Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

  “You’re the scum of the Earth. You know that, right?” Nick pointed his gun directly at the scraggly man’s head. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t pull this trigger.”

  Tahoe held up his hands, his eyes wide with fear. “Please don’t shoot! It was all Earl! I let Dean go so he could help her. Just ask him. I let go!” He pointed at me, his gaze begging me to tell my brother my part of the story.

  I’m not gonna play along with his little games.

  My brother glanced over at me as if to acknowledge his claims.

  “What?” I asked Tahoe. “You want me to remember? Hmm. Well, I’m afraid that might not work right now since I have a little concussion leftover from trying to save my sister from you and your sleaze-ball friend.”

  Tahoe paled, and a sheen of sweat covered his forehead. His hands clenched and unclenched, and his gaze fixed on the gun in my brother’s hand.

  “Is that so?” Nick said, grinning.

  I inclined my head and tried to keep hard from laughing at Tahoe’s shocked expression. “Yeah. Look, Nick, you might hafta draw your own conclusion here since I ain’t gonna be of much help.”

  Tahoe swallowed audibly.

  I couldn’t help but feel justice had been served by terrifying him, if only a tiny bit. “Okay. He did let me go, technically,” I said eventually. “Thing is, I still couldn’t reach Val in time, and if it weren’t for him and his half-wit friend, she wouldn’t have gone through the horror she experienced.”

  Nick nodded. “Right. An accessory. I think any judge and jury would condemn a man who tried to assist in the murder of an innocent woman.” He pointed the gun into Tahoe’s forehead.

  “Hey! You’re not the judge and executioner,” Jackie said, grabbing Nick’s arm.

  Even though I’d sworn it when Val had supposedly died, I didn’t believe in cold-blooded murder. Those vengeful thoughts had been nothing more than the result of my emotions spilling over when I thought my sister had been murdered. “Just let him go,” I said with a heavy sigh. “He’s not worth a wasted bullet. Besides, we need to get back on the road.”

  “Get out of the trunk, Tahoe!” Nick said through gritted teeth. “Make one wrong move, and I’ll shoot you dead in your tracks.”

  Tahoe slowly climbed out. “I’ll just be on my way. Thank you.”

  “Everybody get back to your vehicles,” Nick said, motioning Claire and Jackie back to their Jeep.

  “Nick…” I said, hesitating. Knowing my brother, I doubted he’d just let Tahoe be on his merry way, but Nick was hard to read. He’d always been like that, but he was no killer. Or is he? “Nick?” My hand wandered to grab his arm, but he shrugged it off.

  Jackie picked up on his vibes too. “You can’t kill him, Nick. We’re not murderers!”

  Tahoe coughed and fell to the ground. He’d lost a lot of blood and was pretty weak.

  “Nick,” Claire said, “you’re not a killer. You know that.”

  He regarded her coolly. “How would you know? You’ve known me for all of five minutes.”

  She pressed her fist against her chest, right above where her heart was beating. “I can feel it.” Her voice quivered with emotion. “Let’s help him get better, and then you can kick him out.”

  Laughing, Nick shook his head. “Why shouldn’t we just leave him here? He’d make a nice little buffet for any zombies who happen to come along.”

  “You can’t just leave him out here to die,” she said, her gaze imploring him to listen, “and you can’t kill him either.”

  We were trying our best, but in the end, we knew it was Nick’s decision to make. We hoped he would do the right thing. But do I really know him? I wondered. What I’d seen of him during our brief stint in Zombie Land had changed my perception of him. He was tougher and colder than I ever imagined he could be.

  “They won’t touch him if they recognize their kind,” Nick said, regarding Tahoe.

  “They didn’t bite me,” Tahoe insisted. “Really, they didn’t!”

  Nick’s eyes narrowed. “But wouldn’t that be sweet justice?”

  “I’m with you on that one,” Jackie said. “He had no qualms about helping to throw an innocent woman over the railing as a distraction to save his own butt.”

  “I would never hurt anybody!” Tahoe said, shaking his head vehemently. “It was all Earl! I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. If I didn’t help him and do what he said, he would have killed me too!”

  “Not a loss,” Claire whispered. “The girl lived.”

  He gasped. “What? How? I-I mean that’s wonderful, but how? Where is she? I’d like to personally apologize.”

  “Let’s bandage him up,” Jackie said. “Give him some food and water and a weapon. Whatever happens after that is his problem.”

  “You want to waste our precious supplies on this loser?” Nick asked.

  Jackie stepped toward him, her eyes sparkling with determination. “Yes. I don’t want to have his demise on our conscience. That’s the only thing that makes us any more human than those things out there, isn’t it?”

  Nick waved his gun in the air. “This jerk almost cost my sister her life!”

  “Listen, Nick…”

  “No, Claire! If he and his friend hadn’t stopped us, we could’ve made it out in the nick of time, before the herd came around to the front of the house.”

  Claire shook her head vehemently. “That’s not entirely true, and you know it. I slowed you down in the first place. If you hadn’t stayed there long enough to convince us to come with you, you would’ve been long gone.”

  “That’s different.”

  A dangerous glint appeared in her eyes. “Why?”

  Nick ran a hand through his hair as he contemplated her answer. “Because you didn’t try to kill my sister,” he said after a moment.

  Claire’s shoulders slumped. She was losing the argument, right or wrong, and she knew it. Whether we wanted it or not, Nick would make the final decision.

  “Claire, Jackie, you can’t just leave me here,” Tahoe pleaded. “Zombies will shred me to pieces. Earl’s a psychopath and told me he’d kill me countless times. I believed him after I saw the things he’s done in the past. But he was my uncle and I couldn’t leave him.”

  “Oh, you’re good,” Nick said. “Go on, storyteller. Humor us.”

  “No, really! It’s all true. My father’s the chief of police and I was going to tell him all about Earl.”

  “Right,” I said.

  “I swear I’m telling you the truth. Earl and I left the city we resided in to go pick up family members stranded in another state. We got sidetracked trying to lose a herd. I planned on getting back home, zombie apocalypse or not.”

  He was good at making up stories, but none of us believed Tahoe for a second.

  “Do you really have the heart to kill a cop’s son?” he said. “Not to mention, I have a wife and twin girls. Please think of them before you do anything to me.”

  “If I was you,” Nick said, “I might’ve tried telling the story with one kid. It’s way more believable than twins.”

  “Please think of my girls,” Tahoe added. “They have beautiful blonde hair like their mama. If you met my babies, you’d instantly fall in love with them.”

  I raised my brows at him when he tried to play the sympathy card. I was sure no one in our group could possibly fall for such a tall tale, yet I could tell Jackie was softening: Her frown and the angry crease in her forehead disappeared, and her hands clutched into fists at her side as she turned to regard Nick. “We need to get going.” I said. “Having an argument out here is bound to draw attention—and not the positive kind.”

  Nick nodded and took another step toward Tahoe, but Claire jumped in front of him as if to block Nick from shooting him. “He has nobody to look out for him!” she said. “You know what would’ve happened if no one had helped me in my time of need? I’d be dead.”

  Nick let out a long breath. “Fine. Get th
e medical kit, Dean.”

  I sighed. Is he seriously caving just because of a pretty face? Then again, I didn’t care. I just wanted to do whatever we were doing so we could get the heck outta there. When I grabbed the first aid kit, Claire snatched it out of my hand and began tending to Tahoe’s wounds.

  “Hurry up. We don’t have time for this,” Nick said. “Every minute we stick around here just makes a bigger target on our backs.”

  “Then help us get him into the Jeep so we can leave,” Claire snapped.

  “No,” I said. “Nick’s right. Tahoe can’t come with us. He’s a liar and nothing but trouble. Tend to his wounds like you wanted, and we’ll give him a little food and water and some kind of weapon to defend himself, but that’s all we’re going to do for him.”

  “Check him for any scratches or bites,” Jackie said.

  Tahoe wiped a sleeve across his eyes. “I wasn’t bitten. Earl stabbed me. The zombies were on my butt, and I saw the rear hatch wide open from where you were packing supplies. I threw out the stuff in my way and I squeezed into the compartment, then shut the door. If I would’ve climbed into the back seat, they would’ve seen me. My idea worked. The dummies had no idea where I went.”

  “And how did you plan on getting out?” I asked.

  “I didn’t think that far ahead. I just wanted to get away from them.”

  “Wow,” Nick said in a sarcastic tone. “You’re pretty smart for a cop’s son.”

  “All I knew was that I couldn’t outrun them,” Tahoe said. “I was bleeding, and I didn’t have the energy to hotwire the Jeep. I was about to pass out. I knew if I fainted in the Jeep, the zombies would’ve broken in and eaten me. I thought it would be safer to try and hide in the storage compartment, and I must have passed out and not woken up till now.”

  “He’s coming with me,” Claire said, determined. “Cut out the tough guy act and try to show a little compassion, because there’s nothing you can do about it.” As though to prove their point, Claire and Jackie helped Tahoe up.

  When he hobbled over and climbed inside their Jeep, I knew there was no changing their minds; we were stuck with him.

  Nick’s eyes blazed as he pulled Claire aside. “Have you lost your freaking mind?” I could tell that he was a bit miffed at her outright defiance, but the girl had a mind of her own.

  “What if he hurts you?” I said.

  “Just look at him.” Jackie pointed at Tahoe, now slumped over the back seat. “He’s a conman, not a murderer. We can handle him. I really don’t think he’ll hurt us. He’s barely in any condition to breathe, let alone anything else.”

  “True,” I said, “but what if he dies? It takes up to five days to turn into a zombie from a bite or scratch, but if one dies, it’s immediate. You need to know that.” I didn’t even want to think about what might happen to the girls if he turned and attacked them.

  Jackie’s eyes grew wide. “He won’t. I grabbed the medical kit, some antibiotics, and pain pills. But just to be safe, I’ll let Claire drive. I’ll watch him closely. If he dies, I’ll shoot him straight in the head.”

  I pulled her close. “No! This is a bad idea, Jackie—a really, really bad idea.”

  “I just can’t stand by and leave somebody in this condition in such a horrible, lonely, scary place. Please try to understand.” She kissed my cheek and hopped in the passenger side.

  “It’d make me feel safer if you at least tied him up,” I said.

  “We can handle it.” Claire turned the key and started the ignition. “We’ll be right behind.”

  “Change of plans,” I said, peering in through the open window. “Tahoe’s coming with us in our Jeep whether Nick likes it or not. That way I know you two will be safe.”

  Jackie shook her head vehemently. “Nope! Not happenin’. Nick will use any little excuse to kill him and you know it.”

  “Then we move onto Plan B,” I said.

  “What’s that?” Claire asked.

  “Hey, Nick,” I yelled. “I’m riding with the girls.”

  “Okay, that’s fine. See if Claire wants to ride with me?”

  “Yeah, I want to ride with him,” Claire said, opening the door, when Jackie grabbed her arm.

  “No you don’t,” Jackie said. “They’re insisting a guy needs to be in each Jeep. We’re strong, independent women. We can handle a Jeep just as well as they can.” She looked up at me. “I killed that zombie with a bat because I was trying to make a point. From this moment on, I can take care of myself. And I don’t need a guy to protect me ever again.”

  “I’m just trying to keep you safe from a psychopath,” I said. “So here’s Plan C. You know I won’t kill Tahoe, so he and I will ride in my Jeep and Nick can ride with you two.”

  “I like it,” Claire said.

  “I don’t,” Jackie said. “Again, he feels like a man has to be with us so we’re safe. Go back to your Jeep, Dean, and please trust me that I can handle this.”

  A moan echoed from the trees as a zombie stumbled out of the vegetation toward us.

  “Get in the Jeep, Dean. Now!” Nick said. He then shot the zombie with perfect aim. “We don’t have time to stand out here arguing. Listen, they’re big girls. They can make their own decisions.”

  I ran back to my Jeep and jumped in, slamming the door. “They’re trying to be all independent now,” I said.

  “Not again,” Nick said, peering out the window. “Their Jeep just stalled.”

  We definitely needed to find them better transportation. I let out a sigh of relief as the Jeep suddenly turned over.

  Biting my lip hard, I struggled with the decision of leaving the girls with a possible zombie.

  “At least we know Val’s safe with us,” Nick said, shooting her a glance over his shoulder. “We need to stick with the mission and save Val. It’s easy to get sidetracked, but we have to stay focused for her sake.” I opened my mouth to argue my point, but my brother raised a hand to stop me and continued, “Today has been a horrible nightmare, and I’m dead tired. Let’s just go and leave it at that.”

  The crease on his forehead deepened, and worry wrinkles had emerged around his eyes. He was tired, and I didn’t want to add to his problems, so I pressed my lips shut and made myself comfortable in my seat. I wasn’t happy about the girls letting Tahoe ride with them, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

  Chapter 15

  The highway was one long strip stretching out into the night, illuminated only by our headlights and the rising moon above. Sitting in the passenger seat, with my head pressed against the cold, smooth window, I stared at the road ahead, my mind scattered in a million directions. I knew I should try to get some sleep, in case I had to relieve Nick from driving, but for some reason, any shred of fatigue seemed to have eluded me. Every now and then, my gaze moved to the rearview mirror to check on Claire and Jackie, following in the second Jeep with Tahoe for a passenger. With nothing stirring, silence engulfed us, just three siblings. Siblings. Brothers and sister. It sounded strange to me. Up until recently, it had been just Nick and me. Never in a million years would I have guessed that might change, but then Val came along, and just like that, we had a sister. I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.

  My brother suddenly rolled down the window, jolting me out of my thoughts. “I can’t stand the stink in here. We need to get a clean dressing on Val’s wound before it turns completely nasty.”

  “We don’t have to stop out here. I’ll do it while you’re driving,” I said, crawling into the back seat. I dug around for the medical kit we’d snagged from the glass house. Inside it, I found all the necessary sterile bandages, antiseptic, and tape.

  Suddenly, our sister awoke and sat up.

  I stopped, unsure how she’d react to me looking at her wound.

  “You’re changing my bandage?” she asked groggily. “Because Jackie gave me a new one while I was driving.”

  “Yeah? Well, we need to put a fresh one on again,” I said, clearing
my throat. “It’s, uh…it looks like it’s seeped through.”

  “Just be sure to wear gloves,” she said, pointing to the medical kit. “We don’t want to take any chances of you getting infected.”

  “Yeah,” I said quietly. In silence, I grabbed a pair of latex gloves, tore the packaging open, and pulled them on with a snap, just like a surgeon.

  “Ready?” she said, pulling her sleeve up. When I nodded, she switched on the flashlight and held it up, instructing me step by step on how to cleanse and change the bandage like she’d done seemingly a million times before.

  As I worked, the scent of foul flesh intensified. Taking in shallow breaths, I followed Val’s instructions to a T, then threw some tape on it and smiled. Back when we first met, she’d hinted at having some basic medical knowledge, but I’d never had the chance to ask about that. I sensed it was now a good time to learn more about her. “What did you used to do—you know, before all of this?”

  “I was a cop,” she said, looking at me with an amused expression, as if anticipating my reaction.

  It wasn’t what I expected her to say, but it did make perfect sense. “I should’ve known by the way you handle a gun,” I said. “So where did you get your medical knowledge from?”

  “I was engaged to a doctor,” she whispered. “His name was Travis. I used to help him change bandages at the clinic. Infected people swarmed that place. His staff was swamped when the outbreak happened, so he had no choice but to let me assist him, even though he didn’t want to and we argued for hours whenever the chance presented itself.”

  Nick glanced over his shoulder. “Our hospitals, doctor offices, and clinics in South Carolina were also teeming with people who wanted help and demanded to know what was going on.”