by Jill James
“No more, Miranda.”
His anguish-filled voice penetrated the fog. “It’s over. No more water.”
“Noooo!” Ran slid across the wet deck, falling to her knees in the puddle April was lying in. She grabbed her friend’s arm and shook her.
“You can’t be dead. Not like this. You can’t leave us. We’re all supposed to survive.”
Cody, wet and cool, knelt behind her and put his arms around her chest. His body shook as she realized he was crying. His tears fell on her shoulder, but she could find none of her own. She wanted to. She wanted to very much. Her heart cracked and the pain took her breath away, but no tears came.
April’s skin began to turn gray. Her body twitched. Ran grabbed her hand and squeezed until her fingers ached. Her eyelids opened and her eyes held none of the gorgeous emerald color they’d had. A milky film coated them, stealing any life out of them. A moan built in her throat and rumbled across the deck.
“Do it,” Ran whispered to Michelle.
The woman took her knife out of the sheath and slid it into the creature’s temple. The thing was dead. It wasn’t April. She had already died and left this body.
* * *
Cody knelt behind his quiet wife. Too quiet. He sniffled and wiped a hand across his eyes and his running nose. Why didn’t Ran cry? Sure, April had been a pain, but she’d been their friend.
He hugged her tighter. “It’s okay to cry, honey.”
“I know,” she whispered back, her voice as dry as her eyes.
Ran sat there, not moving, as Teddy and Michelle got April wrapped in a sheet and tied up with rope. Seth and Teddy lifted her to the cushioned seats, and then hefted her higher to let her go in the river.
“Wait,” Ran yelled, jumping up and running to the pilot’s seat. She returned with her journal. She ripped out a page and tore it into tiny pieces. Going forward, she tucked them into the sheet folds.
She leaned down and whispered something he couldn’t catch and hugged the shroud-covered dead. When she stepped back, Teddy and Seth slowly lowered her into the river. The current took her away, turning over several times until he couldn’t tell what was April’s sheet-covered body and what was sunlight blazing on the water.
With a heart-wrenching sob, Ran turned and ran to him, flinging her arms around his waist. She buried her face in his chest and then the tears came.
“I didn’t mean it,” she kept muttering as he got them both down the stairs, away from the others.
“What didn’t you mean?” He wiped the tears off her cheeks and stared at her glistening, deep-brown eyes.
“I didn’t mean to call her a bitch,” Ran said between sobs and hiccups.
He cupped her face and pulled her in for a kiss. “Of course you did.”
“What?” She stared at him like he was crazy.
The boat started to rock and he heard the crack of a sail catching the wind. He detected the subtle up-and-down movement of a boat under way.
He slid back against the wall, pulling Miranda with him. His arm draped around her shoulders and she rested her head against his chest.
“Let me tell you a story about family,” he began. “When I was a kid, my parents took me on a cross-country trip to visit relatives in Ohio. We had a brand-new motorhome and mom wanted to show it off to family. We drove across and everything was fine. We visited the family and it was great. Then...”
“Then—what?”
He smiled as he leaned his cheek against her soft, curly hair. “Then, dude, the parents got the bright idea to have my aunt, uncle, and three cousins come back with us to visit California. The papers said it would hold eight people. They lied. It was bad enough when we were just driving, but about Colorado it broke down. Small town. No parts. We were eight people stuck in an eighteen-foot motorhome, for eight days, sitting at a curb in a teeny, tiny town where the biggest excitement was a new movie at the theater.”
She looked up at him. “That’s smaller than this boat. What happened?”
“What didn’t happen? I love my cousins, but I didn’t want to see them 24/7. We fought. We yelled. Then the adults started in. My aunt called my mother a bitch. Then my mom told her about the time the uncle was drunk and hit on her. My dad and uncle each accused the other of being stupid and breaking the motorhome.”
Ran inhaled deeply. “So after, you never saw them again?”
“Nope,” he said. “The motorhome got fixed. We got to California and had a wonderful visit. Even went to Disneyland. Everyone forgave everyone else and we moved on.”
He put a finger under her chin and looked into her eyes. “That’s what families do. That’s what good families do.”
She started crying again and he wrapped his arms around her. “I was so mean and now I can’t ask for her forgiveness.”
“Whoa,” he said. “Of course you can. In here.” He placed his hand on her chest, over her heart. “She’ll hear you.”
“I love you, Cody Taylor.”
“I love you, Miranda Taylor.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Jack and Lila
Lila’s Notes:
Mount Diablo foothills, I think
Spring, 1 AZ, I’m pretty sure it still is Spring
Jack’s fever has grown all night. I’m out of options. In a lucid moment, Jack said we need antibiotics, anything with a –cillin at the end. Do I stay? Do I go? He’ll die without medicine, but he may die while I’m gone. Do something, even if it’s wrong. That’s what Jack would say.
Her mind finally made up, Lila hefted the lightweight pack onto her shoulders. She’d emptied it of almost everything but the bare essentials. If she had to hike back to town, she wasn’t carting everything they owned.
She laughed. Look at her. Lila Sterling Morales, all her worldly goods on her back, and her only pair of shoes on her feet.
She stared at Jack, lying helpless and sweating through his clothes on a sleeping bag in the hole they’d hunkered down in. She wouldn’t trade where she was right now for all the cedar-lined walk-in closets with thirty-two pairs of Louboutin’s in the world. She may trade anything she owned for drugs for Jack.
Her gaze swept the hole. Nothing was left. She put a loaded revolver in reach for Jack and turned away. Peeking over the edge, the woods were clear. She wiped a hand across her forehead. Looking like another warm day; summer was coming to Northern California.
She took it careful on the footpath, only increasing her pace on the open stretches. She couldn’t help Jack or Selena if she broke an ankle. Lila came to the edge of the trees and peered around a tree. The road was clear. No sounds of cars or people.
She hugged the buildings, all her senses on alert for anything out of place or the moans of the undead. That sound came from time to time, but at a distance. She reached the store and her stomach dropped to her feet. The door stood open, but no line snaked out of the building.
By the time she reached the doorway, the stench overwhelmed her. Pressing the back of her hand to her nose, she pulled her knife and stepped over the threshold. Blood and gore greeted her. The shopkeepers were behind the counter. Or at least, what was left of them. Perhaps it had been too fast or there wasn’t enough left to reanimate. For whatever reason, they weren’t coming back.
She edged around them and her gaze swept the empty shelves in a frenzy. Nothing. No cans. No bags. Nothing sat on the shelves. A whimper escaped her before she could pull it back. She knew of no other place to go. She wasn’t Jack. She couldn’t just ask questions and have people give her answers.
A shadow fell across the doorway. She shifted the knife to her left hand and pulled the gun from her holster. All she saw was black on black until he moved into the store. His black skin melded into the black of his shirt and pants. Sunglasses hid his eyes. He smiled and she blinked. A wide smile brightened up Jack’s entire face and his warm personality would shine through. This man’s smile reminded her of the devil ready to make a trade. He was like something out of a horror nov
el, wanting a piece of her soul.
“Well, what do we have here?” he purred, pushing his glasses down his nose and locking onto her with eyes as black as the rest of him. “Not finding what you’re looking for?”
She kept the gun pointed at him. “I’m looking for drugs.”
He swept his eyes over her. “You do not look like you need drugs, Luscious.”
“They’re for a friend. I’ve got some things to trade for them if you know where I can find some.”
“Perhaps you and I can make a deal. What do you have to trade?”
“I have a couple of guns and a box of ammo.”
He shrugged his shoulders and pushed his glasses back to cover his eyes. She saw herself reflected in their dark lenses. “I have plenty of guns.”
“I have some new shoes and clothing.”
His hand presented himself like a model on a game show. “I’ve got that covered.”
She huffed out a breath. “I’ve got some jewelry. Diamonds, pearls, a few watches. That’s all I’ve got.”
His eyes swept her again and she longed for a shower. “That’s not all you’re got, Sweetness.”
She sighed. Lila would do anything to save Jack, not only so they could rescue Selena but because he was Jack. It always came down to sex, drugs, or money. You just had to find a man’s motivation. Her father had taught her that. She’d never be naïve again, but she wasn’t stupid either.
“Give me the drugs and I’ll give you what you want.”
He moved forward a step. “What if I just take what I want?”
Pulling the trigger, she smiled as the bullet ricocheted off the door frame and the man jumped. “What if you just give me what I want and you get what you want. I think that is more than fair.”
He swept her a bow. “I concede.”
“I assume you have a place and don’t want to just do it here amid the blood.”
“Never let it be said that Silas Black does not know how to treat a lady.” He swept his arm through the doorway.
She shook her head. “No. After you, I insist.” Lila tucked the knife back in the sheath and the gun remained pointed at his chest.
Following him out of the store and down the street took all the willpower she possessed. One part of her wanted to just shoot him in the back and take off. Another part of her, the reasoning part, knew she wouldn’t get the drugs that way.
Two buildings down, he opened a door and went in. Stepping over the threshold, she scanned the area. She stood in an empty warehouse. A light shone in the far corner. As he walked toward it, she noted the heaps of pills and powders set out on folding tables. The only sound their footsteps across the concrete floor.
“Welcome to Wonderland.” He took off his sunglasses and swept his hand over the display. “Old habits die hard. My clientele comes out after dark.”
Her gaze swept the empty warehouse. “Doesn’t an operation of this size have more people?”
“This is a one-man operation. Silas does not share with anyone.” He moved to her side. “Drugs or women. You’ve seen I have what you want.”
“I need antibiotics.”
He pointed to a pile of pill bottles. “I’ve got enough antibiotics to cure infection in half the country. Now, what about your side of the bargain?”
Lila sighed and looked down as she put the gun in the holster. She looked up to see a flash of black coming at her face. The man’s fist plowed into her jaw and lights blazed across her brain. Then it all went dark.
Time passed in blocks. A block of nothingness. A block of light and pain. A block of rest. A block of pain and the coppery scent of blood. A block of dark.
She swam up out of the nothingness. Prying her eyes open, she saw a man pulling up his pants and cinching his belt. His palm slapped her face and brought her pain roaring to life. She groaned as he smiled down at her, leaving the bed. The movement of the mattress brought another groan involuntarily to her lips. Her tongue swept across them and tasted blood.
“You are a fine piece of ass, Gorgeous. I’m going to enjoy having you around.”
He strutted across the warehouse and pulled the door open. Another man stood in the doorway. “Don’t let her leave,” he said as he left. The door closed and locked. The guy outside stood with his back to the door.
She sat up and bit back a groan. Afraid to look, she glanced down her naked body surprised to only find a few bruises and no cuts or blood. Juan had beaten her more on one of his good days. In slow motion, she managed to drag her clothes on and find her backpack in the filthy office, her gun and knife sitting on top of it. The table of drugs beckoned. She was getting out of here and she was getting what she needed. A grimace shot across her face at the musky stench on her skin. She’d more than paid for it.
No sounds came from the door. The large back still filled the doorway. She swept the pill bottles into her backpack and carried it to the broken window beside the bed. Standing on tiptoe, she couldn’t see to the outside. The large iron bed moving for her to stand on was out of the question. Too big. Too noisy.
She looked around. There had to be something. Crates sat under the tables. Grabbing them one at a time, she piled them on top of each other below the window. She shrugged into her backpack and climbed up the stack. It wobbled but held. Her fingertips dug into the rotted window frame.
The broken window looked out over an alleyway and a building across the way. No one guarded the back. She dug into the window frame, but it refused to budge. Pulling herself up, she dragged herself through the window. Glass dug into her side, but she pushed forward.
She fell to the ground, the air knocked out of her. Standing took all her energy. She hobbled to the end of the alley and peeked around the corner. No shouts rang out. The goon guarding the doorway stood just out of sight, only his black shoes showing around the wall.
Turning down any street she found, it took until darkness fell and the Moon rose for her to reach the edge of the woods. No way was she leading Black and his men to an injured Jack. She’d heard nothing but distant moans for hours. Confident she’d eluded Silas Black and managed to not find any skinbags, she stepped into the comforting darkness of the tree-filled foothills. She gazed up to the massive shadow of Mount Diablo. Fires sprang up at the peak.
“Soon, Selena. We’ll find you and take care of you.”
Peace and worry battled within her. Peace Selena could be so close and worry it would be a greater distance to save Selena than the miles between here and there. Her ordeal with the man back in town only added to her dark thoughts of whatever her child had gone through. How could she find the sweet little girl she’d lost if that person didn’t exist anymore? A sob caught in her throat.
She shifted the backpack and marched on. The hoot of an owl sounded along with the chirp of the crickets. She didn’t need to count the chirps per minute to know the temperature was rising and the season was changing. Sweat dripped over her breasts and burned her tender nipples, the salt aggravating the pain. Her jeans chaffed against the battered flesh of her vagina. Her entire body ached as she pulled herself up each hill, resting on each flat space.
Footsteps shambled among the weeds and last year’s dead leaves. The stench reached her before the Moon shone on the pale skin of an undead. She pulled her knife and dispatched it with a stab to the back of the neck. It fell to the ground with a thump. Whipping around, the moans surrounded her. For every one she took down, two more appeared. She stepped back, falling against a tree. A branch was head-level on her right. She slammed the knife into the sheath and grabbed the branch. It took three tries to pull her and the weight of the backpack up the tree. She climbed two more branches and settled herself against the bark of the tree.
Time passed and the horde grew. The moans of those present like a dinner bell to any skinbags nearby. As the Moon passed through the starry sky, she resigned herself to a night among the leaves. She pulled her backpack off and dug around inside until she located the length of nylon rope she’d p
laced in there. Swinging it around, she managed to whip it around the tree and tie herself to the trunk. Her arms went through the straps of the pack and she rested her head on its comforting bulk.
“Jack.”
“Selena.”
“Jack.”
“Selena.”
She whispered the names of those she loved as her eyes closed and the moans of the undead faded away with the pain brought by the living.
Chapter Thirty
Selena
Selena’s diary
The day of the hunt
The town below the mountain
I will never talk of this day.
She sat in the back of the pickup truck, bouncing against the metallic side as the vehicle seemed to hit every bump and rut in the road. Dana stood against a tree, her arms folded against her chest. A frown turned her plain face even uglier.
The girl had been mean to her ever since the hunt had been announced two days ago. This morning her temper had flared hot and she slapped Selena in the face hard enough to knock the smaller girl to the ground.
The leader Belinda had waded in and yanked Dana to her feet. Before Selena could even get up off the ground the woman had the girl’s shirt torn off and was beating her with her belt until Dana was a crying, huddled mass on the ground.
“We are women. Not animals. Not men or boys,” the woman announced to the surrounding crowd of girls. “You will behave like women. Like warriors. We are an army and we will protect each other. There will be no fighting among you.”
Several older girls came forward and took Dana by the hand. One of the girls hugged her and wiped her tears. Belinda snapped her fingers and a girl only slightly larger than Selena stepped forward.
“Cassie, take Selena and get her cleaned up and dressed for the hunt. We leave in an hour.”