Alone by Gary Chesla

and tell her the truth.
    “Yes I was out there this morning.” Tony replied as he stood at the window so she could see him.
    “Why?” she demanded.
    “I had to go out and finish off the big zombie. I haven’t been out of the warehouse for a month, so I decided to walk around and look the area over. Besides I was curious.” Tony answered.
    “Curious about what?” Trish asked.
    “About you.” Tony replied.
    “Why are you curious about me?” Trish asked.
    “Because I haven’t had anyone to talk to in a long time and you seem very nice.” Tony answered.
    “What do you mean by nice?” Trish asked. Her sister said Roy was nice, but he didn’t act nice, especially to Trish.
    “You seem like a nice person.” Tony said.
    “How would you know what kind of person I am?” Trish asked.
    “I’ve always been good at judging what a person is like by talking to them. I think you are a nice person.” Tony replied.
    Trish wanted to believe him, because she thought she was a nice person, but she didn’t believe there were any nice people left. He was trying to trick her somehow.
     
    When it was quiet for a few minutes, Tony pushed the button and spoke again. “Would you like some more granola bars or beef jerky. Or how would you like a can of Spaghetti-O’s?”
     
    Trish stopped dead in her tracks. Spaghetti-O’s? He had Spaghetti-O’s. She hadn’t had those for years.
     
    It was silent. Tony pressed the button on the radio. “I take it by your silence you must be thinking about the Spaghetti-O’s. I’ll send you some out. If you want, I’ll still send you the other things too. OK?”
     
    “OK.” Trish said softly.
     
    Tony ran down into the warehouse and grabbed two cans of Spaghetti-O’s, a can opener and a spoon. He took them up to the room and taped them to another coat hanger.
    He made a mental note to go out later and gather up the coat hangers. There were only two hangers left.
    He leaned out the window and set the hanger on the line and let it go. The heavy cans pulled the hanger quickly down the line and onto the grass.
    Tony picked up the radio. “I sent you down two cans, a spoon and a can opener. You can get them whenever you want. I’ll stand at the window so you can see I’m not going to try and shoot you.” Tony laughed.
     
    Trish watched as Tony stood at the window and placed both of his hands on the window seal.
    She looked around and then made a dash out of the cover of the high grass and ran towards the cans.
    “Oh Shit!” Trish said to herself as she saw him move his hands when she was halfway down to the cans.
    She expected to see him aim a gun at her, but instead, he waved.
    Trish hadn’t realized she had stopped in the middle of the field. She was fully exposed.
    He stood at the window and continued to wave.
    Trish looked at him. Without thinking, she raised her hand and waved back.
    She pulled her hand down and walked over and picked up the hanger with the cans attached.
    She looked up at the window and saw him raise his other hand. He had something in his hand.
    “Here it comes. He has me now.” Trish swore at herself for being so gullible.
    Instead of the sound of a shot, she heard the radio in her pocket. “Where are your new clothes?”
    She figured she might as well answer him. If he was going to shoot her, he had just had two opportunities to do it. She reached in her pocket and pulled out the radio. “I left them someplace safe.” She lied.
    “I’ll send you down some more. That way you can have a safe set of clothes and a set to go out hunting.” Tony said.
     
    Trish was overwhelmed. She couldn’t believe he was going to give her more clothes. She took the cans and started to walk back to the high grass.
    “Trish, would you do me a favor?” Tony asked.
    “No!” Trish quickly replied into the radio. Roy and Tom were always asking her to do them a favor, then they would laugh at her.
    “But you don’t even know what I was going to ask.” Tony