the walls reflected the signal back at me. I knew there were only two of us in the room, but I guess I was glad the ping only identified @astrowave and I.

  > door closed

  I got it! Now that I had the command for closing the door, I just needed to keep it that way permanently.

  @astrowave stood up and walked over to the door. What is he doing? I thought absently, focusing on hacking the door locks. I heard a thump as he pounded the wall. No, not the wall, a big red button. I sighed.

  "That was stupid," I said, rolling back away from the computer terminal.

  Yellowish orange lights flashed from the bulbs in the ceiling. A gentle woman's voice played through the store. "Lockdown initiated. Shelter in place activated."

  @astrowave had put the store in lockdown. Did I even see the big red button when we came in? I asked myself. I hated the big red button on my i35. Did my hatred for it cause me to ignore the large clown nose sticking out of the wall? Whether it did or not, I was the clown in this scenario.

  "Let's see how bad it is," I said, looking at the display, waiting nervously for it to flash to the video feed.

  Time is a funny thing in space. Sometimes it feels like it moves faster. Sometimes it feels like it moves slower. Bubble-warping around the solar system with a DEAD drive will probably do that to a person. It seemed slow now. @astrowave casually munched on a chip, like he was taking in one of our movie nights on The Pharaoh. I chewed at my left thumb, picking at a bit of loose skin with my teeth.

  The video feed flashed up, and I took a quick count. Five had entered during my failed attempt to work the door locks. Thirteen zombies in the store, one fool, and one slice of thunder. I swallowed, thinking about what we should do next.

  "How do you know if a girl likes you?" asked @astrowave.

  I glared at him. "We're trapped on Dactyl with a baker's dozen of zombies, and thousands more probably outside. And you want to know how to tell if a girl likes you?"

  He crinkled his bag of chips, now empty, and tossed it in a waste repurposing bin next to the desk. "Yeah."

  "And you're asking me?"

  "Yeah. Girls seem to like you."

  Girls seem to like you. What girls? What was he thinking? "What girls?" I said, incredulously.

  "That Burner, @auroraloon," he said bluntly. "She obviously likes you. And you obviously like her. How did you know she liked you?"

  I felt the blood run to my cheeks. What? "You think she likes me?"

  "Obviously."

  "Well, if it is obvious to you, it isn't to me. I'm probably zero help on the subject. I don't think you can know if a girl likes you."

  I rolled over to the wall across from him. My mind went to @mirrorbird, whom I would probably never see again, but it was a fun encounter. "Unless she tells you. I had a girl tell me she liked me once. I don't think they do that much."

  He looked disappointed.

  "Who do you like?"

  It was @astrowave's turn to blush. "It's nothing. I was just curious."

  I laughed, letting some of the pressure out of the situation we were in. "It's fine, @astrowave. It's not like you're going to get in trouble."

  "@zerogstar," he finally admitted.

  So, the big guy had a crush on the new girl, and here I figured he had been hanging around with her because he was taken by learning about plants.

  "How do you know that @auroraloon likes me?" I asked. "Can you see the same signs in @zerogstar's behavior toward you?"

  I was just as curious as he was to find out what he would say.

  "I don't know," @astrowave said. Well, that was shit help for both of us. "She spends time with you. She pays more attention to you than the rest of us, looks at you when you're not looking. She teases you, but she's kind of harsh to the rest of us."

  Hmmm. I mean, @auroraloon did give me a peck on the lips before she abandoned me to die on Flipper, but I thought that was pity with a smidge of physical attraction.

  "I don't think we can know, @astrowave. Even you telling me what you think doesn't give me confidence that @auroraloon likes me. You're right, though. I do like @auroraloon, but I'm still scared as hell to talk to her."

  He nodded slowly, frowning.

  "You have to just tell her how you feel," I said.

  His eyes widened, and he shook his head, almost an uncontrolled shiver, at the thought of it. "No way," he muttered.

  "It's the only way." I said it to myself as much as to him.

  "But if she doesn't feel the same way, then it's awkward, and we'll have to see each other all the time on the ship."

  I shrugged. "You have an eternity to figure that out. Sometimes you've got to take the leap." I thought about what might resonate better with @astrowave, and then I found the right phrasing. "You have to be willing to blow yourself up." He was Thunder Ops. He would get it.

  "Blow yourself up," he repeated. "But I blow myself up to save others."

  I bobbed my head around. "Yes, but this is the same, really. You can't be there for others if they don't know how you feel about them. You want to take care of other people? Got to be honest with them, even if it blows everything up in the process."

  We sat in silence. My mind went to @auroraloon. Maybe she did like me after all.

  I interrupted the silence and changed the subject. "We have to do something about these zombies. I'm getting hungry, and the food is out there."

  "That's what they're saying about us," @astrowave joked. "The zombies. Get it."

  I groaned. "Yeah, we're the food. I get it. That's the kind of stupid joke I would make. I think you're spending too much time with me instead of @zerogstar."

  He blushed again, and it looked good to see him a little less serious. We spend too much time alone in space.

  "Let's take them out one by one," I suggested. "Open the door. I'll grab one with my grappling hook. You close the door and try to keep others out. Wash, rinse, repeat?"

  It was our best option, especially without any real weapons. I didn't want to overdo it. I needed to watch my overall power levels with the use of the ARM. I could store a little bit of power as I moved around, my kinetic energy serving to help generate power for my biotic implants, but I could use power much more quickly than I could generate it.

  @astrowave was happy for the distraction. Destruction seemed like his natural state, something that would soothe him and take his mind off things.

  We readied ourselves, checking the video feed to get an idea of where all the overtaken had wandered off to. They hadn't piled up at our door, despite a few chasing us toward the office. Most were aimlessly shuffling down the aisles.

  @astrowave pulled the door open.

  Instead of being face-to-face with a horde of zombies, we saw the empty space of lockers. I slowly stepped through the doorway, peaking out into the store.

  A woman in a plain gray dress with peach colored socks came flying toward me from the left. I couldn't help myself. I shrieked and ran back toward the office.

  "Grab her!" I yelled at @astrowave. "I'll close the door."

  I ran into the room, with the woman a few steps behind. I leapt to my left and turned to slam the door shut. @astrowave was ready. As the zombie rushed through behind me, he tripped her and threw her toward the far side of the office. I shut the door just before two more of the overtaken turned the corner by the lockers.

  We hadn't really thought this part out.

  I fired my grappling hook, hoping to secure the zombie lady against the wall.

  Instead, I ended up smashing her into the display, cracking it, effectively destroying our source of information about what was happening in the store, with the image distorted in rainbow colors and flickers that gave only a hint of what was actually there.

  "Shit," I cursed. But at least the zombie was staggered.

  @astrowave pummeled her with his chair. I grappled her again, this time as a punch, sending her to the ground.

  @astrowave had just enough time to get a chair leg above her head. He thrusted down, pushing the leg of the chair into her mouth. Then he angled the chair and pushed forward until her head was against the base of the floor and the wall, crushing into her brain.

  I was bouncing in my spot, nervously, retracting my grapple. @astrowave stepped away, panting.

  "Aren't you worried they'll hook into your grapple and infect you?" @astrowave asked, staring down at the zombie to make sure it was indeed dead.

  "I am now!" I said, throwing my hands up.

  Thanks a lot, @astrowave. Nothing like being terrified to use your only weapon. But I did make a note to figure out how to isolate my system or secure the grappling hook. If I was going to be fighting zombies for the foreseeable future, I needed to know what I could and couldn't do. For now, I felt like I had no choice but to use the grappling hook and hope for the best.

  "Twelve more to go," @astrowave said, as thumping against the door told us the next round might not be so easy.

  I checked the crackling monitor. It was too hard to tell what was going on. I could make out some shapes in the aisles, so I knew we wouldn't be completely overrun if we opened the door again, but we really had no idea what would be on the other side of the door.

  "Let's wait a bit," I suggested. "We don't have to keep going, one after another in rapid succession, as long as we eventually get them all."

  And so we waited.