Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

  Paige sighed and laid her head back against the seat. “Do we really have to stop?”

  “Paige…” said Kristie, looking back at her. “That’s not nice.”

  Two zombies were edging closer to Eva, who looked annoyed more than anything. In one arm she held a pink dog carrier and in the other an oversized Louis Vuitton tote bag.

  “Stay here,” Bryce said as we skidded to a halt. He jumped out of the SUV carrying his rifle, and in less than five seconds, both zombies lay motionless on the ground and Eva looked like she’d just found Jesus. She stared with adoration at Bryce as he lowered his gun and moved towards her.

  “Would you look at Eva? She’s smiling at your man like he’s a bowl of cream and she’s a cat dying of thirst,” said Paige dryly.

  “Paige, he’s not my man. Besides, she’s just thanking him,” I replied. I had to admit, though, I felt a twinge of jealously when she threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

  Paige raised her hands in exasperation. “There you go! She just left her nasty, smelly mark on him.”

  Kristie chuckled. “Okay, enough, Paige.”

  I watched as Bryce took the dog carrier and she leaned on him for support as they made their way back to the SUV.

  “Hi, Eva,” said Paige with a smirk when Bryce opened the back door. “Did you hurt your ankle?”

  Eva blinked in confusion. “Paige?” she said, biting her lower lip. “Yes, I think I sprained it back there.”

  “You can sit in the third row seating,” Paige said as she adjusted the seat to let her in. “With your cat.”

  “Oh, okay. This is Chi Chi, he’s actually a Chihuahua,” she replied, climbing in.

  I turned around and faced Eva, who, as usual, was draped in expensive designer clothing and overpriced heels. She must have gotten up early to do her hair and makeup, because she looked the total opposite of me; fresh and feminine.

  “Hi, Eva,” I said. “Poor little guy’s been through a lot I bet.” Chi Chi appeared to be trembling more than any animal I’d ever seen.

  “Oh God, yes,” Eva said, rolling her eyes. “This has been the worst morning of my life! My mom’s chauffer was supposed to pick me up a half hour ago and take me to the airport. Obviously that incompetent idiot didn’t show up. My mom isn’t answering any calls, which is so typical of her when something goes wrong and I need her. I was so frustrated that my eyes started watering and I lost both contact lenses. Then, finally, I almost get mugged by those two creeps! I was so scared. I don’t know what would have happened if you all hadn’t shown up.”

  “So you didn’t get a good look at those two guys?” I asked incredulously.

  She wrinkled her nose. “No but they smelled horrible and were making some really disgusting noises. Thank goodness your cute friend stopped in time. If you ask me, they deserved what they got.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You know, I think they were going to rape me.”

  I looked at Paige who was biting her lip to keep from laughing. I shot her a look and then turned to Eva. “Eva? What were you doing over in this area anyway?”

  “We just moved into my mom’s fiancé’s house across the street over there,” she said, motioning to a giant colonial. “I was on my way to speak with the security guard in the booth when those two hoodlums started racing towards me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”

  It was clear that Eva had no idea what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I knew someone had to let her know, and Paige was having too much fun listening to her to set her straight. I took a deep breath and began telling her the truth.

  She interrupted me right away. “Excuse me? Have you completely lost your mind, Cassie?”

  “No, she’s telling the truth,” replied Bryce from the front seat.

  Eva stared in alarm at Bryce and then closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and then released it slowly.

  “Okay…” she replied breathlessly, “well, I would be more inclined to believe you since you were carrying a gun and clearly saved my life. Plus, those freaks did smell absolutely horrible. What was your name again?”

  “It’s Bryce,” I answered for him with clenched teeth. The fact that she thought I was lying really pissed me off.

  Eva’s attention turned back to me. “You may as well continue with your little story.”

  “Story? It’s the facts, Eva,” snapped Paige.

  “Okay, let’s just relax,” said Kristie. “It’s hard to accept what has happened and we’ve seen it with our own eyes. So imagine how difficult it is for Eva to believe.”

  Paige shrugged.

  Kristie’s eyes softened. “Honey,” she said. “Here are the facts; that new flu vaccine has created zombies, okay? You’re lucky we found you because you and Chi Chi…you were next on the menu. If not for the two zombies, then for the dead army coming up behind us. Holy crap! Bryce, step on it!!”

  We all turned to the back window as Bryce peeled away. Hundreds of zombies were heading our way.

  ~~~

  We decided to drive back to my house to check on Bobby and the others.

  “Well,” said Kristie, shutting off her phone. “Thankfully my brother was in town visiting my mom when the zombies struck because she would have been all alone. They’re at the cabin now and didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. I told him the girls and I would head out there after we drop everyone off.”

  “Are you sure you want to risk driving around by yourselves?” asked Bryce.

  “You’re all free to join us if you’d like. It’s only about an hour north of here.”

  I didn’t say anything. My mom, dad, and sister were all missing and that’s all I could think about at the moment.

  “Eva? Are you okay?” asked Kristie.

  Eva was staring out the window. After replacing her contacts and getting her first real glimpse of the zombies wandering the streets, she’d been horrified of how close she’d been to death.

  I touched her shoulder gently. “Eva?”

  She turned to me with tears in her eyes. “Um, sorry…I just don’t really know what to do at this point. I’m just so worried about my mom.”

  “Do you have anyone else you can call? Your dad or a grandparent?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No. My father is somewhere in Asia. I haven’t spoken to him in years. All my grandparents are dead. It’s just me and Chi Chi.”

  “Did your mom get the vaccine?” I asked.

  “No. Neither of us did.”

  All of a sudden Bryce slammed on the brakes and we all lurched forward in our seats.

  “What the heck?” I yelled at him.

  “Stay here,” he said and jumped out of the SUV with his rifle.

  “Oh, good God! Look at that poor puppy!” cried Kristie.

  Several zombies were closing in on a young golden retriever. The dog was on a leash that appeared to be tangled on a rickety fence in front of an old church. Its frantic barking must have temporarily confused the zombies because they were staying back, although I knew it wouldn’t be long before their hunger drove them closer.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure Bryce will save that poor little dog,” said Eva.

  Bryce raised his rifle and started shooting.

  “Look!” pointed Kylie. “More zombies are coming from behind that trailer!”

  A motorhome was parked in a neighboring driveway and Bryce was about to be attacked by a larger pack of zombies.

  “I’m going to help. Lock the door behind me,” I said.

  Luckily Bryce had fixed my gun and it was ready to go again. I opened the door and jumped out. “Bryce, watch out behind you!” I yelled and started firing it at the new group of zombies. By the time I used all my bullets, however, I’d only hit two in the head. The others were getting back up.

  Bryce hollered at me. “Just get back in the truck!”

  I watched in horror as another wave of zombies approached Bryce from the other side of the church. I knew he didn’
t have enough ammunition for all of them. He started shooting again and it didn’t take long to empty out his rifle.

  “Shit!” he raged, tossing it to the ground. The next thing I knew he was striking out at the zombies with his feet and hands, sending them crashing to the pavement. Unfortunately, they were getting back up almost as quickly.

  I ran to the SUV and grabbed the metal bat and the war hammer.

  “Here!” I screamed, throwing the bat towards him. He picked it up off the ground and began swinging. Decaying zombie brains began paving the sidewalk in front of the church; which seemed so immoral and sacrilegious. Then I remembered how badly these things wanted to eat us, and held firmly to the war hammer.

  I took a deep breath and then moved in to help Bryce.

  “Oh, God!” I groaned as I brought it down on the first zombie’s skull. Zombie blood sprayed everywhere and I gagged. Shooting them was by far a lot less gross.

  “Get back into the SUV!” barked Bryce, bringing the bat down on a zombie who was dressed all in Goth and had jet-black hair.

  I dislodged the hammer and swung it at a tall, skinny zombie woman who was missing half of her face. Now the other half matched.

  “You need my help!” I screamed, raising the hammer again, this time I swung it at a dead cheerleader that I recognized from school; we never had gotten along.

  “I’ve got this!” he replied angrily as he rushed towards another zombie closing in on the dog.

  “Yeah, I can tell,” I mumbled, heading towards someone who was about to rush Bryce from behind. I stuck my tennis shoe out, tripping him. He then flopped face down onto the ground where I quickly finished him off.

  “Cassie! Watch out!” screamed Kristie from the SUV.

  Three new zombies were staggering hungrily towards me while I was attempting to dislodge the hammer from the zombie’s brain.

  “Shit!” yelled Bryce when he noticed the stooges. He had his hands full with two others coming at him.

  The next thing I knew, Kristie punched the gas on the SUV, crushing the three under her oversized Goodyear tires.

  “Six points!” cheered Paige and Kylie from the open window.

  Kristie backed up and smeared another small group wandering towards us.

  “Ten points, mom! Woot! Woot!”

  When we’d finally taken out all of the zombies, both Bryce and I were exhausted.

  “Next time…do what I tell you. You could’ve…been killed,” he said, trying to catch his breath.

  I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the back of my arm. “First of all, quit telling me what to do; secondly, ‘you’re welcome’ would’ve sufficed.”

  Bryce stood up straight and gave me a lopsided grin. “Kind of reminds me of the first time we met. Both of us exhausted and doing hand-to-hand combat.”

  “I remember. You were just as humble then, too,” I said.

  His eyes met mine. “You know, something about the way you swung that hammer was incredibly sexy.”

  I burst out laughing. “You’re extremely warped.”

  “I never said I wasn’t,” he replied. He took the war hammer from me and examined it. “This worked great. I’ve definitely got to get me one of these.”

  “Sure, if you can get past the real nasty part of dislodging it from the zombie’s heads. I had to fight from throwing up each time I used it.”

  The dog started barking and we both rushed towards it, almost forgetting why we’d risked our lives fighting zombies in the first place. It was a female and she had a tag with the name “Goldie” engraved on it. Goldie showed her appreciation by licking my face while Bryce worked to free her from the fence.

  “What a beautiful dog,” said Bryce, petting her soft, golden fur. She appeared to be smiling back at him with her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth.

  “Yes, sweetie, you were worth the battle,” I told her as she rolled around on her tummy.

  “Looks like we have another soldier on our team,” smiled Bryce.

  Goldie barked in agreement.

  Chapter Eighteen

  We returned to the SUV with Goldie and she immediately jumped into Kylie’s lap, who was delighted. The puppy must have been excited to see warm-blooded humans because she couldn’t stop moving around to greet everyone.

  “She’s adorable!” giggled Paige, who received a hello slurp from Goldie.

  “Those horrible zombies,” said Kylie in a cooing voice to Goldie, “nobody’s going to hurt you now, puppy.”

  Bryce opened the driver’s side door.

  “Wait, shirt first, Bryce,” said Kristie, holding up another clean T-shirt. “I’m not sure how you manage to get so full of gore while Cassie hardly gets a spot of blood on her.”

  “Easy, I hit much harder,” he replied, removing his shirt.

  “You were so awesome, Bryce,” declared Eva, who was staring at his pecks lustfully.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Thanks, Eva,” he replied, pulling the new shirt on. He jumped back into the SUV and we began moving again.

  “Sorry I couldn’t help you guys,” glowered Paige. “My mother forced me to stay put.”

  Kristie turned to look at her. “Face it, Paige, you’re just not the fighting type. You probably would’ve gotten in the way more than anything.”

  “Actually, Paige proved herself to be a pretty good zombie destroyer this morning, when we were cornered in her bedroom. She took care of both the dudes,” I replied.

  Kristie turned to Paige in disbelief. “You had boys in your room?”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “Yes, but they won’t be back.”

  I smiled. “Yes, and let’s just say she’ll probably never quite get the cartilage out of the heel of her Jimmy Choos.”

  “Oh, my God, that is so nasty!” squealed Kylie.

  As we neared the middle of town, we noticed several abandoned cars along the side of the streets and were forced to slow down to maneuver around them. Fortunately, the zombies wobbling by ignored us.

  “Bryce, do you have any more rounds left for the rifle?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No. I used the last of my ammunition saving Goldie.”

  I felt warm breath next to my ear. “Wow, I had no idea you had such cute relatives, Cassie,” whispered Eva.

  I stared at her. “He’s my karate instructor.”

  Eva’s eyes lit up. “Karate instructor? Oh wow. That’s hot.”

  “Stay away from him, Eva,” hissed Paige. “He’s already taken.”

  “Paige,” I warned. She just couldn’t take a hint that Bryce and I were just friends.

  Eva was silent as she sat back in her seat, a small smile settling on her lips.

  “Check out the zombies hovering around McDonald’s,” said Kylie.

  There had to be thirty or more wandering around the abandoned building, some of them actually going inside.

  “At least they’re not paying us any mind,” said Kristie.

  “Wonder if some of them are still having a Big Mac attack,” I joked.

  “I’ll bet they can smell raw patties in the back. It might be drawing them here. They’re probably spoiling by now with the electricity off,” said Bryce.

  “Hey, stop at the next gas station you see. We need to fill up,” said Kristie.

  Two blocks later, Bryce pulled into a small abandoned station and then hopped out to fill the tank. I followed him, clutching the war hammer tightly.

  “Be right back!” yelled Kristie, as she jumped out of the truck holding the metal bat.

  “Mom, are you nuts?” Paige hollered out the window. “What in the heck are you doing?!”

  “Thirsty,” she called back.

  “We packed drinks,” muttered Paige, crossing her hands across her chest.

  I sighed. “I’ll go follow her.”

  “Be careful,” said Bryce. “It looks empty from out here, but you never know.”

  When I stepped into the filling station, I found Kristie behind the coun
ter, opening a pack of cigarettes.

  “I should have known,” I said.

  Kristie smiled and took a drag. She exhaled and a steady stream of white smoke curled out of her mouth. “Oh man, I needed that.”

  I smiled. “Paige is going to flip out.”

  “That’s okay. Let her,” she answered. “It’s so worth it.”

  I stretched out my arms and yawned. “I’m so tired. I’m going to grab some energy drinks. Want anything?”

  She nodded. “Grab me a diet soda, please.”

  I walked to the back of the station and grabbed a couple of energy drinks out of the cooler. When I turned around, one of the former employees stood two feet away from me, drooling.

  “Crap,” I groaned throwing the cans as hard as I could at her gray, mottled face.

  The zombie growled and rushed towards me but not before I caught her stomach with a roundhouse kick. She flew backwards into a stack of cereal boxes.

  As I raised the hammer to finish her off, something grabbed me by the back of the hair and pulled. I quickly smashed my head backwards with all my might, hitting a second zombie in the nose. It screeched as it released my hair and its horrible smell actually made it past the Vicks coated under my nose. I shuddered and then kicked back with my foot, hitting it hard in the shin.

  “Back for more?” I snapped at the first zombie who’d since gotten back up and was now staggering towards me. This time Kristie was behind her, swinging wildly at the zombie with the metal bat. She hit it in the skull with a loud “clunk”, and the zombie dropped, this time for good.

  She looked up at me, her face pale. She pointed behind me and gasped, “Zombie!”

  The other zombie was coming at me with its mouth wide open. I slammed the hammer into its grotesque face and it dropped to the ground.

  “Thanks, Kristie,” I said, dislodging the hammer. I noticed that I was starting to become a little impervious to all of the zombie blood and gore. Whether it was a good thing or bad thing, I wasn’t even sure anymore.

  Bryce walked through the door at that moment. “What’s taking so long?” When he noticed the two dead zombies and Kristie lighting up another cigarette, he sighed. “Next time let me do the shopping.”

  “Actually, I think we did a pretty fair job staying alive in here,” I said, grabbing two bags of dog food.