“Death is here already and whether it comes for me tonight or next week. There is no waiting this shit out sissy. Look around us Park, the dead outnumber us by a helluva lot. The end of days is now, by the looks of it we’re all gonna die in the end anyways. So why prolong the inevitable.” Phoenix sighed into her sisters’ shoulder and left it at that. No more words needed to be spoken.
Phoenix’s words tumbled around in Parker’s mind as they finally pulled into the parking lot of the El Dorado Motel. After four hours of dodging abandoned cars and a few snatching hands from the earths newest and deadliest species, the girls arrived just short of their destination. The cold wind from the night air stung their faces as the sky begin to open and unleashed its fury on those left with a beating heart.
The El Dorado Motel was shady at best but it was shelter from the rain about to be dumped on them. They were only an hour out of Wichita, but the summer nights in Kansas were no joke and that meant they couldn’t be picking where they stayed. Just as long as it was safe. And that was easy, especially with the 9mm tucked into her inner jacket pocket and the switchblade in her boot.
The parking lot was empty sans two trucks. One beat up and rusted out brown two door Chevy, the other looked like it was stolen off the dealer lot across the street. Solid black. No tags, and still had the price written in pink window marker on the windshield. Both parked in front of rooms nine and ten.
A few lights flickered towards the main lobby, where the VACANCY light was a bright beacon, pulling them towards the promise of hot shower and a bed for the night. And maybe even a vending machine with lots of junk food for them to gorge themselves on one last time.
Grabbing her sister’s hand, Parker pulled the 9mm out of her coat with the other and headed for the door. The handle was taped down with neon orange duct tape, stopping the door from locking. Someone was definitely here. Phoenix let go of her sister’s hand and latched onto her jacket. Parker fell into her role as human shield as natural as it was for her to breathe. With the tip of the gun, Parker pushed the door open and waited a breath. All she could hear was the wheezing of Phoenix’s damaged lungs behind her. She shook her head to clear it and moved forward into the reception area.
Brass keys were tossed on the round counter with their room numbers engraved on small, red plastic discs staring up at them. The motel only had fifteen rooms. It was such a small town that they didn’t see that many travelers and this motel was normally used for one thing. Getting laid.
Dear God, let the sheets be clean, Parker thought.
Two keys were missing, nine and ten. Most likely a set of adjoining rooms for whoever’s trucks were outside. Grabbing the set of keys with two and fifteen on them, Parker shifted her sister to the side and said “stay here.” Phoenix nodded and watched her sister move throughout the small lobby looking for supplies.
The echoing sound of boys laughing brought Parker out of the crouch she was in by a mini-fridge hidden under the counter. The laughter grew louder as footsteps were now heard on the shag carpet lining the hallway.
“Whatever bro. That last one shouldn’t even count. Repeats are only that, repeats.” Said one with a deep voice.
“A kill is a kill Rhyce. Doesn’t matter if the process is repeated or not. And who’s to argue with me over my weapon of choice.” Another one said whose voice was even deeper, but held a scratchiness to it.
Parker beckoned her sister to her side. Phoenix didn’t hesitate. Parker grabbed her and pushed her into the corner away from the mouth of the hallway and pressed a finger to her lips signaling her to stay quiet as she positioned herself flat against the main wall. With her finger on the trigger she was ready for anything. This wouldn’t be the first time she had to shoot someone, and it most definitely wouldn’t be the last.
“Fuck Cross, I still can’t get the memory out of my head of you standing there covered in her blood with nothing but the bat in your hand. Do you remember what you said dude?” Rhyce asked his voice lowering as he finished his question. The footsteps stopped, the laughter had died only a moment before.
With a whisper Cross replied “How could I forget? I still can’t get the image out of my brain. It’s burned in there. It’s all I see. And in my defense she was trying to rip my throat out.”
Parker stood still and motioned for Phoenix to get low and do the same. DON’T MOVE. She mouthed to her and turned her head back to two men closing in on them.
“Wait, did you leave the door open again?” Cross asked his friend.
***
Cross
Fuck.
They were almost weaponless having nothing but a bucket of ice and bag full of junk food they looted out of the machines in the back. The twins had already popped the lock on the soda machine and emptied it in one fell swoop. Now here they were in a hallway where the best they could do was use the screwdrivers they used to smash the glass with that they still held tightly in their palms. The two friends looked at each and shrugged their shoulders. It was going to be just like any other day in the apocalypse. Kill or become dinner.
Rhyce looked down to his bucket of ice and then back to Cross with a grin. The bastard was going to zip ice cubes at the enemy. Fucking classic. Why not antagonize the bastards before they could attack? The most the boys could see was three-quarters of the lobby. The main wall and anyone hiding behind it was the only threat to them at the moment. Putting an ice cube between the side of his index finger and his thumb, Rhyce took aim towards the opening by the main wall and pressed down on the ice. Sending it towards its attended target area.
Thwack.
“SON OF A BITCH! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? ICE?” Screamed a blonde petite looking chick as she stalked around the counter and into the lobby pointing a gun at them…with a hand over her right eye.
Oops.
Rhyce dropped the bucket, its contents spilling across the carpet and tumbling towards the girl’s feet. A faint giggle dying on his lips at the sight of a 9mm barrel staring right back at him.
A rasped chuckle drifted from the corner of the room where the blonde was hiding as they heard another female wheeze out, “I bet you didn’t see that one coming…” this other girl seemed to have lost her control on her laughter and bent over at the waist clenching her thighs together. “Oh my God, I’m gonna piss myself!”
Cross looked from the two girls and noticed that only their size was different. They were in every way identical. Please if there is a God in heaven don’t let the moron make dumb twin joke now, Cross silently prayed while tilting his head back and closing his eyes. Best friend or not, his brute of a companion had no filter, nor did he have an off switch.
“Hey Cross, will ya look at that, double-mint twins.”
Don’t do it, please just stop you moron.
“Double the pleasure and double the fun.”
Too late.
“You have my permission to shoot him.” Cross said to the blonde wielding the gun. The smaller of the two came to stand by her sister and gently placed her hand on top of the 9mm nestled in her sister’s right hand. “At least they didn’t try to kill us Parker. It was just ice. Let em’ go. They look harmless anyways.”
“They better be,” Parker mumbled.
Rhyce brought his hands up, palms out in a surrender as he waited for the girl to lower her weapon.
“The place is zombie free. We’ve already checked. We hit up the PIG earlier and cleared it of whatever supplies it had left. You’re welcome to take what you want. I just advised that you don’t try to take the Mountain Dew or Slim-Jim’s. The 'macabre brothers' might not take too kindly to that.” Cross spoke as if it was an everyday meeting with the girls.
The smaller twin tilted her head to side only slightly and asked through a smile “And what if I happen to want a Mountain Dew and a Slim-Jim?”
“It’s your funeral. We’ve already witnessed them going through withdrawals once. It wasn’t pretty. Not sure we’re up for it so soon after they danced back to their room like they just wo
n the fuckin’ lottery.” Cross chuckled.
“Best not test fate then. I’m Phoenix by the way, and this tiny powerhouse is my sister Parker.”
“Tiny, I’ll show you tiny.” Parker huffed as she clicked the safety back before returning the gun to its place and kicking the ice at her feet.
“I’m Cross and this idiot is Rhyce.”
A chin lift was they were going to get from Parker. No need to encroach on their personal space more than the ice had.
“We don’t want any trouble. We just need to crash for the night, then we’re gone in the morning,” Parker stated firmly.
Nodding in unison, both boys took to the sides of the hall to let the twins pass as they gestured them towards the back hallway. “Ya’ll have a good night.”
***
Phoenix
“Well sissy, they seemed nice.and kinda cute.”
Parker turned to look at her sister with raised eyebrows, but instead noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to face the intruders just as Phoenix felt her sister still.
“What now?” she whispered.
Parker did a chin lift in the opposite direction signaling that they weren’t alone. The macabre brothers as the one named Cross said were also in the motel, strode in their direction. Clearly distracted by the giant Slim-Jim’s in their hands and each carrying a two-liter bottle of soda by the neck. As if sensing they weren’t alone. The boys lifted their heads to reveal a set of identical features. Twins. What were the odds? Two sets of twins finding each other in a whore motel.
The one on the left waved his jerky bearing right hand in a mock hello. Too distracted to speak. The other’s mouth hang open like a fish, its jaw bobbing up and down fighting for air.
The other two boys came into the opening at that moment and looked beyond amused at the stunned sets of twins in the hallway. Rhyce spoke up first. “Boys. I want you to meet Parker and Phoenix…ladies... The one with the retarded wave is Callen and the other one flapping his jaws is Tren.”
Phoenix couldn’t help but be attracted to the one “with the retarded wave” as Rhyce described. But then again as an identical twin, Tren was just as cute. It was too bad her time was up. Nothing good could come of it anyways. Why start something when you were just going to die sooner rather than later.
Parker turned forward again and turned her around but not before she could wave back causing both boys to lose purchase on the snacks in their hands. The bottles hit the ground at their feet and with the pressure amounted from the fall and impact, the lids shot up in the air spewing its contents all over the boys.
Their faces fully drenched in soda, the twins turned and faced each other and simultaneously whispered “Dibs.”
(June 1, 2015)
Tren rubbed his eyes while standing to his feet. The others had crashed early from the sugar overload, leaving him to stand guard at the end of the deserted hallway. Empty chip bags and discarded Hershey bar wrappers carpeted the window seat he was just sitting on. With a swipe of the hand, he watched the trash float to the ground.
No one would be around to clean up after him. His garbage. It’s what it is. Trash left over from one’s meal. Tren looked out to the deserted parking lot, to the only corpse left behind by those too full from feeding off the rotting flesh still attached to her broken bones. To the garbage they left behind.
His shift was over, it was now Callen's watch. Moving into the room, he grabbed his brother’s foot and gave him a little shake, jarring him out of his sugar coma.
"I'm up. I'm up,” said the sleeping form of Callen spread eagle on the bed. Flipping his body face up Callen yawned huge.
With the length of that yawn, Tren was able to drop both boots to the floor.
Next Callen did a full body stretch, toes pointed straight and his hands reaching for the ceiling. Then the sound of clothes rustling to the ground. Plop. Tren’s decision to bounce on the mattress below him was halted by its shitty springs. Their recoil was a waste as Tren made an oomph sound with his belly flop. Just as quickly he reached beneath him with both hands to cup his groin.
“Should’ve cleared the bottles off first, bro. Then you wouldn’t be holdin’ your nuts in your hands.” Callen said as he retreated to the bathroom to wash the last remnants of sleep away after putting his shoes on.
Callen stared at his brother’s still form from the mirror for only a beat. Then those fucking questions bombarded his mind again, like they always did when he was the only one left awake.
How could they have slept through those first thirty six hours without waking still confused him? How could they not have heard the screams of their parents having their own version of celebrity death match on the floor above them? Or even the neighborhood fighting over the last free meal in their yard; right outside their basement windows?
Something was different. With them. With Cross and Rhyce. With the beautiful creatures sleeping in the room down the hall. Why weren't they infected like everyone else? Why is his generation the only ones left to live out this nightmare?
Whatever it was, only time will tell. But for now, Callen resumed his duties as bodyguard for the night. The storm was still brewing outside. With one minute turning into the next, Callen witnessed red lightning bounce across the sky. It danced along the horizon, illuminating the world just beyond the glass. An erratic heartbeat, Callen thought.
“Nightmarishly beautiful,” whispered the angel against his shoulder. He never heard her door open, her footfalls on the carpet as she tiptoed up behind him. Thing only evidence he wasn’t alone anymore was the hairs on his neck standing in attention at the static electricity humming between them. Her bare feet rubbing against the loose fibers of the carpet plus the lightning outside would make for one hell of shock. The heat at his back wasn’t as hot as he was used to. Being around his brothers’ acclimated him to their body temperature so he wasn’t prepared to still be so cold while standing so close to someone.
Callen jolted as Phoenix ruptured the silence again with her soft voice. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
With a glance over his left shoulder, he replied just as softly, “It’s okay, I’ve gotten used to it. I just have a quicker reaction time now. Fast twitch reflexes stay on full blast.” Callen’s eyes roamed over her face, taking in all that she was. Her soft, fair skin and the shine of her hair was illuminated as the moonlight struggled to break free from its clouded veil. A dark gray, baggy shirt was draped over her tiny frame. Barely reaching her knees. Batman’s insignia laid across her chest, moving ever so gently with each breath she took. Dark brown eyes stared back at him in awe, making him feel like the only guy in the world who was granted permission to gaze at her in this ill enhanced state.
All the while she smiled shyly at his gesture. She’s completely oblivious to how pretty she is. Callen thought as some sappy slow song began to play in his head. The beginning chords of the piano lingering in the distance was all he could hear, besides that of his beating heart. He was always more nervous around those of the opposite sex. More so than the other Junction City Boys. Rejection stings and forever leaves its mark. A mark he was hesitant to endure again at the hands of another beautiful Aphrodite.
“Callen? Are you okay?” Phoenix asked with a tilt of her head. “You look so lost in your thoughts.”
“I am…I mean…I was.”
She giggled at his nervousness while fidgeting with a loose string, dangling from the curtain beside her.
Wait a minute.
How the hell could she tell me and Tren apart? It took Cross and Rhyce months before they were able to see the difference, a mole, on my right cheek. It’s so small and everyone misses it for some reason. Everyone except her.
“How did you know which one I was? I could have been Tren, we do look alike ya know. Identical.” A smirk played across his lips as the word rolled off his tongue.
She shrugged her shoulders almost wanting to keep the secret to herself. “Twin intuition.
For my sister and me the difference is in our size and our eyes are different. Mine are brown and Parker’s are blue.” Phoenix returned her gaze to the window as another flash of lightning was being chased by the impending darkness.
They watched the storm rage its war on the land just beyond the glass in front of them for a while. Lost in the moment, content with nothing but each other’s company. She shifted her feet and readjusted her shoulder while leaning against the windowsill, betraying the statuesque pose she was in. Without thinking, Callen’s hand reached out to her hip and tugged her to him. Her back resting against his chest, his arms draped around her waist. She relaxed into him, as if it was natural and normal for them to be in this position. Together. Intimate.
“I always used to wonder when death would finally come for me…finally take me away from all the bullshit I’ve had to live with. With each breath I take, the struggle for the next gets harder and harder. I never know when the next will be my last.” Phoenix whispered.
Callen tightened his arms around her and pressed his lips to the top of her head. He could feel it before the sound of her lungs finally hit his ears. Wheezing...that shit was an understatement. Rattling was more like it. He wondered how he didn’t hear it earlier.
She was sick. Whatever it was, it was killing her and for her it was happening fast enough. She was clearly done with the life and ready for the next.
“What is it?” He asked before he lost the nerve.
“Cystic Fibrosis.”
Jesus. Of all the fucking things to suffer from, she has to have that!
“I was waiting for a lung transplant when all this started.” A pain filled sigh escaped and she whispered, “My only hope vanished with the wind.” She made a smooth rippled motion with her hand through the air.
Squeezing his eyes shut as all hopes of her having a future in this forsaken world were crushed. “How long?” he asked knowing that it really wouldn’t matter.
Zombies Don't Ride Motorcycles Page 16