Dead & Alive Collection #1 [Books 1-6]

by Smith, I. J.

  Jack replied with a smile.

  “Perhaps you should have!” Jack joked.

  “A few weeks ago, you were laying right here, we wondered if you would make it. Then those bikers attacked, tried to take everything, tried to hurt Kat. Then a miracle happened, a man who should be dead, got up and walked over to the bastards hurting the most precious thing in my life and with a single shot, killed the man. At that moment I knew what you were, you do evil things for good reasons. And for that, you became family!” Ray spoke with emotion.

  “Stop it, you’re gonna make me cry,” Jack joked.

  Before Ray could answer Kat approached them.

  “Here, I found this in grandad’s bag and I think it will make you look badass!” Kat said to Jack.

  Jack and Ray looked as Kat held a machete.

  Jack laughed aloud.

  Ray glanced at him, “You’re welcome to it,” Ray told Jack.

  Jack took the machete, at the same time he picked up his other machete. He held both in the air.

  “You look tough with them!” Kat said.

  “The Reaper!” Jack said firmly.

  Kat and Ray glanced at each other with a smile.

  “Reaper?” Kat asked.

  Jack looked up with a smile. “Something a friend called me,” he replied.

  Jack sat there holding both machetes with a big smile on his face.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ATTACK

  For the last few weeks, Jack had travelled with his new friends without any problem. They had hardly seen a soul. Apart from the odd swarm of zombies, their lives were quiet. Jack spent his days healing and exercising himself back to full health.

  The motorhome drove slowly along the road. Ray watched through the driver’s side window, Kat was sitting in the passenger seat and was concentrating on sewing what looked like a brown leather belt with a holder on each side.

  Tommy was preparing dinner; he stood in front of the stove cooking a big pot of beans.

  Ray jolted the motorhome as he looked out the window again. The sun was setting and Ray watched as a shadow rushed through the trees beside their vehicle. Ray was concentrating so hard on the shadow in the trees; he didn’t notice the crashed bus on the road, in front of them.

  “STOP!” Kat shouted.

  Ray slammed on the brakes, everyone shot forward. Tommy screamed in the back, Kat looked back to see him covered in beans, trying not to laugh, but couldn’t help herself after seeing Tommy drenched in them.

  Ray turned off the motorhome and walked outside.

  Jack appeared from the trees, wearing a black t-shirt and black shorts; he had been running along the motorhome training. He stepped onto the road and walked towards the crashed bus.

  “JACK!” Kat shouted.

  Stopping Jack turned to see Kat approaching him holding a brown leather belt, this time with two machetes in the holders.

  She handed it to Jack, “Here, I hope you like it? Kat said with a smile.

  Jack took it from her, strapping it around his waist, and he examined it with a smile.

  “I love it!” Jack said with admiration, moving closer and kissing Kat on the forehead.

  Jack looked up to see Tommy emerge from the motorhome, his was covered in red sauce and beans. Jack tried his hardest not to laugh.

  “You better be careful, I hear zombies love their beans!” Jack joked.

  Ray and Kat both burst out laughing.

  Tommy looked at Jack with a straight face; while holding a cloth in his hand and began cleaning the beans from his clothes, not saying a word. Jack approached him and placed his hand around the back of Tommy’s neck lightly.

  “Hey, I’m only kidding!” Jack whispered to him.

  Tommy looked up at Jack and gave a small smile in return.

  “Jack, you should look at this!” Ray called out.

  Ray stood by the crashed bus; it was half buried into the trees.

  Jack approached slowly; he felt there was something wrong with this situation. He kept looking around; thinking maybe it was just his military instincts kicking in.

  “Look at that!” Ray told Jack, pointing at the side of the bus.

  Jack looked to see small holes in the bus.

  “Bullet holes! Whoever did this was well armed!” Jack muttered to himself.

  Jack knelt down and looked under the bus; he could hear a rustling noise. He looked to see a half-eaten corpse trapped under the wheels, it was trying to reach Jack.

  “JACK!” Kat screamed.

  Jack jumped up; turning to see Kat being held by a young man. Tommy and Ray both had blades held to their throats by women.

  Jack heard steps approaching; he pulled both machetes from his new belt.

  An olive-skinned woman, pointed a gun at his face, Jack swung his machete; knocking the gun from her hand. Another blonde slim woman appeared and pushed a machete towards his throat.

  Jack quickly blocked, and guided his machete to the blonde woman’s neck. The olive-skinned woman attempted to grab Jack, but he quickly held his second machete pointing at her face.

  The blonde woman smiled, “Put them down!” she said slowly to Jack.

  Jack gave his trademark half smile and looked her directly in the eyes and made no reply.

  “We will kill them!” the blonde woman said to him.

  Jack finally spoke, “Go ahead! The moment you hurt them, I will be fucking scalping every one of you!”

  The blonde woman gave him look of respect, as she looked in Jack’s eyes she felt a strength emanating from him, she gave a hint of a smile.

  “LET THEM GO!” the blonde woman told her friends.

  They all looked confused.

  “SARAH!” The olive-skinned woman shouted.

  “IT COULD HAVE BEEN THEM!” She finished.

  Sarah lowered her machete from Jack’s neck, “NO! IT WASN’T THEM!” Sarah replied.

  Jack in return lowered his machete from Sarah’s neck, but continued to hold his other machete pointed at the olive-skinned woman.

  Changing his gaze to Sarah, he looked seriously at her.

  “SHIT!” Sarah said.

  Jack again half smiled as he lowered his second machete.

  The others removed the blades from Ray, Kat and Tommy’s throats.

  Sarah walked over to Ray, “Sorry about that, we were attacked and thought you came to finish us off!” she said in apology to him.

  “What makes you think we didn’t?” Ray asked her.

  Sarah glanced back at Jack, “Him, there is honor is his eyes!” she replied.

  “I’m Ray, this is my granddaughter Kat, and the boy is Tommy,” Ray was saying when he was interrupted by Sarah.

  “He… he’s… covered in beans?” Sarah said while laughing.

  Tommy sighed and climbed back onboard the motorhome.

  Ray smiled, “and that is Jack,” he pointed.

  “I’m Sarah, that beautiful woman over there is Raven. That is Randy, Chris and Jeff. We all travel together,” Sarah told him.

  As Ray was about to shake her hand, Jack appeared.

  “When were you attacked?” Jack quickly asked.

  Raven walked up beside him, “About fours ago, we were parked up. We were scouting for supplies when we heard the attack happen. We rushed back, but the others were gone!” Raven replied.

  “Others?” Ray asked.

  Sarah’s expression changed to one of fear, “Kids mainly, a few adults too!” she replied.

  Ray looked at Jack.

  “Why did you have so many kids?” Jack asked firmly.

  Sarah could see the anger in his face, “We were protecting them, after the Outbreak we moved from camp to camp and our numbers grew. You would be surprised how many orphans are out there!” she relied in anger.

  Jack stepped towards her, “They also make good trade,” he told her.

  Sarah without warning swung and punched Jack in the mouth.

  “FUCK YOU!” She shouted at him.

&nb
sp; “WE HAVE GIVEN EVERYTHING TO PROTECT THEM, WHEN THEIR OWN PARENTS RAN, WE STAYED!” Sarah screamed in anger.

  Jack touched his lip and felt the wetness of blood.

  “You have to forgive Jack, a few months back he met some people who were using kids as slaves and trading them as property.” Ray explained to Sarah.

  Sarah stared in anger ready to hit Jack again, Raven grabbed Sarah’s hand.

  “Calm down,” Raven told her friend.

  Kat stepped forward, “Hey! Jack’s a good guy, a hero!” she said in defense of him.

  “JUST WORDS!” Sarah spoke angrily.

  Ray touched her shoulder, “No they are not! We found him half dead after saving survivors from those evil bastards. He was willing to give his own life to save them and almost did!” he told Sarah.

  Sarah and Jack stared at each other.

  The silence was eerie.

  “Great, now we have two of you to deal with!” Raven said trying to break the silence.

  “I’m sorry!” Sarah said to Jack.

  Jack gave a smile, “You’re not the first woman to hit me, I doubt you will be the last.” he joked.

  Ray took Kat’s hand, “OK! Now maybe we can help you find those kids of yours.” he told everyone.

  Raven quickly joined Ray and Kat and walked away towards the motorhome.

  Sarah and Jack stood alone still staring at each other.

  “You really are going to help us?” Sarah asked.

  Jack gave a half-smile, “Well, I haven’t killed anyone in a while. So yeah, why not?” he replied, trying to make friends.

  Sarah smiled.

  “Come on, bean boy is cooking and if we are going hunting, we need to eat!” Jack said, while walking back towards the motorhome.

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE LOST

  The constant sound of crying children echoed through the large black room. All the children were grouped together in the back, a young woman tried to find her way around the darkness. She held her hands against the cold metal walls.

  “Rain!” a child called out.

  “Sshhh, it’s OK. I will be right back,” Rain replied.

  She continued to walk around the room, the only light appeared through the crack from a large door. Rain kept thinking back to the attack.

  Sarah, Raven, and the others had only been gone an hour. Rain was sitting talking with Todd; they were laughing and joking with each other. They were drawn to each other. Suddenly, the sound of revving engines echoed out, and shots began to hit the side of the bus.

  Rain ran for the driver’s seat and attempted to escape. Todd ordered all the children to stay down; he had a small hand gun as his only weapon. A bullet shattered the back window; Todd ran toward it and began to shoot back at those attacking them.

  Several large vehicles rammed against the bus, forcing it off the road and into the trees. Todd attempted to fight back, but suffered a bullet wound to the stomach. Rain had hit her head on the steering wheel and suffered a deep cut. Before she could do anything, several large men entered the crashed bus and dragged Rain outside. As they threw her to the ground, she looked up in time to see a large tattooed woman kick her in the face.

  The children were dragged off the bus. Todd attempted to fight even though he was wounded, but was dragged out through the back door of the bus. As he fell to the ground the bus suddenly rolled back trapping his foot. He watched as the children were loaded onto the vehicles, a large dark man held a gun to his head.

  “Leave him. The dead will get him for us!” the tattooed woman shouted at him.

  Todd watched as everyone drove away, the screaming of the children horrified him. Suddenly, the vehicles were gone and it went silent; then he heard the rustling in the trees. A half decomposing body of an old lady appeared, Todd looked and simply stopped fighting. He knew it was pointless, his last image was one of the old lady sinking her teeth into his throat.

  Back in the darkness.

  Tears ran down Rain’s face as she thought about Todd, but right now she had to stay strong for the kids.

  Suddenly Rain heard a voice.

  “We need medicine, trade some of the kids with The Roamers for supplies,” a female voice said.

  The doors open, the light blinded Rain and the others, within second three of the children were grabbed and taken away. Rain grabbed a large man by the arm; he grabbed her by the neck in return.

  “Don’t worry sweetie, I will be back for you,” he told her coldly as he pushed her hard against the metal wall.

  The doors shut and the kids gathered around Rain in fear.

  Back at the Motorhome.

  Tommy was cleaning the beans from the floor.

  Raven was talking with Ray.

  Jack was quick to change his shorts; he stood behind a partially pulled curtain. Sarah was sitting with the others, but looked through the gap in the curtain. She looked at his toned muscles, then her attention turned to his scars.

  “Now that’s a man!” she whispered to herself.

  She continued to watch with a smile.

  Suddenly the curtain was pushed fully closed, Saran looked up to see Kat frowning at her.

  “Hey, a girl is allowed to look right?” Sarah joked.

  Kat sat down next to Sarah, “He will not want you!” Kat said firmly.

  Sarah was astonished, yet impressed by Kat.

  “Hey, if you and him are a thing, I can back off!” Sarah said with a joke in her voice.

  Kat stared harshly at Sarah.

  “He has someone already! Elle! He loves her! He is looking for her. Oh yeah, Yuk!! He is like my brother!” Kat said storming away from her.

  Sarah sat with a smile on her face, she could see the crush Kat had on Jack and thought it was cute. As the curtain opened Jack appeared; wearing Jeans and a white shirt, fastening his new belt around his waist.

  “So, we should go look for your kids,” Jack said to Sarah.

  Raven stood up, surprised.

  “You really wanna help us?” she asked.

  Ray stood up beside her, “Yes! We want to help you,” he told her.

  “A few days ago, we passed a town that had a trading post, they called themselves The Roamers. If there is someone else working in the area, they will know,” Jack said to Ray.

  Sarah stood up.

  “You really think they are just going to tell us?” she asked.

  Jack smiled, he licked the small cut on his lip.

  “Who said I’m asking?” he replied.

  Raven turned to Randy, Chris, and Jeff, “You guys stay here and see if you can salvage the bus,” she told them.

  “We should stick together!” Randy replied.

  Raven pushed him towards the door, “Go and get the bus running, we will be back soon!” she ordered him; the three men left the motorhome.

  “Tommy, you wanna drive?” Jack shouted to him.

  Tommy looked angrily at Jack and sighed. The motorhome was soon underway.

  Randy, Chris, and Jeff stood and watched as the motorhome drove away.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ROAMERS

  The roads were packed with abandoned cars. Maneuvering the motorhome around them was a challenge. By the time they approached the trading post, the sun was beginning to set. Tommy was still driving, he was about to switch the headlights on when Ray stopped him.

  “No!”

  Ray gripped Tommy’s hand, “We stay dark until we know what we are going into!”

  Tommy looked concerned; he glanced over his shoulder at Kat who was sitting with Raven.

  Raven and Kat had been talking for most of the journey. Kat was eager to know everything she could about her new friends.

  “So, you guys all came together by accident?” Kat asked.

  Raven gave a beautiful smile, “Yeah, we were lucky. We all found each other,” she replied.

  Kat placed her hand on Ravens knee, “You protect those kids without asking for anything in return, it’s amazing, heroic!�
�

  “Joyce was the hero, she was the one who started it all,” Raven replied.

  Kat frowned, this was the first time she had heard the name.

  “Who is Joyce?”

  Raven’s smile vanished, she looked around the vehicle. She laughed to herself when she saw Sarah and Jack were both asleep.

  “Look at those two, no matter what the world throws at them they keep going,” Raven said, attempting to change the subject.

  Kat took Raven by the hand, “You can tell me. Who is Joyce?” she asked again.

  Raven took a deep breath and turned her gaze back to Kat.

  “Joyce stayed with the kids when everyone else ran off. She protected them, she fed them and she loved them. We travelled together for months from camp to camp, always hoping to find a home, a safe place to protect the kids.” Raven stopped for a moment and looked deep into Kats eyes before continuing. “The last camp we come across people turning on each other, killing each other for the last can of beans. Eventually the camp became overrun by the dead; we lost four kids that night. It was too much for Joyce, she…she...killed herself. She cut her wrists and walked into the night.” Raven finished speaking; tears ran down her face.

  Kat gripped Ravens hand tightly, “We all lose people, and we all face death. We have a choice, give up or get stronger and fight back!” she told a stunned looking Raven.

  Wiping the tears from her face Raven smiled, “That is great advice.”

  Kat smiled in reply, “He taught me that,” she said, while looking over at a sleeping Jack.

  “He’s special!” Raven stated.

  “He’s a survivor!” Kat added.

  “We’re here!” Ray shouted.

  The motorhome approached a large pub, with a large car park surrounded by metal fencing. Tommy drove towards the gate, where two men stood on the other side of the large fence. Jack was awake and, on his feet, “Stay here!” he told everyone as he left the motorhome.

  Jack walked out into the night air, the rattling of the metal fence echoed all around him. He went toward the gate, where the two men stood looking at him. Jack noticed their blood-stained clothes, he looked at the fence and saw the remains of rotting zombies had been tied the top of the fence. Jack continued walking towards the men and raised his hands in the air, his two machetes still strapped to his side.