Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

  “Oh, God,” moaned Sara, staring at the bed.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  We followed Sara to the large maple sleigh bed where Kevin lay. As we gathered around the bed, she let out a sigh of relief.

  “He’s just sleeping,” she said quietly, brushing the sandy brown hair from his eyes.

  I turned to look at Bryce, who was frowning. He pulled me aside.

  “Do you smell that?” he whispered.

  I nodded; it was a smell I was getting all too familiar with.

  Sara sat on the bed. “Kevin? Sweetheart, wake up. It’s me, Sara,” she said softly. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

  I took a step closer to the bed and noticed that Kevin’s face was gaunt, his lips pale and dry. There was movement under his eyelids, as if he was dreaming.

  “You’re so cold,” Sara mumbled, touching his forehead. She stood up and lifted a goose down comforter from the floor that must have fallen. She spread it around him on the bed and tucked the edges under the mattress.

  My heart was hammering in my chest. To me, he didn’t look like he was sleeping; he looked stiff and white, like a corpse. I cleared my throat. “Sara, maybe you should step back.”

  She shook her head vehemently. “No, I know what you’re thinking. He’s just sleeping, Cassie. He…he’s…fine.” She glanced at me and I could see that her eyes were brimming with tears.

  “What’s that?” I asked, grabbing a piece of paper from the nightstand. At the top of the page were the words Vaccination Side Effects. It listed the typical side effects of a regular flu shot. I showed it to Sara, who turned very pale.

  “No…he didn’t get the vaccination. I don’t understand,” she said, scanning the flyer. She looked up and shook her head. “This just doesn’t make sense.”

  Bryce took it from her and examined it. “Didn’t you mention the military was sending someone from their medical staff to check on him? They could have given it to him then.”

  A deep moan escaped Kevin’s lips and his eyes slowly opened.

  “Oh, God,” I whispered, putting my hand over my mouth. Kevin’s eyes were blood-rimmed and cold as death. They stared emotionlessly at Sara, who appeared oblivious to the truth.

  “Hi,” she whispered, smiling down at him. She stroked his hand.

  “Sara, don’t touch him,” demanded Bryce, pulling her away.

  Kevin sat up and began making deep guttural noises. He started flailing his arms around and greenish-red foam bubbled from his mouth.

  “No, Kevin,” she moaned, trying to reach out for him. “I’m here for you, honey.”

  Bryce grabbed Sara and pulled her away just as Kevin lurched towards her, making hideous smacking noises with his mouth. When he noticed that he’d missed her, he let out an alarming screech that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

  “Leave me be, Bryce!” Sara screamed as he tried to push her out of the bedroom. She eventually broke free and then rushed back towards Kevin, who was beginning to growl at her like rabid animal. She took a step back and stared at him in horror.

  “He’s a zombie now, not Kevin,” I said.

  Tears streamed down her face as Sara stood staring at the man she’d fallen in love with. He was now just an animated corpse, devoid of any human emotion. Shaking her head in sorrow, she raised her gun and pointed it at his face. “Oh, God,” she cried, her hands trembling. “I…I…can’t do it.” I watched in horror as she dropped the gun, leaving herself vulnerable to the zombie, who was prepared to leap at her.

  “Watch out, Sara!” I yelled, raising my gun.

  Kevin lunged towards her, his mouth open and arms outstretched. Before he reached Sara, there was a loud explosion and he was blown backwards by the impact of Bryce’s bullet.

  “No!” screamed Sara as he fell to the ground, blood streaming out of the large hole in his skull. She rushed over to him and lifted his hand to her cheek.

  I knelt down next to her. “Sara, it wasn’t Kevin anymore,” I said softly. “His soul wasn’t there. He was gone before we even got here.”

  She looked at me, her eyes full of misery. “Do you think that makes it easier? Two days ago, I left him here to die, alone. If I would have listened to my heart and stayed with him, he’d still be alive.”

  Bryce stepped towards her and touched her shoulder. “No, if you would have stayed here with Megan, both of you would have been killed. You didn’t even know about the side effects of the vaccine until it was too late. Kevin would have probably still received it and you’d be dead, along with Megan and your unborn child.”

  Sara touched her belly and lowered her eyes. “Maybe, but he’s still gone and I don’t know if I will ever forgive myself,” she said huskily. Sara stood up and took one last look at Kevin before she hurried out of the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The ride to the St. James Hospital was very solemn. Kristie didn’t ask any questions and even Eva had the sense to keep her mouth shut.

  Zombies were everywhere and they were getting more violent. Older and newer ones wrestled each other, trying to feed. It was maddening to watch. I closed my eyes to block out as much horror as I could as we drove. I’d seen enough in the last couple of days to give me nightmares for the rest of my life.

  As we neared the hospital, I prayed silently that my mother was alive. She’d been armed with a gun but I still didn’t know if she’d been attacked by the soldier she’d been trying to save or someone else. I was tearing my hair out to know the truth, and soon I’d be closer to it.

  When we finally approached the hospital’s parking lot, it was crawling with zombies. Most of them wandered around in a muddled state, not doing much of anything. Others, who appeared more grotesque and rancid from decomposing, acted like rabid dogs. I watched in horror as they also attacked each other.

  “This is totally revolting,” whispered Eva, turning green.

  I couldn’t agree with her more; it was worse than any horror flick I’d ever watched on television, and it was real. Blood and body parts covered most of the pavement of the hospital parking lot. It was like a bloody aftermath of an explosion, only this devastation was much more than any of us could have ever imagined.

  “Careful on the left,” pointed Bryce. A group of zombies were snarling and tearing each other apart. Thankfully, they hadn’t quite taken notice of us yet.

  “Jesus,” mumbled Kristie as the SUV struck a zombie who’d stepped into our path. The sound of the zombie’s corpse crumbling under the tire made me gag. “Sorry, this isn’t easy, driving through this shit.”

  “Kristie, you’re doing fine,” reassured Bryce.

  He was right. There really was no way to avoid driving over the gore in the parking lot. The sound of bones crunching and loud thuds was enough to drive me mad. “Do you have any music? CDs?” I asked Kristie.

  “Hey, great idea! In the back, under the seat,” she said.

  I pulled out her CD collection, which consisted of a lot of older bands. I pulled out a CD of Metallica, which seemed appropriate for the moment.

  “Haven’t heard this one forever,” she said. She stuck it in and the sound of heavy metal blared through speakers.

  Eva scowled. “Don’t you have anything else?”

  “It beats the sound of bones smashing under the tires,” I said.

  Eva scowled and looked out the window.

  We were going very slowly towards the hospital entrance and some of the zombies were starting to take notice. Before I could say anything, two zombies rushed the side of the SUV and started scratching at the darkened windows.

  “Can’t you go faster?” cried Eva as one of them stared at her through the window. It let out a horrendous screech and Eva practically jumped out of her seat.

  “Sorry, I wish I could,” said Kristie, her hands tight on the wheel.

  We were going very slowly, in fact some of the zombies were staggering faster than we were driving.

  “Shit,” muttered Kristie as
more zombies began surrounding the truck.

  “Can’t you shoot them?” whined Eva.

  “No, we aren’t wasting our bullets on hundreds of zombies too stupid to even find a way in here. We need ammunition for when we’re on foot,” I said.

  “Bryce, how in the world are we going to get into the hospital when they’re following us this close?” asked Sara.

  “Look,” I said, pointing to the emergency entrance. “There are some people with guns getting ready to do something.”

  As we got closer, about five military soldiers ran outside of the emergency doors and started picking off the zombies that were following us. As we got closer, one of the men motioned us over to a separate ambulance entrance, big enough to drive the SUV into. Once inside, they closed the door and approached us cautiously.

  “Have any of you been vaccinated lately?” asked a tall, humorless-looking soldier holding a gun.

  “No, sir,” replied Bryce, raising his hands in the air. “None of us have.”

  The soldier nodded and then introduced himself. “I’m Captain Brent Lufkin. Does anyone here need medical attention?” he asked, looking specifically at Sara who’d stepped out of the truck holding a hand over her protruding belly.

  “No, not yet anyway,” said Bryce. “We’re here to try and locate a couple of people.”

  “Really, who?” asked the Captain.

  I spoke up. “Veronica King, the news anchor, and my mother, Kristen Wild.”

  “Veronica King left a couple of hours ago to help pick up some survivors who’d radioed in. She should be back within a few hours. Got to say, that woman surprised the hell out of me. She’s as tough as nails.”

  “What about Kris Wild? Have you seen her?” interrupted Bryce. “She’s fairly tall, light brown hair, somewhere in her forties. She would have arrived with a wounded soldier.”

  He shook his head. “Kris Wild? Sorry, it just doesn’t sound familiar but you’re welcome to take a look around,” he said. “We have over one hundred survivors. Most of them are staying close to each other in the children’s wing of the hospital. Come on, I’ll show you.”

  The hospital had generators, so luckily there was electricity. As we neared the children’s wing, I noticed many of them eating warm meals and talking quietly to one another. Surprisingly, there weren’t many children around.

  “I wonder what happened to the children that were in this wing of the hospital,” I said softly

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure.”

  The captain turned to me. “Most of the children that were already staying in the hospital received the vaccines. We had to place them in special holding cells so they wouldn’t harm anyone.”

  “They’re still here?” asked Kristie.

  He nodded. “Yes, they are. Unfortunately some of them are getting so violent that we can’t get near them without the risk of getting bitten.”

  I shuddered. “You’re just keeping them locked up until they die?”

  “On the contrary, we’re studying them to find out if we can halt the process or find an antidote. We’ve had some communication from the CDC in Atlanta,” he replied.

  “There are still researchers left from the CDC?” I asked in shock. “I would have thought they’d all gotten the vaccine.”

  “Not all of them agreed with vaccinations either,” he replied, “lucky for us.”

  “Do you mind if I take a look around?” I asked him. “I need to find out if my mother ever arrived. Maybe someone else saw her.”

  “Go ahead, I’ll ask around for you, too. Don’t forget to check some of the private patient rooms,” he replied.

  We all split up and began asking around. Bryce said he’d check some of the patient rooms in Urgent Care. Curiously enough, Eva volunteered to tag along with him and he reluctantly agreed. I trusted him but there was no way in hell I was going to allow her back home with us later. I crossed my fingers that Veronica would come back soon and take her daughter off our hands.

  ~~~

  I started checking the rooms in the children’s units, hoping beyond hope that maybe my mom was there, resting. Unfortunately most of them were unoccupied and the few that had people in them hadn’t heard anything about my mother, so I decided to venture farther away from the children’s unit. As I approached the birthing wing, I heard a man talking in one of the rooms. The tone of his voice sounded familiar and my heart skipped a beat. I rushed towards the sound of his voice.

  “Ever hear of knocking first?” drawled the soldier, who was on his cell phone. He wore only a pair of army pants and a bandage around his shoulder.

  “Austin!” I cried. “Thank God! I’m so glad to see you.”

  A huge smile lit up his face. It was the soldier my mother had rescued! Words couldn’t express the joy I was suddenly feeling. If he wasn’t a zombie, she had to be still alive, somewhere.

  “How in the world did you make it here?” he asked, hanging up his phone.

  “I got a ride,” I said, looking around. “Where’s my mother?”

  The smile on his face fell away and he sighed. “She’s not here.”

  “I see that. Where is she? “

  “Your mom went for help,” he said.

  “Went for help? What do you mean?” I asked, stepping closer to him.

  “She went to find special help for your sister.”

  My heart soared. “My sister? She’s here, somewhere? I don’t understand. Where are they?”

  He shook his head. “Not anymore, they’re both gone. You’re mom picked up your sister from her girlfriend’s house yesterday, and they ran into some trouble coming back; zombie trouble. Here,” he said, walking over to the counter where he lifted a piece of paper. “She wrote you this letter. I was going to try and get it to you.”

  I snatched it from his hands. My own began to tremble as I read the letter.

  Dearest Cassie,

  I pray that you get this letter and you are okay. I’ve tried calling you but I realize the power is out everywhere and your cell phone is more than likely dead. I have Allie; I picked her up as soon as I found out about the zombies. When I finally found her, she’d been attacked and wasn’t doing very well. She had a high fever and her body was racked with seizures, it was very frightening. I quickly brought her back to the hospital where they were able to finally lower her fever, but there was nothing more they could do for her. They suspect she is turning into one of those creatures now and suggested that I bring her to Atlanta, where scientists are working on an antidote. They even let us catch a lift with their medevac helicopter unit. And that’s where we’re heading now.

  I hope that you’re safe and that you get this letter. I love you so much and I wish I could be with you right now. But your sister is very sick, and I have to do everything I can to find help for her. I have to try and save her. I know you’ll understand, my Wild One.

  All my love,

  Mom

  P.S. I will try and contact you when I’m in Atlanta. Try and get your cell phone charged if you can. I have been given one to use by the Army and will keep trying to call you.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I closed my eyes and released a heavy sigh. Although I was relieved that both my sister and mother were alive, I held no illusions of there being a happy ending in all of this, especially if we were still separated and my sister was turning into a zombie.

  “Now what?” I mumbled to myself. I sat down on a stool and put my head in my hands.

  “I reckon you could just stay here and wait for your mother to call,” he replied.

  I lifted my head and faced him. “No, I have to get back home with my friends. Besides, there are so many zombies attracted to this place, seriously, I don’t feel all that safe here.”

  Austin nodded his head. “Okay. Well then I’m coming with you.”

  I stood up. ”What do you mean…you’re coming with me?”

  He knelt down next to me and placed his hands upon my shoulders. His eyes remin
ded me of warm caramel. “Your mother saved my life. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what would have happened. I made a promise to her that I’d find you and help protect you. I’m not breaking that promise.”

  I pulled away. “Thanks, Austin, but I can take care of myself. I made it here, didn’t I?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah you did. But you haven’t made it out of here alive just yet. Come on, Cassie, let me help you. If anything, I can help you get in touch with your mom. I know where they’ve taken her.”

  My eyes narrowed. “What about your family? Don’t you have anyone at home that might need you?”

  Austin smiled and folded his arms across his chest. “Darlin’, my family lives in Texas and it doesn’t look like I’ll be traveling there anytime soon. In fact, I just radioed my brother and they’re together and holding up okay, so far. So, the answer is no, there’s nobody who needs me at this moment as much as you do.”

  I pointed. “What about your shoulder?”

  “It’s doing better. They stitched it up and it’s tender, but I’ll survive.”

  “I thought for sure you were bitten by a zombie.”

  He shook his head. “I was shot; a woman. I don’t know, she may have thought I was a zombie.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, if you want to tag along, I guess that would be okay. We could always use an extra shooter.”

  Austin smiled and I found myself returning it. With his southern drawl, blond hair, and rugged good looks, he actually reminded me of some cowboy I’d watched on television as a child. One I’d had a small crush on.

  “Excellent. I’ll just find the rest of my clothing and we can shoot out of here.”

  “Austin?” I said, trying to swallow the lump forming in my throat. “How was my sister when you last saw her?”

  His eyes clouded over and he took my hand. “She was struggling, I can tell you that.”

  I looked down so he wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes. “I hope they can help her. I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose either of them.”

  He lifted my chin up and stared into my eyes. “Your mom’s a fighter, you’re obviously one, too. If Allie takes after either of you, then the odds are in her favor.”