Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

  “Yeah, I imagine every medical facility across the world was jam-packed just like ours. So, whether Travis wanted it or not, I helped out at the clinic when my shifts were over.”

  “That’s dedication,” Nick said.

  “Yeah, well, we didn’t know what was going on at the time. Travis was so sure he could help them, and I was naïve enough to believe him.”

  She seemed sad to talk about him, and I wondered what had happened between them. Did things go sour and not work out, or was he killed when the zombie thing went down? I didn’t have the nerve to ask, but she must’ve sensed my interest, because it didn’t take long to get my answer.

  She pressed her lips into a grim line. “He’s dead. He never shoulda been at the clinic with all those infected people. I still can’t believe we were treating zombie victims like real people. They wanted nothing more than to rip our heads off. How could we have been so stupid?”

  “You couldn’t have known,” I said softly, “but what you were trying to do was admirable.”

  “If only we had known what we were really dealing with, maybe things would have turned out differently. If only I could go back in time and save him.”

  “I’m so sorry, Val.” Even though nothing I could say or do would ease my sister’s pain, I leaned in and rubbed her back gently in the hopes that she might draw some relief from it.

  Her voice quivered. “They’re all dead—all my family in Philadelphia and most of the people I’ve ever known. I thought I’d lost my entire family until I met you. Now, you guys are all I have left. I thought I couldn’t lose more until zombies broke into my home and killed my dogs. That was the moment when I knew I couldn’t stay in Philadelphia. I had to get the heck outta there, or else I would’ve been next.”

  “Pennsylvania?” I asked.

  “Yep. Born and raised.” She nodded and smiled, her gaze turning distant. “When I found adoption papers by accident, I was shocked. I demanded answers, and my adoptive parents finally told me about my past and about you. A few weeks later, they died. I spent months traveling around, trying to find you, slaying I don’t know how many zombies in my path.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a crumbled Christmas card, then handed it to me.

  With trembling fingers, I reached for it and recognized it immediately. “Nick, this picture is of us, last year at Christmas,” I said, passing it to my brother.

  He glanced at it briefly, his gaze barely brushing it. “The Christmas card with those goofy Santa hats Mom made us wear? Come on! That was so freaking embarrassing.”

  “Yeah.” I studied our bright smiles and glowing faces. We were so happy. I shook my head and swallowed the lump in my throat. “How did you get this?”

  Slowly, the words tumbled out of her mouth. “Your…er, our mom sent it to me.”

  I gasped, shocked beyond belief. “When did she find you?”

  She reached for the Christmas card. Her eyes glazed over, as though she’d lost herself in memories. “We’d been talking for only a few weeks, barely able to share much about our lives, when the epidemic destroyed everything, from the police force to the postal service and radio stations, and we lost touch. At first, the phone lines went dead. When the letters stopped arriving, I feared the worst.”

  “Mother talked to you? I don’t believe it,” Nick whispered, in just as much shock as I was.

  “That picture kept me going on my long journey from Philadelphia to that island in Ohio,” Val said, her hand still clutching the photo. With shaky fingers, she brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and continued, “After I got in touch with our mom, she begged me to relocate with you in South Carolina. That was right before the whole zombie thing happened and you left South Carolina to come to the island to join Grandma.”

  I nodded, thinking back and remembering how hard it was to leave our old lives behind.

  “She said she wanted us to meet and start from scratch, so I went through this zombie-infested landscape in order to be with my new family.”

  “I’m so glad you did, Val,” I said. “Meeting you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve always wanted a sister.”

  She grinned. “And I’ve always dreamt of having some little brothers.”

  “Have you met Grandma?” Nick asked casually.

  “Yes,” Val said. “As a matter of fact, she was the one who called me when we realized the virus was a full-blown zombie dilemma that might just wipe out the world. She told me to get my butt out of Pennsylvania and move to the island, but we stayed behind because we thought we could change something. We were wrong. We should have listened to Grandma.”

  “I can’t believe you met Grams,” I said, my jaw dropping. My grandma was the most understanding, caring, forgiving person in the world. It made sense that she would have met Val right away, but I couldn’t understand how she managed to keep it a secret. My grams and I were so tight, and I thought she always told me every secret she knew.

  “Yeah, she’s sweet. She texted me every day before all communication went down.”

  I smiled, proud of myself. “I taught her how to text.” I’d even taught her how to email, and I got a message from her every day when I lived back in South Carolina.

  “I know. She told me all about your mad skills.”

  It seemed as if everyone had already known about Val except Nick and me. I wondered why it had been kept a secret from us. Mom had told me they’d planned on sitting down later that day with the entire family and explaining everything, but it still didn’t make much sense why we’d been left out of the loop. My thoughts raced. So Val didn’t just pop up on the doorstep to give us all a heart attack. She was invited. I could completely imagine Grams begging Val to be with us in our safe haven. Heck, I’m surprised she didn’t try to go out and find Val herself, guns blazing. Upon our arrival on the island, I noticed Grandma being more absentminded than ever. I suspected something was bothering her, but every time I’d tried to ask her about it, she’d just clammed up and brushed me off, calling me paranoid. One evening, however, she’d disclosed that she was worried about a girl in Pennsylvania. Her words had made no sense at the time, but now a light bulb went off in my head. Now, it all made sense.

  “Our grandma is amazing,” she continued. “She showed me a picture of Mom and me in the delivery room. By the look on our mother’s face, I know she didn’t want to give me up. Dad looked happy too.”

  “They should’ve never given you up,” I said.

  Val smiled bitterly, and for a moment, I thought she was going to agree with me, but then she said, “That’s not true, Dean. You know they couldn’t have taken care of me. I mean, they were only fifteen years old, just kids themselves. Besides that, Grandma seemed to be losing a battle with cancer, and Grandpa had just died in a car accident. So much was happening that raising a kid was out of the question. Keeping me just…it just wasn’t possible.”

  “Did you ever flat out ask her why she did it?” Nick asked.

  “Yes.” Val hesitated a bit, considering her words. “She said it was because she loved me so much that she wanted me to have more than what she could give me. She also told me that not a day went by when she and Dad didn’t think about me.”

  “They should’ve never given you up,” I repeated, anger edging my voice. I swallowed hard and stared out the window as I tried to process everything.

  She brushed the hair behind her ear and sighed. “Mom and Dad’s decision to choose adoption for me must’ve been a difficult one. Dad said it left them with a sense of deep loss and that they were haunted by it.”

  Nick kept quiet during most of our conversation. Several times, I noticed him shooting interested looks into the rearview mirror, his tired, bloodshot eyes shining in the darkness. He kept driving at a fast and steady pace, but the way his hand clutched the steering wheel rather than casually lingering on it as usual told me he was taking in every word being said.

  Val touched my hand, sensing my sadness. “Hey, it’s ok
ay. They gave me to a really great family because they loved me and wanted the best for me. I have no regrets. I had an awesome and fantastic life. My adoptive parents truly loved me with all their heart.”

  I didn’t even know what to say. Maybe I was in complete and total shock that my mom had hidden something so big from us when we were such a close-knit family. I was happy that Val had enjoyed a great life.

  Her voice quivered. “I was almost there. My group got attacked in Sandusky.”

  “You’ve been through so much,” Nick said. “We’re here for you.”

  “Thank you, Nick,” she said. “When I lost everyone, Grandma’s words rang in my ear. ‘Get your butt to the island. You’ll be safe. I promise.’ So, I decided to come and find you, to meet all of you in person.”

  I put my arm around her and pulled her close. “I’m so sorry for your loss, sis. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of pain you’re in and all of the horrible things you’ve seen and experienced, but you’ve got family here. We’re not going to ever let you go.”

  “Well, I wish I wouldn’t have gotten bitten on the way, but that was probably fate.” She let out a long sigh.

  “What makes you say that?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Travis and I thought we could find a cure, so we kept close to the infected, treating them, searching for ways to make them feel better. If this cure works, that means our prayers were heard, and our mission is complete. I can finally focus on helping the infected to get cured.”

  “See?” I asked. “You are destined for something great, and you’ll be famous, because you’ll be the first one to survive a bite!”

  “Yeah, I can see it in the papers now. ‘Guinea Pig Zombie Cop Girl Lives to Tell the Tale.’” She smiled faintly, then yawned. “Gosh, I’m so tired,” she said, leaning her head against my shoulder.

  “You should rest,” Nick said. “We still have a long journey ahead of us, and you should get as much sleep as you can.”

  Val closed her eyes, as if drifting off to sleep.

  I closed mine too, but I knew that my racing mind wasn’t going to let me doze off anytime soon. Apart from the tiny detour through the grocery store, we drove without a break for most of the night. When morning came, we made good time until we ran into a major roadblock…a helicopter had crashed into the ground upside down on a major road. This meant we had to take a different route. We had gotten lost and spent the entire day trying to get back on track.

  ***

  After hours of driving, we finally took a break and parked in the middle of a wide and very shallow river. It was Nick’s brilliant idea and I loved it. The rushing water was shallow enough to keep us from getting our vehicles stuck, but would wash away any zombie who dared to come brave the strong current. Nick and Val were getting to know each other over lunch on the hood of the Jeep. Val scooted to the edge, her bare feet swaying in the air over the trickling water. Nick never had alone time with Val so I headed over to the other Jeep.

  My boots sloshed through the water as I waded through. The sky was a neat shade of blue and a cool breeze blew through my hair. Tahoe was passed out and sprawled across the backseat. Claire sat on a huge boulder nearby and seemed to be in deep thought while Jackie sat on the hood of her red Jeep sipping a bottled water. I loved how the afternoon sun brought out the blonde highlights in her dark hair. A frown creased her forehead and I knew something was on her mind.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked, jumping up next to her on the hood.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking, that’s all.”

  “About what?”

  “I should’ve never hesitated,” she said, setting the bottle down next to her.

  “Hesitated?”

  “I can’t stop thinking about the glass house. The second Earl took Val, I should’ve whipped out my gun and shot him in the arm or leg.”

  I reached for her hand. “Jackie, you can’t blame yourself. You were just handed a gun. And you never held one a day in your life. How could you expect to be some kind of Lara Croft and kick the bad guys butts? Trust me, that will come in time. ’Cause you have mad skills.”

  She playfully slugged me. “Not yet, but I will. You can count on it.”

  “Jackie, you do have skills. You were spectacular when you sprang into action to save our butts. I mean, you didn’t hesitate to shoot out that window back at the grocery store, hit the zombie with the baseball bat, walk straight up to that zombie on the beach and shoot him, and the way you took down that zombie in the dumpster was impressive.”

  “It’s a start. But I need more practice with shooting. I sucked back at the beach.”

  “It was dark and you have absolutely no shooting experience, but it’ll come in time. I sucked when I first started, but I’ve been practicing for a year now. By this time next year, you’ll be slinging down zombies like second nature.”

  “When I watched Val get thrown into that pit of zombies…” Her voice trailed off.

  I cupped her cheek. “It’s okay.”

  She blinked away a tear. “When that happened, I swear something inside of me snapped. I thought my actions just killed this poor girl. I was devastated.”

  “But Val’s okay,” I said. “Everything turned out fine. Dwelling on that horrible memory is just going to eat you up alive.”

  “When I thought she died, it was one of the worst moments of my life. I felt like I was struck by lightning. I knew from that second on, I could never be scared of defending myself or my friends. All of this anger boiled up inside of me, and I swore I was going to take down the next zombie I met.”

  “Uh-huh. So that’s why you grabbed the bat out of my hands and pounded that zombie.”

  “I took out all my frustration and pent-up anger in a few powerful hits. I refused to fear them anymore. Believe it or not, it was a major turning point in my life. I was going to fight to survive. And I would never hesitate shooting anything or anyone that threatens me or my friends lives ever again.”

  “We’ll fight together,” I said.

  Her fingers entwined into my hair and pulled me closer, her green eyes shining bright. I kissed her on the lips…slow, gentle, and romantic. Everything felt perfect.

  “That was nice,” she said. “I’m so glad I met you. Thank you for not wanting to leave me back at that glass house. I know it could’ve been so easy to just drive away without ever looking back.”

  “No, it wouldn’t have been easy. Not easy at all.”

  “Really?”

  “I was hoping not to leave without you,” I said.

  She smiled.

  “And I’m so thankful you didn’t freak out about Val’s bite. You were so cool about it. I mean, you even rode with Val in the same Jeep.”

  “I knew she was still a day or two from turning so I wasn’t worried. But I didn’t expect her to stop at the local grocery store.”

  “Even still, you stood by her. That means so much to me.”

  “I felt like I owed Val. So when she ran off into that grocery store, I didn’t hesitate going in after her. Even though I know she’d never admit to it, she needed my help.”

  “She’s so much like Nick,” I said. “We just met Val for the first time yesterday.”

  “That’s what Claire told me. Nick told her everything. I think it’s an amazing story.”

  “Let’s just hope it has a happy ending.”

  She brushed a stray hair out of my eyes. “It will.”

  I wanted to believe her more than anything.

  “Hey, I also wanted to apologize to you about what happened when we met. I can’t believe I hid in the house with Claire. We should’ve been at your side fighting.”

  “Seeing those zombies for the first time all by yourselves had to be terrifying. I hadn’t seen a zombie since the outbreak a year ago. And when I saw them again, I was…”

  “Shaking?”

  I laughed. “Let’s just say my heart was racing a million miles a minute. We’ve got a lot in common. I was sh
eltered over the last year too. And then—bing, bang, boom!—we’re both thrown into Zombie Land at the exact same time.”

  “Two newbies just trying to survive another day, huh?” she said.

  “Yeah. Why didn’t somebody give us a zombie survival handbook?”

  She laughed. I loved her laugh. We talked some more. Jackie was so easy to talk to and we had so much in common. After a few minutes, I went back to hang out with Val and Nick. Jackie and Claire gave us siblings some space. I think they both knew that we needed to get to know each other by spending time together.

  A growl made me glance up. A zombie with those horrible white eyes broke out of the thick vegetation. The thing that really caught my attention was the axe sticking out of its head. I whipped out my gun, my heart racing.

  “There’s only one,” Nick said, scanning the vegetation around us.

  “I can take on one blindfolded,” Val said.

  I motioned to Val and Nick. “Don’t worry, I got this.”

  “I thought you lost your gun back at that grocery store,” Nick said.

  “I did. But Val got me another one.” I shot her a thankful look and she smiled.

  Val cringed as she stared down the zombie. “Wow, if that dude could feel pain…ouch. I bet he’d have a pounding headache the size of Texas.”

  Just as the zombie stumbled to the water’s edge, it lost its balance and was swept away downstream.

  “Good riddance!” Nick yelled.

  “We better get a move on before more come,” I said.

  “Dean’s right,” Val said. “I planned on stopping for lunch, but not becoming it.”

  Nick motioned over to the girls that we were leaving because it wasn’t safe anymore.

  And once again, we were all back on the road.

  Chapter 16

  I’d driven for hours giving Nick some time to sleep, but then he woke up and we switched. I stared out at the stars in the night sky. This would be my second night out here in Zombie Land. I don’t know when tiredness overwhelmed me, but at some point, my eyelids became so heavy I could no longer fight off sleep. It seemed like I’d only managed to doze off for seconds, minutes at the most, when the horn blew, jolting me. I sat up groggily and looked around, disoriented. “Wh-what’s going on?” I asked Nick. “Is Val okay?” My voice sounded hoarse and slurry, so much so that it took me a second to recognize it as my own.