Beautifully Undead | Book 1 | The Chasing of Zombies

by Mortimer, L. C.

  “I’m sorry,” he squirmed, obviously uncomfortable. “It’s just that...it’s just...I mean, we don’t know you. You’re a stranger.”

  “Yeah, because you haven’t given me a fucking chance to tell you anything about myself,” Velvet pointed out. “And it’s not like you’ve asked me anything, either. Is there something you want to know? Because I’d be happy to tell you.”

  “I mean...how do we know that isn’t your kid up there?” Ryan asked.

  “Did you hear her calling me mommy?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Then there you go.”

  “Look, Ry,” Eshe said. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s just go upstairs. Okay? Let’s go upstairs, and we’ll all drink some water, and we’ll have a snack, and then we’ll talk. We’ll find out what we’re going to do next. We’ll figure it all out.”

  “Okay,” Ryan finally said, nodding. “Okay.”

  Chapter 11

  Ryan was such a fucking idiot. Did he even have any sort of clue as to just how dumb he was? That was what Eshe really wanted to know. She knew that he was a good roommate – most of the time – and he usually was pretty good about working hard to be a part of their group, but he was annoying as hell sometimes.

  Part of it was his age. He was still really young, and he was probably emotionally mourning the loss of his childhood. At least, that was what Eshe imagined her mom would have said. Eshe’s mother had been one of the best psychologists in the state, so Eshe had spent much of her youth listening to lectures and presentations on different kinds of childhood trauma. She’d been an adult when her mom passed away, but Ryan had been a child.

  Dealing with the apocalypse in her early 20s had been a nightmare, yes. Ryan’s life had been worse, though. Watching the world burn when you were just 10 years old was going to leave some scars.

  It was part of the reason she tried to be so patient with him. Eshe understood, probably more than anyone else, just how hard it was to find your way. She knew exactly what it took to try to survive when you felt like the world was burning down around you.

  She’d lost everything.

  Then again, they all had.

  Every single person in their group was fighting something. Every single one of them was trying to find a way to survive. Together, they made up this little rag-tag bunch of people who were all equally broken and equally damaged, but they had to make it work.

  If they didn’t, they’d die.

  Once Ryan finally relaxed, the four of them headed upstairs. There were six floors in the apartment building, and even though they’d spread throughout the building to create cozy living quarters and little nooks, they had their official “group” meeting room on the top floor. Eshe didn’t feel like it was the best floor for this because it tended to get pretty hot on warm days since it was just below the roof, but it was easy enough, and they could always go up to the roof if they wanted to feel a nice breeze.

  “This is nice,” Velvet murmured, looking around their meeting room. It was a lobby area on the top floor that had probably been used as a community gathering place long ago. When they’d first moved in, there had been fabric couches that had been covered in dust and mold, as well as a couple of rats that had made themselves comfortable.

  Eshe had led their group in cleaning up. They’d ditched the fabric furniture and scrounged around until they’d gotten wooden furniture they could use. Winchester and Grey had gotten together and actually built a couple of pieces by hand, as well, which meant that there was now a mish-mash of furniture spread throughout the room.

  Velvet stood and looked around at everything. Eshe wondered what she was thinking. She’d said it was nice, but compared to what? Certainly not compared to before. The before-time, for all them, was a lifetime ago. Maybe she meant it was nice compared to wherever she came from.

  “Where are you from?” Eshe asked.

  “Here,” Velvet said, looking over. “At least, I was.”

  “You’re from Fossilwood Grove?” Ambrose asked in disbelief.

  “Yep. Went to college a couple of blocks that way,” Velvet pointed. “When the infection came, I took off. Never looked back until now.”

  “What changed?”

  “I changed,” Velvet said. “I needed something new. I figured if I came to where it all started, maybe I’d find some answers.”

  “What kind of answers?” Ryan asked.

  Velvet looked at him for a moment. Eshe wouldn’t stand up for Ryan if Velvet called him out. He was being abrupt and kind of rude, but Eshe secretly hoped that Velvet would answer. She wanted to know, too.

  What kind of answers was Velvet looking for?

  “The kind of answers none of us will ever find,” she finally said. “The kind of answers that tell me why this whole thing happened or what I’m supposed to do next.”

  Ryan nodded and sat down on a wooden bench.

  “Good luck,” he told her.

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re going to need it.”

  “I know.”

  “Please,” Eshe said, gesturing to Velvet. “Have a seat.”

  Velvet and Ambrose sat down on a wooden bench, and Eshe chose a nearby chair. There was still a little bit of natural light leaking into the room from the surrounding floor-to-ceiling windows, but Eshe leaned forward, lit a candle, and then flicked off her flashlight. They could use a little more light. Maybe they’d find more candles this week and spread them throughout the building.

  Winchester would freak out. He was always worried about Eshe burning the building down, but in her opinion, lighting candles was one of the safest things they could do. It was much safer than, say, walking down the street and fighting a zombie.

  “So,” Eshe looked at Velvet. “Tell us about yourself.”

  “What is this? A job interview?” Velvet raised an eyebrow. She leaned back against the wooden bench. She made it look comfortable, which Eshe knew from personal experience wasn’t actually possible. There was no way that anyone could be comfortable on that particular bench. It was hard wood and unless you put down some sort of cushion, it made your butt sore within seconds.

  Velvet had the most open body language Eshe had seen in a long time. Her legs were slightly spread and her arms were relaxed. They weren’t crossed over her chest, and she didn’t seem scared or afraid in any way.

  How curious.

  Most people that Eshe met were scared shitless of what lurked outside the four walls of the apartment building. They were all constantly worried that something was going to get them, to kill them, so the result was that they did everything they could to stay strong and protective. Self-preservation instincts were the thing that worked better than any weapon at keeping them alive.

  “Not a job interview,” Eshe said.

  “We just like to know who we’re hanging out with,” Ambrose told her.

  “Hanging out? We aren’t exactly hanging out. It’s not like this is a mixer,” Velvet said.

  “A mixer?”

  That was Ryan. His nose scrunched up, and he stared at Velvet in confusion. Velvet only looked at him sadly.

  “You are young, huh? How old were you when it happened?”

  Ryan frowned.

  “Not that young.”

  “A mixer is like a party,” Velvet said gently. “Usually, a lot of people come together and casually eat and chat. There’s usually music and some sort of classy drink, like wine.”

  “Or beer,” Eshe piped up.

  “Or beer.”

  “You’re right,” Ryan rolled his eyes. “This is very different.”

  “Anyway,” Velvet looked back to Eshe. “Like I said, I used to live here. It’s just me now, though. Well, me and my cat.”

  “You have a cat?”

  “I had one,” she muttered. “Up until an hour or two ago. Not sure where the thing is now.”

  “Probably luring zombies over to us,” Ryan said.

  “Dennis wouldn’t do that.”

/>   “Dennis?”

  “The cat.”

  “Ah.”

  The four of them sat in silence for a minute while Eshe thought about what to say next. She wasn’t really used to having visitors, but it was probably time for them to start talking about the kid. After all, that was who had brought them all together, right?

  The child.

  The kid wasn’t from around here. Eshe couldn’t remember the last time there was a kid prowling around the city. It had been a long time. Maybe even years.

  “So,” Eshe said.

  “The kid.”

  “The kid,” she nodded.

  Chapter 12

  “I assume you don’t know her,” Velvet offered.

  “We don’t. Do you?” Ambrose spoke up. Velvet turned to her. Ambrose, like Eshe and Velvet, had dark brown skin and curly hair. Unlike Eshe and Velvet, however, she didn’t look like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. Velvet had a sneaking suspicion that had something to do with the squirrely California-surfer dude sitting across from them. Ryan might have had “beach boy” written all over him, but he seemed to make Ambrose happy.

  “We don’t,” Ryan said. “Why would we know a kid?”

  Velvet bit her tongue. She wanted to say that none of them knew children because they didn’t exist, but she didn’t. Instead, she took a deep breath. One thing she’d basically perfected over the years was the ability to stay calm when her heart was racing.

  It was something she’d had to do in order to stay safe from zombies. If she didn’t want to get attacked, and if she didn’t want to fight, she had to be able to breathe. She had to be able to stay focused.

  She could never lose her focus.

  Losing focus meant dying a fast and painful death, and she had no interest in that.

  None.

  “There aren’t a lot of children in the world,” Velvet finally said.

  “I’ve only seen two,” Eshe offered.

  “The problem is that pregnancy is a lot harder when you’re slowly starving,” Ambrose offered. Everyone turned to look at her.

  “Ambrose’s dad was an obstetrician,” Eshe explained.

  “He was a good one, too.”

  “Ambrose grew up hanging out around his clinic,” Eshe added, “so she knows a lot about pregnancy and childbirth.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever get pregnant,” Velvet smiled at Ambrose.

  “No, don’t!” Ambrose said quickly. “I don’t remember anything.”

  “Ambrose, I’m just joking,” Velvet said quickly. “I’m gay. I’m not getting pregnant ever. You don’t need to worry.”

  “Okay,” Ambrose seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She was really worried about being asked to deliver a baby, wasn’t she?

  “What are we going to do about the kid in the next building?” Velvet asked, turning to Eshe. Eshe was the leader. She was the strong one, the brave one. She was the one that people turned to when they were struggling. It was obvious.

  “What kid?”

  Velvet turned to see two tall, sturdy-looking guys standing in the doorway by the stairs. She hadn’t even heard them coming up the stairs, and she jumped to her feet, scared. Of all of the days to not carry a gun, today was probably the worst one she could have chosen. Velvet didn’t like guns, though, so she made a point not to use them. Still, she couldn’t help but wishing she had a way to properly defend herself in that moment.

  The first guy was tall – definitely over six feet – and muscular. Velvet wondered how the hell he managed to do that after all of these years living in the apocalypse. Did he just chug protein powder? How did he get enough meat to keep building muscle?

  The other guy was slightly shorter, but no less muscular.

  “Woah,” one of the dudes said when he saw Velvet. He looked her up and down, but he didn’t look tense. He didn’t look like he was going to fight. He turned to Eshe. “Friend of yours?”

  “Winchester, Grey, this is Velvet.”

  “Cool name,” the shorter guy said. “I’m Grey.”

  “Uh,” Velvet started to panic slightly. What was she supposed to do? It had been so long since she’d actually met someone in a slightly-formal setting that she couldn’t remember what she was supposed to be doing.

  Should she shake this guy’s hand?

  Fist-bump?

  Instead, she finally settled on giving an awkward little wave.

  “Nice to meet you,” she muttered.

  Winchester looked less friendly. He looked at Eshe.

  “I’d like to repeat my question. What kid?”

  “There’s a kid in a building nearby,” Ryan piped up. “We all heard her.”

  “We went over, but she’s stuck on the top floor. It’s surrounded by zombies,” Velvet explained.

  “Sounds like not our problem,” Winchester pointed out.

  “That’s fair,” Eshe said, standing up. “I won’t ask you to go, but I’m going to go back tomorrow with Velvet.”

  “Just Velvet?”

  “And anyone else who wants to help,” Eshe said. “I’m not okay leaving a kid.”

  “Who the hell has a kid in the apocalypse, anyway?” Winchester shook his head. Velvet watched him. Like her, he seemed a bit cynical. That was important at the end of the world. Nobody benefited from someone having a soft heart. Nobody.

  If you were soft, it meant that you were going to break easily.

  It meant you were going to die easily.

  “It could have been an accident,” Velvet offered.

  Winchester just shook his head. Velvet could tell there was a lot more he wanted to say, but he was holding back. Good. That took a lot of self-control, which meant he was probably a safe person to have around.

  “If you want to come with us, we’re going back in the morning,” Eshe said.

  “What’s your plan?” Grey asked.

  “Kill the zombies and save the kid,” Eshe shrugged.

  “We’ll need to get into the building,” Velvet added. She wasn’t sure how they’d do that. “There was a fire escape on the building, but I’m not sure how sturdy it is.”

  “Probably sturdy enough,” Winchester commented. “You’re pretty small.”

  Velvet didn’t say anything. She didn’t like people commenting on her body. She was small. She knew that. It wasn’t on purpose. It was just that she moved around a lot, and food wasn’t exactly easy to come by. She missed the days when she could pig out on McDonalds with her friends and gorge herself on Sonic sundaes.

  She didn’t need this stranger talking about how small she was.

  “I don’t think size has anything to do with it,” she said.

  “Yeah, Win, it’s not the size that matters. It’s how you use it,” Eshe teased.

  Winchester glared at her.

  “I’m just saying that the two of you shouldn’t have trouble darting up a fire escape.”

  “It’s keeping the zombies off us that I’m concerned about,” Velvet said.

  “Besides, we don’t know what’s happening that the kid can’t get out.”

  “Maybe there’s a zombie inside the building,” Velvet hypothesized.

  “Could be,” Ambrose said. “Maybe she can’t leave that particular room.”

  “There are fire escapes on all sides of the building,” Eshe pointed out, “but only one appears to be safe to use. The other ones are basically falling apart.” This definitely presented a bit of a problem when it came to how they’d access the building.

  “We could take it up and just, I don’t know...fight our way through?” Velvet asked.

  “Fight our way through?”

  “That’s not much of a plan,” Grey pointed out.

  “I don’t care,” Velvet said. “I’ve had a long hard day, and I’m ready to do a little damage.”

  Chapter 13

  She was cool.

  That was Eshe’s impression of Velvet. She was cool, and she was strong. Eshe had noticed the way Velvet b
ristled when Winchester called her small, and she felt bad. Winchester meant she was small compared to him, but then again, everyone was small compared to Win. He was a damn giant.

  Together, they talked about their plan for the next day. Eshe was surprised Ryan and Ambrose both sounded like they wanted to tag along and fight the zombies outside. They, too, were roaring up for a fight. They, too, wanted something to keep them busy and entertained.

  Winchester and Grey weren’t going to come along. Instead, they’d stay at the apartment building and deal with any wandering zombies who made their way to this building. Winchester was all about security, and he was nervous about the idea of letting anything – or anyone – close to their home.

  As the evening wound down, Ambrose and Ryan headed off to their shared apartment for the night. Eshe had made it clear they needed to be careful and safe. She didn’t think expired condoms would be particularly effective, but she kept them around, anyway. Whenever they were pillaging and she spotted a box, she’d grab it and bring it back to Ambrose and Ryan. Just in case.

  Like Velvet, Eshe had no personal concerns about pregnancy, but Ambrose and Ryan needed to watch out. Bringing a baby into this world wasn’t something anyone should be doing. It was just asking for trouble that nobody needed.

  Once they were gone, Grey settled down with Velvet to talk more about cats. Velvet had that cat she liked, Dennis, and Grey was something of an animal-lover himself. The only reason the apartment building wasn’t completely overrun with animals was that Winchester wouldn’t allow it. Grey did whatever Winchester told him to do.

  Eshe got up to get some water, and when she stepped away, Winchester stepped over and placed a hand on her arm. He lowered his voice, whispering to her.

  “Don’t do it,” Winchester looked serious.

  “What?”

  “Don’t make choices to impress her.”

  Eshe shot Winchester a nasty look.

  “Fuck off, Win.”

  “I mean it, Eshe.”

  “And I mean it, too. Fuck off.”

  “Look,” Winchester’s eyes softened. He’d known Eshe a long time. They’d been together for an eternity. Their little group had started off a couple of years ago, and even though there had been other people who had come and gone, their core group stayed the same. “I just think you need to be careful. We don’t know her.”