by Jill James
In seconds he’d ripped off his own underwear as well as Suz’s. He sat back and dragged his fingers down her thighs. Each sweep of his fingertips closer to her center. She moaned deep in her throat.
“Please,” she begged.
“Not yet,” he said, his fingers tangled in the soft blonde curls between her thighs. One finger slid down her and found her warm and wet and ready.
“Not yet,” he said, sliding down her legs until his face was buried between her thighs. A stroke of his tongue and she was whispering his name.
“Not yet,” he said, his tongue plunging into her hotness, drinking from her, driving her crazy as her thighs tightened on his head.
She climaxed and flooded his taste buds. He licked her as she came again and again and again.
He slid up her body and slammed into her. Her legs wrapped around his hips and her arms wrapped around his neck.
“Now,” he said.
Her screams and his filled the room. It took Paul a moment to realize someone was knocking on the door. Jumping out of bed, he threw the covers over Suz and yanked his pants on. He flung open the door.
“This better be damned important,” he yelled.
“It is Mister Paul,” Dylan stuttered. “Connor says you have to come right away. The government is on the radio and it’s really bad.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Cody, Miranda, and April
Ran’s Journal
Middle of the river, nowhere
Where else would we be?
Spring, 1 AZ (I think)
We’ve been stuck on this sandbar all day. Teddy says we have to wait for high tide to continue our trip. I’m ready to get out and push the damned thing.
Ran laid on the front of the boat in her bra and panties. April lay next to her wearing a matching outfit. It wasn’t like she had remembered to pack a bathing suit for the ZA. The influenza pandemic happened in a February. Most of the stores would remain in that season until the goods fell to dust or were eaten by insects and rodents.
The buzzing of flies was the only sound on the water, except for the occasional jumping fish. Cody and Teddy had caught some earlier and a bucket of catfish waited for dinner.
“I’m so tired of fish,” she complained to April. Her reply was a mumble she couldn’t understand.
She nudged her friend. “It’s your turn to keep watch so I can get my back.”
“Fine,” April said, turning and sitting up. “It’s a waste of tanning time. We haven’t seen or heard anything all day.”
“Doesn’t mean they won’t,” Ran whispered into her arm.
“They won’t what?”
“Shamble up when we aren’t looking, like cockroaches when you turn the light off. Everything’s fine. You turn your light off and poof, scratching noises under the bed.
“Ran, you are so gross sometimes,” April said with a laugh.
The day passed as they alternated watching and tanning. Ran floated in and out of sleep until a thump sounded against the side of the boat and April squealed like a little girl. She sat up to yell at her and heard another thump. In seconds, she whipped on her shirt and jeans. Searching the deck for her shoes, she remembered they were down below.
“Damn,” she muttered as she tightened her belt and pulled her knife out of the sheath.
Like cockroaches, the scrambling sounds multiplied on the side of the boat. She moved to the edge and stared down at zombs trying to pull themselves up through the railing. April opened her mouth as the sound grew, probably for another stupid yell as if she was a six-year-old seeing a spider. Ran leaned over and put her hand over the woman’s mouth.
April nodded and dressed quietly, her eyes enormous in her sun-burned face. Ran shook the random, useless thought out of her head that redheads shouldn’t try to tan. She stilled her breath. The rest of the boat was silent. The others must have heard the sounds as well.
The horde grew, their hands scraping against the side as if they could dig their way in to where the food was, like sucking lobster out of the shell. She racked her brain for a plan, but until they were off the sandbar there was nowhere to go with two helpless babies. Teddy had already told them high tide wouldn’t be until sunset. She gazed at the sun halfway to the horizon. They had hours to go.
A baby’s cry sounded from below decks, followed by a tiny moan
Ran caught her breath. Baby Jed had gone zombie on them again. His moans filled the boat, growing in volume just like baby’s cries did when they didn’t get what they wanted. She watched in horror as the horde moved as a mass of dead flesh toward the back of the vessel. That end was lower, with a swimming platform. She rushed to the rear, her bare feet slapping on the fiberglass deck. Not that it mattered how much sound she made, the skinbags knew they were inside this plastic crate waiting to be eaten.
Footsteps thundered up the stairs from below as she jumped to the lower deck. Seth and Teddy came up, their arms full of guns. Teddy shoved Emily’s crossbow at her and handed a gun to April who’d followed in Ran’s dash to the back of the boat.
“Make every bullet and bolt count. We got more zombies than we got bullets.” Teddy’s deep voice reassured her, even if the words terrified her.
Cody came to her side with a rifle. His comforting warmth leaned against her. “Dudette, it’s going to be loud. Just so you know.”
She braced herself as Cody fired the first shot. It rang in her ear. She ignored the barrage going on as best she could, making every bolt in the crossbow one shot, one kill. If the zombs didn’t float away, she’d have to try to get them later. Bullets weren’t the only thing in short supply.
The shooting petered out as the horde thinned and the ammo grew low. Moans sounded from the riverbank as the undead fell into the river with a splash. Some floated downstream, but a number of them managed to find the sandbar and their boat.
“Why don’t they drown?” April asked as she dug through the knapsack with the ammo. As she found the right caliber she handed it to Teddy, Seth, or Cody.
In between firing, the little baby boy’s moans grew in intensity until they cut off like a faucet turned off. Ran sighed. “I guess he’s okay again.”
Seth ran a hand through his hair. “That was a long one. I keep thinking he might not come back.” The man stared out to the horizon, silent but his concerns loud and clear.
Her heart stuttered a few beats. She’d never seen her friend so unsure of himself. Even when he’d woke up with two missing fingers he’d been more angry than sad, and he’d adapted to his condition pretty well, as far as she could see. But what must it be like to be helpless to help your child? Her father had known. He’d given his life trying to save her from Peters. She turned and stared at her husband. Her husband! The term seemed so new, so shiny, so unexpected. She’d die for him and she knew Cody would do the same. Maybe that’s what it meant to be a parent, only about a thousand times over.
April plopped down on the deck in front of the knapsack. “That’s it, guys. We are out of bullets, unless you see a gun shop around here somewhere.”
Ran let the crossbow fall to her side, empty of bolts. She put a hand up to shade her eyes and looked across the riverbank, up and down the river. A sparkle caught her eye upriver on her left. The boat moved slightly with the push of the zombs and she saw it again. If she squinted, she could just see a roof and some windows over the rise of the riverbank.
She pointed and Cody turned to look. “Out here every house has guns and ammo, lots of guns and ammo. We could swim across and check it out.”
Seth put a hand on her shoulder. “They might want to keep their guns, know what I mean?”
She nodded. “I get it. But if they were there and were the ‘show us your guns’ kind of people, they would already be out here seeing what and who we were shooting at.”
“The girl’s got a point,” Teddy said, nodding.
“I’ll go,” April piped up as she stood and moved to the side of the boat. “I was headed to the Olym
pics before the world decided to end. Eight minutes, ten seconds in the eight hundred meters. I was hoping to shave a few seconds off that and break the record.”
Cody put his arm around Ran and laid a hand on April’s shoulder. “We’ll all go. Safety in numbers, right?”
“Can you swim?” the redhead asked.
He laughed. “Dude, I was swimming in the Pacific Ocean before I could walk.”
Ran smiled and hugged him. “Probably got a surfboard for your first birthday.”
“Whoa, how did you know?” He kissed her on the cheek.
Teddy coughed. “Okay, this is not a day at the swimming pool. We’ll keep them distracted over on this side and you all take that side. Scope it out. If you see anyone or anything, just come back. If we have to, we’ll make these fuckers dead dead with sticks and stones. And don’t take all day, high tide and we can be outta here.”
* * *
“Are we leaving our clothes on?” Cody asked, a blush heating his face.
Ran nodded. “I’d rather have wet clothes than face a welcoming committee in my bra and panties.”
“Okay, let’s do this,” April added as Seth and Teddy went to the far side of the boat and started banging on the railing.
The zombs went into a frenzy, their hands pounding the side and their moans growing louder. More splashes sounded from the far riverbank. Cody looked down and saw the way was clear. He nodded at April and Ran and slid into the water.
His breath caught. He hadn’t expected the springtime water to be that cold. After a few strokes, his body warmed up and he pulled for the side of the river. Listening as best he could with his swimming and the splashes of the others, he heard nothing but the breeze rustling the trees on the riverbank.
His imagination caught hold of the idea of zombies waiting in the shallows. He glared down, but the murky water of the San Joaquin River barely let him see his own hands below the water. He shivered from fear and the chill of the water as his feet struck bottom and he hauled himself up among the weeds.
He wanted to jump up and down to get warm, but he stayed squatting out of view of the house until April and Ran came out of the water and hunkered down beside him.
“Olympics, huh?” He threw back over his shoulder in a whisper to April.
“Hey, it’s been awhile, okay?”
“See anything, Ran?”
His wife slithered up the bank, staying low and moving slowly. She turned slightly and gave him the thumbs-up. He and April pulled themselves to the dirt path and stood beside her.
Ran pointed to the house. “I don’t see anyone. The lower windows are covered with plywood, but the top floor ones are open and there’s a ladder to the roof. They must be using it for the entrance and exit. Don’t think it’s guarded.”
“There’s a garden in the back. It’s green and taken care of looking. Someone must be here,” April added.
“Let’s go in calm,” Cody replied, putting his hands up and moving toward the house in a leisurely stroll.
Ran and April followed behind him.
They neared the door and no one bellowed at them to stop. No one fired a warning shot. Cody shivered as a breeze shot across his soaked shirt and jeans. No sound filled the weed-infested front yard beyond the buzzing of bees and the clicking of insects. A dog barked far off in the distance.
There was a clunking sound from the rear of the house. He headed that way, sliding along the house to the corner. A man stood in the garden with a shovel. As he dug, the shovel hit a rock and thudded. He cursed and bent to pull the rock and toss it over his shoulder.
The rock hit the side of the house and Cody jumped, knocking into Ran. Her shoulder hit the wall with a thump and an ouch.
The man turned and yelled out. “Who’s there?”
Cody caught his breath. Where the man’s eyes should be were two black holes.
“I said who’s there?”
He stepped forward. “Hi. My name’s Cody Taylor. I have two women with me. Miranda and April. We don’t want to cause any trouble. We’re in a boat on the river and we got swarmed with zombies. We’re hoping you have some guns or ammo to spare.”
The man’s hand swept across his face. “Got plenty of guns and ammo and it’s not as if I got any use for them. Name’s Steve Reynolds, by the way.”
April cried out behind him and rushed the man. “Uncle Steve,” she yelled as she grabbed him around the waist and put her head on his chest.
His hand shook as he felt her face and head. “April? Is that you? What did you do with your hair?”
The young woman laughed and cried and hugged him tighter as her shoulders shook. She turned to look at Ran and Cody. “This is my Uncle Steve.” She looked up at the man. “Where’s Aunt Becky?”
The old man seemed to fold in on himself. He flung an arm out past the garden. Even from the corner of the house, Cody could see the white crosses in a row in the dirt. April stared and started crying harder.
“Your aunt and the boys are gone. The flu took them all. At least they didn’t turn,” Steve finished on a whisper.
Cody and Ran came around the corner and moved to April’s side. The girl asked the question he couldn’t seem to phrase right to ask.
“What happened to your eyes?”
He shook his head. “After the flu took my family and most of the folks around here, a few renegades thought they could take what was left. I didn’t have enough of what they wanted, so they took my eyes.”
Ran gasped, tears running down her face. Cody pulled her in close. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but we really could use those guns.”
“Of course,” the man replied. “Come inside. I’ll have you all on your way in no time.”
“Uncle Steve,” April said. “You have to come with us. You can’t stay here all alone.”
Steve led the way into the house. A fire burned in the fireplace and warmed the little house and gave it a little light with the boarded up windows.
Cody shook his head. Of course it was dark; the man wouldn’t know the difference. He moved with the sure knowledge of a long time spent in this own home. The man opened a closet and Ran inhaled with a gasp. He was sure his mouth dropped open. From floor to ceiling stood guns, rifles, and boxes of ammo. He felt like a kid in a candy store, but instead it was a gun store.
He turned to Steve. “We don’t want to leave you empty-handed, sir.”
“It won’t be for long,” he said in a low, sad tone. He pulled up his pant leg.
“Is that a zomb’ bite?” Cody managed to get out. “We didn’t see any around your house.”
“No, it was a dog, a couple of days ago, maybe a week. Hard to tell anymore, the mind is going. I used to be a vet. I know the signs of rabies.”
“Oh, Uncle Steve.” April hugged him and cried into his shoulder.
He patted her back. “Take all the guns. All I need is one with a bullet. Becky died here. The boys died here. I’ll die here.”
April’s crying filled the room. He turned to see Ran with silent tears falling down her face and his vision blurred with wetness.
Steve raised his head and turned toward Cody as if he still had his eyes to see. “Take them. There’s a small raft by the willow tree. All I ask is you take care of April for Ol’ Uncle Steve.”
He reached out and shook the man’s hand. “Of course. Always.”
Ran found two duffel bags on the closet floor and loaded up the guns and boxes of ammo. April hugged Steve as if she’d never let him go.
Cody found a revolver and put one bullet in it and set it on the table. “It’s on the dining-room table, Steve.”
He made several trips but he got everything down to the riverbank. Ran had tried to help, but he’d shook his head and she’d stayed with April. In between trips, he heard April telling Steve what happened to her and her family. He returned from the last load, the closet empty. They couldn’t delay any longer.
“April, we have to go. Our friends on the boat are depending
on us.”
She latched onto her uncle. “I’m not leaving. You all can go on without me.”
Steve pried her fingers from his arm. “Take her. Get her out of here. Good-bye April.”
Cody grabbed her around the waist and pulled her toward the door. Her screams echoed as she fought him like a zombie in a sack. Her nails scratched down his arms and drew blood. Ran walked up to the screaming girl, pulled her fist back, and cold-cocked her. April collapsed in his arms as if she were dead.
A single gunshot rang out from the house. He jumped and swept April into his arms. At the river they got her and the duffel bags onto the small raft. He and Ran swam, pushing the wooden platform in front of them. In moments, the raft thumped against the side of the boat.
April stirred and looked up at him. “I hate you.
Chapter Twenty-six
Jack and Lila
Commander’s Log
Foothills of Mount Diablo
Spring, 1 AZ
A future with Lila and Selena seems possible if only we could find the girl. We only have so many hours in the day and searching and finding nothing is wearing on Lila. The scent of wood smoke is growing. I believe we are getting closer. We have found a small hunter’s blind as our base, but we need food.
“Just one more block,” Jack said. “That old man said Valerie had information on the Sisterhood. He said there’s a store using the bartering system.”
The straps on his backpack cut into his shoulders. With a constant battle of calories consumed and calories burned, soon his pack would weigh more than he did. The army really should have used the zombie apocalypse as a training camp. It was a hundred times rougher than boot camp.