Chapter 7

Christmas Eve. Matt was pretty sure it was Christmas Eve, that was what day they had on their calendar anyway. It wasn't going to compare to the other Christmases he'd known, but they'd done okay, considering. They'd found a little fake tree in the back of the party store, and hung socks from it. There wasn't anything under it, but Valerie had made gloves to put in the stockings. Well they were kind of like gloves, they were made out of socks, and had a thumb and one finger, and there was a pair for everyone. Matt had found a whole box of foil covered chocolate coins under some pirate costumes. He'd also found a fleece lined leather jacket near the tree. He guessed it was accidentally packed, he'd found it in a box, under a bunch of holiday decorations.

He looked at the other kids, listening to Val read from the bible. They were stronger than they'd been two weeks ago, more ready to make a break for it. For the last week, they'd been exercising, running laps around the back of the store where the dead couldn't see them. He'd gotten more exercise too, He'd run as many laps as they had, and hauled the cinder block back up to the roof hundreds of times. Last time he'd counted there were only nineteen of the dead waiting for them outside. Before they left tomorrow, he'd go up and get rid of as many as he could.

Their packs were lined up at the foot of the bed, all ready to go, except for the water. The bottles of water and the sports drinks were next to the stove to keep them from freezing. The packs didn't hold much, just a few days of food that didn't need cooking, extra socks, a some candles and a few lightweight odds and ends. There was room for a tarp and their blankets, but that was all they were taking. He worried that they didn't have enough to get somewhere safe, but he also worried that they would be carrying too much. Even little Ryan had a bag, just two pair of socks, a bottle of water and some fortune cookies in a shoulder bag.

Valerie nudged him with her foot and pointed to the pizza cooking on top of the stove. He checked, the cheese on top was melty, and the olives and fish steamed in the cold air. He pulled it off the tin can and slipped the next one on. They had six of them for tonight, a real feast. The crust was flat bread, just flour, water and a little bit of oil. They'd saved one can of tomato paste for this, topped it with the last of the olives and the rest of the anchovies. He'd always heard they were terrible, but they hadn't had any meat at all for a long time and it tasted really good. They used the packets of cheese with some garlic salt to top them off, and the warm smell made his stomach growl. The pizzas vanished as fast as he took them off the stove and cut them. After, full and warmed on the inside, it was all he could do to make himself stay awake. Valerie's voice was soft and sweet as she read, and he nearly dropped off himself before the last of the younger kids fell asleep.

Valerie pulled a bag out of the mattress, and passed him the gloves one pair at a time. He put the chocolate coins in the stockings on top of the gloves, then covered the stove. He managed to slip the jacket under the tree while Valerie blew out some of the candles. She'd been right, the extra two bodies under a doubled layer of blankets made the night a lot warmer, and nobody had to stay up to feed the fire. In the warm dark under the covers, Valerie's hand reached out and grabbed his. "Thanks, I know it won't matter in the end, but you almost make me believe."

"We can do it Val." He told her. She didn't answer, just squeezed his hand a little harder. After a while, her breathing changed and her grip on his hand relaxed. He fell asleep not long after.