Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

I stared at a crumbled blue car that was resting upside down. The thing that scared me the most was that I didn’t see one dead person, and I knew there weren’t exactly any clean-up crews or EMTs around—at least not human ones. I didn’t even want to think about where the bodies had gone.

  “What’s going on?” Val asked from the back seat.

  I wrapped my arms around her shoulders to pull her close and pointed ahead of us, explaining the situation.

  Val’s jaw dropped open. Her hands wrapped around my arm, either to support herself from the shock or to keep me in place. Either way, she was distressed.

  “We’ll be okay,” I said.

  Nick swerved around a red sports car and slammed the brakes, tossing us forward.

  I pushed my hand against the driver seat to steady myself and Val, only then noticing the beads of sweat rolling down her face. In the soft glow of the sun, her skin pallor reflected the light. Her grip was more flaccid than before, as though she was losing strength, which she probably was. My heart went out to her. “Could you hit those brakes with a little less vigor?” I asked my brother.

  “Sorry,” he muttered. “It looks like the girls blew a tire. We better go help them.”

  I craned my neck to see what he was talking about. “Pull up closer,” I said.

  Nick shook his head. “I’m not parking on all that glass. You want us to be the next ones to get a flat tire? No way. We’re not moving from this spot. Once we get the girls moving, it’ll free me to swerve around in the grass.”

  “Makes sense,” Lucas said.

  “Stay here,” I whispered to Val, who nodded, wide-eyed. “If you hear or see anything, don’t move. Don’t get out of the car or do anything stupid. You hear me?”

  She nodded again.

  I wasn’t convinced that she’d listen, but taking her word at face value was about all I could do.

  “Hey, Nick,” she called. “Can’t we just have them ride with us? We can all fit in here I’m sure.”

  “And lose a perfectly good vehicle loaded with supplies just because they have a flat tire?” he retorted.

  “He’s right,” Lucas agreed. “We can change it in less than fifteen minutes. It’s no biggy and not worth losing a Jeep.”

  Nick opened the car door to step out, but I tugged at his arm and nodded my chin toward Val. “I still think we should park a little closer to the girls.”

  He narrowed his gaze the way he always did when he was irritated. “Why?”

  “Because she’s not doing so well, and I’d like to keep an eye on her,” I whispered so Val wouldn’t hear me.

  “Park here,” Val said. “I can change that tire in a hurry.”

  “Remember what we talked about? Nick and I got this.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

  She wasn’t doing well at all. The girls’ Jeep was at least fifty feet, maybe a hundred, down the road. Nick wasn’t doing us any favors by stopping so far from where we were heading.

  Val shook her head and tried to squeeze past me.

  I grabbed her around her waist to hold her in place. “Where do you think you’re going?” I hissed.

  “Look at that accident.” She struggled in my grip, but her attempts were feeble. “You’ll need backup. I’ll call this in.”

  Nick shot me a look that warned me our big sis was drifting back into La La Land, and I couldn’t have agreed more. “Val, you’re not at work,” Nick said.

  She flopped back down. “I’m so confused. I can’t even tell what’s real anymore.”

  “Go back to sleep,” I said, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “I’ll take care of things until you’re better.”

  She nodded, her eyes shining unnaturally again. “I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a horrible partner. Just don’t take my gun and badge, okay?”

  It was so sad to see her like that, and I felt like shouting and kicking at something. Instead, I just bit down hard on the inside of my cheek until I thought I drew blood. “Just promise you’ll get some rest.”

  She peered over my shoulder, her gaze clearing a little. “I’ll try. Hey, am I imagining things or is this the dude who arrested me and threw me in that hole back on the island?”

  Lucas’s fingers reached up, as though to touch her cheek. When I shot him a venomous look, he pulled back. He smiled, but his eyes never left her as he spoke, “Yeah, that’d be me, the one and only. But don’t worry. I’m on your team now.”

  Val met my gaze. “Slap the bracelets on that perp!”

  “This is Lucas,” I said patiently. “He’s a friend, not a perp. He’s one of the few friends we’ve got left.”

  She grabbed the collar of Lucas’s shirt. “My mistake. But, hey, will you do me a quick favor?”

  He smiled. “Sure. Just name it.”

  “Tell Claire she’s safe.” She leaned back into the back seat.

  I could see she was overwhelmed with tiredness by the way her brows drew together with a tiny crease forming in between.

  Lucas cocked a brow at me. “What’s she talking about?”

  “I’ve taken her off my hit list,” Val said simply.

  “That’s good.” Lucas nodded.

  She licked her lips, as though she was thirsty. I raised a water bottle to her mouth, but she shrugged it off. “Yeah, it’s good. For her. This might be one fight she couldn’t win.”

  “Why’s that?” Lucas asked, as if humoring her.

  “Because once I change into a zombie, I’ll probably end up bored and determined and particularly hungry. Combine that with the fact that I won’t be very choosy as to what or who I eat and how I get my next meal, and you’ll have a deadly combination.”

  A dark shadow crossed Lucas’s features for a second, but it disappeared quickly, and his easygoing smile was back in place. “You’ll be the first pretty zombie,” he whispered. “I think that makes up for the deadly part.”

  With her confused gaze focused on him, she leaned back into the seat and wrapped her arms around her waist. Her lips moved still, but no words came out.

  Lucas inched closer, until his fingers almost touched her cheek. He shot me a questioning look. When I nodded, giving him permission, he brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and leaned in to whisper something in her ear.

  I strained to listen, but I couldn’t make out his words.

  Val’s fingers clutched his forearm, and her head bobbed once, then again.

  Lucas reached into his backpack and pulled out a mini black bag. Unzipping it, he pulled out a syringe and a vial full of blue liquid.

  “What’re you doing?” I yelled at him, already picturing the worst. Whatever he’d said to her, I could only hope he hadn’t asked her for consent to kill her, or he would have been the next to go.

  “She needs it,” Lucas said.

  Nick pushed me aside, taking charge of the situation, probably fearing what I might do if Lucas didn’t explain himself immediately. “You can’t just whip out a needle and not explain to Dean what it is.”

  “It’s Tyrima,” Lucas said, as though I was supposed to know what he was talking about.

  “What the heck is that?” I asked.

  “It’ll take a few hours to work, but once it kicks in, she’ll feel better. I’d rather give her the last vial than see her suffer.” He met Nick’s gaze. “You cool with that?”

  “Yeah, do it,” my brother said.

  “Nick!” I shot him a glare. “I hope it doesn’t slow down the process because we need her to change into a zombie as soon as possible so we can give her the cure.”

  Lucas fumbled with the equipment while my brother steadied Val, who assured me, “It won’t slow down the zombie transformation one bit, but it’ll help her keep her mind until the very end. It’ll just take a little while to kick in.”

  “It’s safe,” my brother reassured me. “We’ve used it on the front lines to get important information from people going loony from zombie bites or scratches.”

  Nick obviously knew what
he was talking about, and I trusted him. Val was my sister and I hated to see her suffer going through this zombie transition. I slowly nodded my consent, albeit not quite convinced. “Okay, but if something goes wrong, I’ll hold you responsible for it.”

  “I would expect nothing less,” Lucas said, turning to Val. His voice became softer, more soothing. “Hey, like promised, this is going to help you, but you need to trust me. It’s going to keep you from losing your mind. Nick told me about the grocery store incident.”

  Val’s voice came so low that I had to crane my neck to hear her. “I don’t want to put the others in danger. If you can help me keep my mind a little longer, please do whatever it takes.”

  Lucas nodded and gripped the syringe tightly.

  The serum caught the light and shimmered blue. Val’s gaze fell on it, and her face paled like a ghost. For a moment, I thought she might be sick, but instead of showing fear, she broke Nick’s grip and jumped out of the Jeep, yelling, “You touch me with that thing and you’re a dead man.”

  “Val, we’re trying to help you,” I said.

  “I’m going to bite Lucas,” she said. “He’d better watch out because I’m pretty hungry.”

  “No you’re not!” I said.

  “I repeat, suspect is armed and dangerous,” Val said. “All Philly PD units be advised; suspect is armed and dangerous! I need backup immediately.”

  Nick gripped her arms from behind. “Quick! Do it!”

  She let out a long growl a moment before Lucas pierced her skin, injecting her with the serum as she thrashed about, calling him every name in the book. I knew it was a temporary fix, but we had to do what we could to keep Val sane and calm. She was starting to get weird again with all that growling and hissing, just like back at the grocery store. It was for her own good, and I knew if she could think straight, she would’ve agreed with me.

  Val’s eyes fluttered shut as she slumped back into Nick’s arms.

  “Okay, she’s out cold,” Lucas said. “I didn’t know a girl could even talk like that. Where did she learn that kind of language?”

  “She was a police officer back in Philly. Couldn’t you tell from the cop lingo?”

  “I seriously thought she just watched too many cop shows on TV.” Lucas grinned. “If she had her gun, I bet she’d have shot me dead.”

  “Lucky for you, Nick disarmed her earlier,” I said.

  “Did you see the hate in her eyes?” Lucas asked.

  “C’mon, man. She can’t help it. She’s not herself. She’s just mad that you dragged her out of our parents’ house and threw her in jail, and now you just injected her with something.”

  “Yeah, I put her in jail, but I was just following orders!” he said. “And did she forget I helped you get her out? Without me, you wouldn’t have gotten anywhere! She’d be dead right now.”

  Reloading my gun, I smiled. “Yeah, we’ll remind her about that later, but right now, she’s kind of grumpy.”

  Nick rested his rifle on his shoulder. “Yeah, really grumpy.”

  “Zombifying will do that to a girl.” I slipped my weapon into my holster.

  I looked up at the towering pines along the road. The jungle-like ground was covered in a blanket of green ferns and colorful wildflowers. “You guys keep watch, and I’ll change the tire,” I said. A gust of cool morning air brushed through my hair. For a quick second, I considered getting a jacket, but I just wanted to get the heck outta here.

  Lucas nodded and took off after Nick. I watched them with my weapon aimed, making sure I had their backs. Glass and metal crushed beneath their feet, the sound reverberating in the early morning.

  Half the distance in, my brother turned and waited until I had caught up with him, then grabbed my arm. “Just a sec.”

  “What?” I asked, following his line of vision as he scanned the area. As I gazed around myself, it made me think I was living in a dead world of chaos and twisted metal. I wondered what had happened to the drivers and their companions. Are they dead? Turned into lost souls who never asked for that kind of sorry existence? Souls who were never given a choice, just handed a monstrous fate? I stared at an empty baby seat still strapped in the car and tried not to think about what had happened. There was no dried blood, so I hoped that meant the people were able to get away in time. It sure was a different world out there; my brother was right about that. Back home, I’d had no idea how bad it was. Now I was getting a taste of it firsthand. I wondered if the people out there even knew about the safe cites around the U.S. Maybe the government should have a rescue mission to help those who are still stuck out here in this disease-ridden place.

  “All’s clear.” My brother motioned for me to continue, and we reached the Jeep in no time.

  Sure enough, the rear passenger-side tire was flat as a black rubber pancake. I grabbed a jack out of the trunk while Nick fetched the spare. The girls stood at the rear of the car and kept watch. They both offered to help, but I assured them we had it under control. I placed the jack under the side of the Jeep and hooked the crank to it, then started cranking it up.

  “It’s so freaky out here,” Nick said. “What a place to break down. I don’t like it. There’s no visibility.”

  “Me neither.” Thick fog swirled around everywhere, putting my overactive imagination into play.

  “Don’t worry,” Lucas said. “I’m keeping a close eye out. Kind of reminds me of a Stephen King novel though. Remember the one where a thick mist descends from the mountains to cloak the land in fog?”

  Nick chuckled. “Yeah. I saw that movie, and now’s not the time for a recap. Creatures lurking in the mist? They’re real, and they’re called zombies. You can’t scare me with that Stephen King crap. I’ve seen worse than that movie in real life.”

  “You’re not kidding,” Lucas said, nudging me. “Hey, we aren’t scaring you, are we?”

  Their chitchat wasn’t exactly settling my nerves, but I wasn’t going to admit it. I set my jaw and rolled the bad tire out of the way, muttering, “Just keep a lookout, okay?”

  “Sure,” he said. Just as I glanced up at him, Lucas suddenly threw his head back and pointed his gun into the trees. “There’s something up there. See it, Nick?”

  Nick stepped closer and peered into the overgrown vegetation. “Yeah, I think I see it, but I’m not sure what it is.”

  I tilted my head to look at a black patch of shadow in the trees. I had no idea what it was, and frankly, I wasn’t keen on finding out. The mist and eerie silence added to the scary atmosphere and made us feel like we were on pins and needles. “We better hightail it outta here,” I whispered. “If whatever that is gets a good glimpse of us, it might decide it wants to join our little crew—for dinner.”

  “It’s probably nothing,” my brother said, “but let’s hurry up, just in case.”

  I didn’t like the “just in case” part. Rubbing a hand over my face, I let out a breath to calm my nerves, then focused back on the tire.

  “Hey, I got a good look,” Nick said. “It’s only a deer foraging for food so you have nothing to worry about.”

  “Good,” I said, relieved.

  The Jeep door slammed behind us.

  Groaning inwardly, I looked up at Val dashing down the street toward us.

  “What are you doing here?” Nick growled.

  Ignoring him, she wiped her forehead with her sleeve. “I can smell it.” Her nostrils flared as she sniffed the breeze that washed over us, as though to prove her point.

  “Get back in the car, Val,” my brother said. “We got this.”

  “The smell’s getting stronger by the minute,” she said.

  “Okay, I’ll bite,” Lucas said. “What smell?”

  She spun in a slow circle, sniffing the air like a dog. “Death, terror, affliction, torment, horror—”

  “Way to use a thesaurus, Val, but you’re tinkering a little in the dark side there,” Lucas said.

  She met his gaze as the sunlight reflected in her eyes,
giving her an eerie glow. “One of humanity’s greatest fears is the terror of death. You better flee while you can, because the living dead are on their way!”

  Lucas nudged me. “She always so dramatic?” His tone was nonchalant, but I could tell her words were getting to him from the way his gaze scanned the area around us.

  I shrugged. “How much longer before that shot starts working?”

  “Maybe a few hours.”

  I nodded. “Good. The faster, the better.”

  Val walked a few steps closer to the forest. “There’s more than one.”

  “Your sister’s kind of freaking me out,” Claire said, pacing around the Jeep as her gaze scanned the trees around us.

  “She’s hallucinating,” Nick said.

  “I’m keeping a close eye out,” Jackie said. “Just in case she isn’t.”

  Val spun around. Spots of decaying flesh mottled her once perfect skin. Thin flaps of greenish skin peeled from her face. Her bloodshot eyes met mine. “They’re coming,” she hissed.

  I swear she looked like she was possessed. I tried to ignore her and tighten another lug nut.

  Lucas patted me on the shoulder. “Focus, okay? She’s hallucinating. Nothing’s coming.”

  “Lucas is right,” Nick said. “It’s all in her head.”

  “I’m going to call this in,” Val said. “We’ll need backup and medics on the scene as soon as possible. How could anyone have survived such a horrible pileup? Have you checked for survivors?”

  “Let’s get her back in the Jeep,” Nick said.

  She shot him a look. “Bite me.”

  “Please, Val. You need rest,” Nick said gently.

  “No! And why are you looking at me like that? It’s my face, isn’t it? It is! I can’t help the botched-up chemical peel.”

  Nick gently grabbed her arm. “Come on. Let’s get you a bottle of water from the Jeep.”

  She yanked her arm away. “Listen, Sergeant, just because you took my badge and gun, that doesn’t mean I can’t fight as a civilian. They’re coming! Don’t you smell them? I do!”

  Nick ran a hand through his hair, seemingly frustrated.

  “Play by her rules,” I whispered. “It might help.”

  He moistened his lips and nodded, then turned back to her. “As your commanding officer, I order you to get back in the patrol car so we can drive back to the station. I’ll expect a full report.”