The morning after they finally came home did not begin with an alarm, a
gunshot, or the sound of a monster crashing through a wall. It began
with the soft click of a metal spoon against a cooking pot.
For a few seconds, Bai Li did not open her eyes. She lay still beneath
the blanket, listening to the apartment wake up around her. The river
was outside, moving quietly below the twentieth floor. Somewhere in the
kitchen, somebody was walking carefully so they would not make too much
noise. A cupboard opened. A cupboard closed. Then came the faint sound
of water running.
It was such an ordinary sound that Bai Li almost smiled before she even
sat up.
The world outside had been broken for almost two weeks. Roads were
blocked. Buildings had become shelters or graves. Zombies wandered
through streets that had once been crowded every morning. Food had
become something people counted. Clean water had become something people
