The silence seemed deafening. Of course it wasn't completely quiet in the flat; there was a slight dripping from the tap that they had never got round to fixing. There was the muffled ululations from outside that seemed completely disconnected from the world as she knew it. To stop herself crying out, Freyr went over to put Chopin into action on their state of the art stereo system and couldn't help but crack a smile when it didn't work. How could she have been so stupid? Of course it didn't work. Freyr checked her chicken in the oven; it was on the right track. She thought about starting the vegetable preparation. She thought about turning her roast into a salad instead, it'd be easier that way. The zeal that had consumed her minutes earlier had for the most part evaporated and she just felt exhausted. 

It occurred to her that they should probably phone up the parents at some point. They deserved to know what was happening, even if it didn't affect them in the slightest. Freyr supposed that her mother might even have something to say about whatever it was, being an Epidemologist and all. There wasn’t even a certainty it was a disease, Freyr hadn’t yet seen anybody wearing a gasmask; from the what she had seen the soldiers down on the street could even have been private security firms. If they played it smart with the food that they had, Freyr reckoned they could survive a week or so before things started getting hairy. After that they’d have to scavenge for food and water, and even venture down onto the street.

She was disturbed from her inner monologue by a bang on the door. Freyr jumped visibly, a hand going instinctively for her chest. A guttural and phlegmy growl vibrated through the door, freezing her to the spot. Freyr closed her eyes, hoping she’d imagined it but barely five seconds later it happened again, louder. Edging closer to the door, the lights coming back on now. Indy must have found the switch, Freyr thought at the back of her mind as she pulled her gun from out of her waistband. After what seemed like an eternity she reached the door. A faint scratching sound as well as bangs and a strange shuffling could be heard directly outside. Steeling herself, Freyr put her eye to the looking glass installed on their door, granting her a view of outside.

She had to cover her mouth in shock because a grotesquely mutilated corpse was proceeding to lounge against the door, scratching weakly. It wasn’t someone Freyr recognized, though that could be because they were almost entirely caked in dried blood as well as pieces of half chewed innards. As she watched, the zombie raised her head and almost seemed to stare back through the looking glass at her, before closing in with mouth open and the view turned black. Recoiling slightly, Freyr breathed out in deeply. The thing appeared to hear her because it produced a mewling groan that curled her lips in disgust. Freyr thought of Indy, stumbling back from his mission to be caught by surprise at their doorstep.

That wouldn’t do. Freyr thought long and hard about her potential next move before damning the consequences, putting the barrel of her gun up against the portion of door that she suspected was adjacent to the thing’s head and pulled the trigger.