Z.E.D.S. Series (Book 2): Z.E.D.S. Wayward Son

by Botts, Bradley

  “You put up one hell of a fight Atlas. I’ll give you that. But I’m smart. When I have to use a gun, I will. So, do you have anything to say before I shoot you,” he asked.

  His nose was covered in blood and his left arm was holding his ribs. This was a man of desperate means.

  “I’ll see you in Hell,” I said with a smile on my face.

  He raised the gun a little higher. My mind adverted to memories of Kiere and Aurora. The first time Aurora wrapped her arms around me in the church. The first time she kissed me. The first time Kiere called me dad. Kiere’s first birthday party we threw her. The first time Aurora and I made love. Logan’s constant smiles toward Farrah. The nights Farrah held me as I had my crippling nightmares. Farrah’s crinkled nose as she smiled at something I said. The kiss she gave me just moments ago. When they say life flashes before your eyes before you die, they don’t lie. Everything I cherished in this world played like a fast movie of my greatest highlights in life.

  “No,” I hear Farrah yell from our side.

  Time stood still.

  Farrah’s legs moved slowly towards him. His head slowly turned towards her as did mine. I felt my boots dig into the ground and mud flew behind me. Farrah’s war scream surrounded me in a dim tone. He began moving his gun in the direction of Farrah, but she didn’t stop running. My legs felt heavy and my boots seemed to be glued to the ground. I stretched my arm towards her but could not reach her. Her arms wrapped around his torso as she leaped towards him. His gun fired before it pointed towards the sky, and he was lifted off of his feet.

  “Farrah,” I yelled as she held onto him disappearing over the cliff side.

  I slid to the edge of Craters Point. Farrah and the guy disappeared into the woods below. I frantically searched for a way down to get to her. I kept screaming her name but got no answer. After long terrifying moments I finally found a rugged pathway and hastily climbed down. I reached the bottom of the cliff and I searched for Farrah. The thick brush and heavy trees created obstacles.

  Finally, I heard heavy breathing close to me. I yelled Farrah’s name again desperately hoping for the sound of her voice responding, but what I heard was just struggled laughter. I pushed the bushes apart and saw the man with blood oozing from his mouth. I stared directly at him as he smiled at me. His gun was resting close to his side. I picked it up and aimed it towards him.

  “You all will die by the hand of Warren Cross. He will send you all to Hell,” he said behind his drowning coughs.

  “If he does then I will find you when I get there,” I said as I cocked back the hammer.

  Frantic breathing appeared close to me. “Farrah!” I looked around and searched through the bushes again. In the distance I saw Farrah searching for breath as she lay on the forest ground. I ran to her and dropped the gun next to me.

  “Oh my God, Farrah. Hang in there,” I said as I reached under her head and began cradling her. “Why did you do that? You should have let him shoot me.”

  Behind her gasps Farrah said, “I’m your guardian angel,” Farrah coughed rapidly. “I always told you I will be there for you. Nothing will happen to you as long as I’m around. I don’t think I’ll be around much longer.”

  “No. You will stay here. Stay with me,” I cried. “You are not dying here today. This is not part of the plan.”

  “This is part of the great plan. No coincidence.” Tears appeared in my eyes and streamed down my face. “You are the greatest love I have ever felt. Atlas, ever since our first night together I knew I was in love with you.” She closed her eyes releasing another stream of tears down her face. She slightly grinned as she said, “Our moments together would have been a show for audiences in a movie theater.” Farrah began coughing up blood. Her breathing became shallow and her eyes weakened. “You are the greatest man I have ever known, and I’m deeply in love with you. Aurora is a lucky woman.” She closed her eyes.

  “Farrah, you have to hold on. We will find help. You can’t die here. Not like this,” I begged to her behind my whimpers.

  “It’s okay Atlas.” She slightly opened her eyes. “This is the way I want to go. You will continue to live because of me. It’s what I was meant to do. Be there when you needed me most,” Farrah assured me as a tear dripped down her cheek.

  “I don’t know if I can make it through this world without you Farrah.” I paused for a moment as the tears began to blind my vision. I closed my eyes tightly, soaking my face with tears. My heart raced with anxiety and my chest tightened as I confessed to her. “I should have told you this a long time ago.” As I looked down at her the words seem to flow out naturally. “I love you Farrah.”

  Farrah tightened her eyes together and her voice became softer. “I wish I could help you through more dark days. Even on the worst and darkest days you didn’t even have to try, you just made mine seem brighter. I love you too Atlas.”

  “I never told you my nightmares. This was them. Losing you and watching you fade. When I would wake up and you were there cradling my head, I knew it was only a dream.” I started to rock back and forth. I began to beg with everything I had. “I just want to wake up and feel you holding me. This is just a nightmare. Wake me up Farrah. Please.”

  Farrah placed her finger to my lips and whispered, “I will always be with you Atlas. I’m your guardian angel. You may not see me, but I will be there.”

  I tried to fight the constant tears from flowing but my eyes wouldn’t allow it. I sobbed more and more uncontrollably. I leaned in closer and gave Farrah our first and last real kiss on her lips. I raised my head and wiped my fallen tear from her cheek softly with my thumb resting her head on my palm.

  Farrah’s gaze focused on something in front of her. “Oh wow. Are you here for me?” I looked towards the direction in which she was staring and saw nothing. “I love your bandana,” Farrah smiled, and she took her last breath.

  “Farrah! Farrah!” I repeated while shaking her. “Oh God no. No, no, no. Not like this.”

  I screamed to the sky in hopes that God could hear me but got no answer. I brought Farrah to my chest and held her tight. Her body was limp, and I prayed it was a nightmare, that somehow, I would wake up from.

  I could hear the man’s faint laugh behind me. Rage ensued over my sadness. I cautiously laid Farrah’s body back on the ground and gripped the gun from the leaves. I walked towards the man and stared at him as he lay on the ground.

  “From the sound of your girlish scream I take it your girlfriend didn’t make it,” the man said behind his cough. “I wish I could have seen her die.” He chuckled behind the blood in his mouth.

  I instantly pointed the gun at him and emptied the clip into his head without a seconds thought. I hoped it would make me feel better or trigger something to stop this whole thing, shake me back into a world where she was still with me. None of that happened. I only became more devastated at the realization that I lost her.

  I carried Farrah’s body up the cliff side and placed her near the edge overlooking the flat country lands. If she was still going to be here, then I wanted her to see the Heaven that was actually here. I went to my bag and retrieved the collapsible shovel to dig her grave. I took two branches and created a wooden cross as her marking. Then I kissed my fingers and placed them on the cross. I sat next to her grave hoping she could hear me as I talked to her.

  “I’m so sorry this happened to you Farrah. If I had just kept walking, instead of wandering into that church, maybe you would still be alive. I am not the guardian of anyone anymore. I am a vengeful spirit on the hunt. I am a mad man with one path. Warren Cross will feel my pain. The last thing he will see in his life will be my cold eyes watching him as he slowly chokes on his own blood. For you Farrah I will send him to Hell, and when I arrive down there, I’m going to watch him burn. You watch over everyone above, and I will end everyone below. I love you Farrah, and I will always carry your memories with me.”

  Chapter 22

  Logan had been missing since the day Fa
rrah’s death. I’m not sure if he was grieving because she was gone, or if he felt the way I did and couldn’t save her in time. He has never been gone from me for more than a day or two, but a couple weeks had come and gone with no sign of him. I searched and yelled for him for days, but with no response I finally just hoped he would randomly appear again.

  The tent kept most of the cold air from surrounding me in the middle of the night. The harsh brisk wind flow forced me to anchor the tent to the ground before falling asleep. I was awakened by the sound of footsteps outside my tent. The abandoned smoke from the campfire seeped through the small torn openings of the tarp. As it resided into my shelter it caused my eyes to react with dry focus and clouded vision.

  I rose from the tent floor rubbing my eyes. Stumbling around I lost my footing over my boots. The zipper to the tent gave away as I fell towards it and landed outside on the grass. The constant stream of profanity exited with my voice after realizing the pain in my foot after stepping on a sharp piece of wood. “Son of a bitch!”

  The constant white haze flooding over everything around me disoriented my focus. I searched around for my bag to find a bottle of water to pour over my eyes. My fingers slid through tall grass and loose dirt. I could hear footsteps coming close to me as I still searched around.

  “Oh, thank God. Logan, can you please help me find my bag? I can’t see a damn thing right now and I need some water to pour over my eyes.” The footsteps continued to get closer to me, but Logan didn’t answer my question. “Logan, man come on. I really need your help. Where have you been anyways? I have looked for you everywhere.”

  A small groan came from the direction of the footsteps. A sudden drop in my stomach appeared and the pulse in my neck radiated. Every inch of hair on my arms awakened.

  “Logan, if you’re messing with me right now, that’s not funny,” I whispered.

  Cautiously lifting my head, I saw a faint outline of a person straggling towards me. The roar from a dry throat surrounded the air. I moved my hands quicker in the grass searching for the tent where my gun and knife were resting. Every embedded rock on the ground tore through my skin. I could hear the footsteps coming closer. I crawled around the grass until my hand skimmed across a firm piece of wood. I clutched it in my hand and stood with trying to focus on the figure coming my way. During my wildly swinging of the thick piece of wood, I heard the wind resistance with it. I kept wishing it were Logan or Logan would just appear.

  “Logan! Please, I really need your help right now!”

  It kept getting closer and closer. My legs began to tighten, my breathing rapidly changed. The shards of bark from the wood wrestled into my skin. The black outline of arms stretched out and a slight limp of a walking figure became broader. “Calm yourself Atlas. Just breathe.” I stepped away from it and took a deep breath. I gripped the bottom of the stick with both hands while attempting to focus on the stranger.

  “1…2…3…”

  The piece of wood didn’t break as it connected to the zombie’s head after my scream and a forceful swing. It held strong as traces of black ooze was forced into the air. Repeatedly I slammed into its skull leaving nothing but fragments of bone and brain. Once the constant groans ceased, I allowed my arms to go limp and the wood to fall to the ground. My heart pounded in my chest and the deep inhales burned as the air filled my lungs. My hand wiped away the beads of sweat that couldn’t be dried by the cold wind. My fingers tingled as my legs quivered. I leaned over to place my hands on my knees to rest.

  A strong grip on my shirt and a surprise pull sent my body into chaos. My feet couldn’t catch a grip to the ground as I was being pulled and a short free fall enveloped me. The blur of a white sky disappeared behind a black shadow, and a pain immersed in my muscles as my body began impacting ground and tree. Short bursts of pain, as I rolled down the cliff side, crowded everything my eyes tried to see. My breath was taken away; my focus was disoriented after a sudden blow from a rock. Every piece of my surrounding was being flipped over and over again.

  A bed of sharp rocks and shallow water halted my fall. The splash sent water into my eyes which cleared the haze, but I could not move. My body was numb and limp. The temperature of the water caused my muscles to seize along with the excruciating pain that was being released. The search for oxygen seemed impossible. The struggle to find a breath caused my head to turn. The thing that pulled me off the hill side was crawling towards me with one arm dragging behind it. The pain in my ribs and head camouflaged the fear, but I remember thinking this is it. I was going to be eaten on this riverbank. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t fight that thing off. I thought I was gone. Behind my beaten breath I called for Logan one last time.

  A dim gunshot echoed from behind me. I saw blood exit from the zombie’s head, and it fell to the gravel bed. The rocks crunched behind me and seconds later a person appeared. A brown hood shadowed their face.

  “Are you okay,” the muffled voice said. “Where’s your friend Logan?”

  They raised their arm from their side and threw back their hood. For a moment I thought I had seen her again. For a moment I thought she had found me. She always promised she would love me and would always be there for me. Before my eyes faded to black, for a moment, I thought I was found. “Aurora.”

  Chapter 23

  “You got too far to lose it all. But in the end, it doesn’t even matter. I had to fall to lose it all.”

  A soft voice soothed my ears as I lay with no vision. A song that usually has rock influence was sung with a harmonious melody. I began to moan to try to get the attention of the woman singing. My lips were closed together by an adhesive. I moaned louder and began moving my arms as they were restricted as well.

  “Oh, sweet dear, don’t start getting fussy. Everything is fine. You’re safe here,” the elderly voice said after putting their hand on my chest. “Let me get all of these herbs off you so you can see and speak to me. If the voice matches the body, you may have to whisper because I can barely control myself just looking at you.” A subtle laugh followed her remark. “You must do a lot of pushups to have that kind of upkeep going on.”

  Slimy residue was left behind with every leaf being peeled off me. My eyes attempted to open behind the gunk that caked my eyelids.

  “I will get the rest of these herbs off you and clean you up with some nice warm water. You will enjoy my easy touch,” she said. “My touch may be a little too gentle because your body became a bit excited during the first bath I gave you.”

  Another giggle exited her voice as she began to clear my eyes. Her grey hair began to shimmer with the light escaping from behind her into the tent. As she cleaned my eyes, her face appeared. She was a seasoned African American woman with few wrinkles underneath her eyes.

  “You can see me now. Don’t let this old face fool you sexy. I may be from the 1950’s era, but I assure you that my body has adapted,” she said with a smile across her face. “How rude of me, I am over here touching you all over and you don’t even know my name. Debra was what my parents from the dinosaur age named me, but you can call me whatever you want.”

  Debra dipped the washcloth into the warm water again and swabbed the rest of the adhesive away. Stretching my jaws and taking in a deep breath through my mouth relieved my strain.

  “Now sweetheart, while you are awake enough to talk, why don’t you tell me where you’re from,” Debra said while cleaning off the residue from my chest.

  “Where am I,” I asked behind a stale voice.

  “You are in the medical wing of our community dear.”

  “What community is that?”

  Debra smiled and answered, “You are in the blessed city of Gamaliel, the guarded safe haven.”

  Gamaliel was a small town that connected Tennessee to Kentucky. I would visit it from time to time when I had a craving for a Cajun Turkey sandwich from the local deli. It wasn’t more than a mile long with only two department stores, two gas stations, a laundromat, two c
hurches, old barbeque restaurant and a single floor set of apartment buildings.

  “Gamaliel? It still exists,” I asked.

  “Oh of course sugar. This place is protected by the angels themselves. No zombie or evil spirit wanders in here. We have been extremely blessed since the beginning of the end. If it wasn’t for the Reverend, we may have had troubles, but with him came a glorious refuge. You will get to meet him soon. He isn’t too bad on the eyes like you, but you have nothing to worry about. You are perhaps the sexiest man to ever be brought to me. I am truly blessed,” she said behind a giggle. “You sound a bit dry in the throat there.”

  Debra gripped another washcloth in a separate bowl and used the water to wet my lips. The tepid water soothed my throat. It eased down to the pit of my stomach and settled softly.

  During the moment of enjoying the slight relief I asked, “Why am I tied up?”

  “You were having some strong fits in your sleep. I’m not sure if it was from the fever or the horrific nightmares, but they seem to be extremely vivid. You took a couple swings at people.”

  “Did I hurt anyone?”

  Debra unlatched the leather belts from my wrists and ankles. “No dear. You were just a bit feisty.”

  I felt the soft silk sheet against my skin and realized I was completely undressed.

  “Where are my clothes,” I asked while situating myself in the bed. I put my arm around my ribs as a searing pain appeared.

  Debra pointed to the chair in the corner. “You are going to need some help with your clothes because your arm won’t be able to rise above your head.” I could feel the thin sheet caressed around my lower body. I gripped the end of the sheet so it would keep me covered. “I will send my aids in here to help you get dressed Atlas. Just make sure I get another sneak peek sometime soon. And don’t wander off too far because I got some questions for you once you’re decent. Who am I kidding? The decency is still there even without your clothes.”