Apocalyptic Beginnings Box Set

by M. D. Massey

  “Yup, you and every black-eyed, foul-smellin’, walking-abomination roaming the streets,” Luther agreed with a cold-hearted laugh.

  “How’s about we keep our eyes and ears open, and see what we run into,” Dean stated, hating to push his luck. Dean decided if they didn’t find any signs of Ella, Justin, and Scarlett in Sacramento, he’d head back to Winters and weather out the end of his days like a loyal dog ready to die—in his own neck of the woods. Besides, he might have a message waiting for him at home from his son, Kyle. It was his one hope that kept him going day after day.

  30

  Justin Chen snuck to the flat-roofed house they’d been hiding in the past few weeks, his pack heavy with canned goods. He found himself rushing, not being as careful as usual, excited to tell Ella about his latest find. It had taken him a while to devise a sneaky plan to get Ella off the rooftop for a test run. Try as he might, she absolutely refused to leave. She was so adorably obstinate it drove him insane. Sometimes he worried they’d be stuck there forever. But, early this morning, while scrounging through the remains of the already-raided Best Buy for batteries, he came up with an idea that just might work.

  Justin crept to the side of the stucco, Spanish-style house and tossed a pebble on the rooftop, Ella’s signal to lower the rope ladder he had nailed to the roof. Ella peeped over the edge of the roof. The ladder came flinging down. He had a comical vision of Ella as Rapunzel, trapped in her tower, only fast-forwarded a few centuries, replacing castles and witches with rooftops and zombies. He nimbly climbed up the ladder and then pulled himself over the ledge. He purposely gave Ella one of his best up-to-no-good smirks.

  “What?” Ella asked.

  “Oh, nothing.” He kept smiling, knowing he had to broach the subject carefully.

  “What did you find?” she whispered anxiously, snatching his pack, already going through it.

  “Yuck, not more beans and corn,” she fussed. “Hey, where did you find these?” She held up a handful of Duracell AA battery packages.

  Justin avoided answering until he showed her the CD player he had found the other day. He had hidden it, waiting to find batteries so he could surprise her.

  He came out of the tent waving a Sony Walkman CD player. “Shazam! Now you can fall asleep listening to music,” he announced proudly.

  Ella did okay during the day, but at night, she freaked-out like a feral kitten, jumping at every little noise. All it took was one groaning Z, and she’d wake up screaming. Some nights he didn’t get any sleep at all. So, he’d been super stoked when he had found the portable CD player. But batteries were like super impossible to find these days. This morning, he had decided to chance it and checked out Best Buy for batteries.

  “Awe-some,” she practically sang. “What CDs did you get?”

  “Check it out. Best Buy has tons of CDs—on sale today only,” he quipped.

  “So, what’s the catch?” Ella frowned.

  “Put on your mascara and stuff. We’ve got to get there before they sell out,” Justin teased.

  “Are you cuh-ray-zee or what?” She used “the tone.” The tone, meaning she was close to getting super pissed, depending on what he said next. So, he just didn’t say anything. Ye-ah, living on the rooftop with Ella these past few weeks had been like a crash course on how to deal with women and their wonky hormones and their super illogical ways of thinking.

  “What? You got me a CD player and the batteries—but no CDs?” her tone went up another octave.

  “Mariachi music?” he offered with a questioning look. Careful. This could start an entire afternoon of the silent treatment. He turned his back to pull up the rope ladder, thereby avoiding the evil-eye-glare he was already getting.

  “What kind of music do they have?” Her tone changed.

  “Tons of CDs, like all scattered on the floor.”

  “I get it. You just want me to go zombie hunting. You’re such a scammer.”

  “Whatever, if you don’t want music—”

  Starving, Justin heated a can of Bush’s Baked Beans on the camping stove, pretending not to wait for her to say yes.

  “So, how long would it take to get there?” Ella almost whispered.

  “Twenty minutes or so depending on the traffic.” He smiled.

  She slugged him in the arm. “What traffic?”

  Awesome, she’s not mad, but it was a close one. He was relieved she hadn’t banished him to the corner. Otherwise, he would’ve been stuck spending the rest of the day Z-watching and thumbing through the stack of comic books he had recently confiscated.

  “So, you wanna go tomorrow morning?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Why not now? It’s not even noon yet. The weather’s great—partly cloudy with a slight chance of scattered Zs but no thunder-hordes,” he said casually, sounding as if he didn’t care whether she went or not.

  Ella paced the rooftop while he ignored her and gorged on baked beans.

  “You promise it’s safe out there?” she asked, her voice uneasy.

  “It’s quiet in this part of town. They must be downtown at the Kings’ game,” he said with a smirk. Yes, think it’s working. He secretly gave himself kudos for a job well done. Now, if I can just get her to de-activate one . . .

  They snuck down Bell Avenue as long as they could. Ella had done okay until they saw the first zombie. She froze-up. He carried her to the side of a building while they waited for it to amble down the next street.

  “Really? It was like way over there,” Justin said.

  Justin grabbed her hand, and they continued. As they approached the Arden and Bell intersection, they ducked behind a car pile-up. Justin reconned the streets. The sunlight captured several slow-jerking shadows hovering over the road ahead of them. When Ella saw the shadows, she froze again. They waited. Weird, the streets had been clear earlier. It was like the Zs expected them. It made Justin wonder if Zs could read his mind or maybe not so much read it, but see his thoughts like on a big screen TV or something. Dumb idea.

  “C’mon, already.” He gently shook Ella by the shoulders. “They didn’t see us.” He peeked over a car as if to reassure himself. “Ye-ah, they’re just sort of spasming in the middle of the freakin’ road. I know the back way,” Justin said and pulled out a can of Off Insect Repellant from his pack. “This’ll throw them off our tracks.” He had sprayed them before they left but doused them again to give her more confidence.

  “Rule number four: Yo smell tells,” he said, encouraging her.

  “I thought we weren’t doing the number thing anymore.” Ella’s brows knitted in disapproval. But she didn’t argue, and they headed the back way.

  “Almost there.” Justin pointed to the shopping center next to the Arden Fair Mall. “It’s right there,” he said, feeling her tense up. “Remember, if you get close to one—start swinging.” Too much info. He regretted saying it. Ella just stood there with a vacant expression on her face, scaring the crap out of him.

  “Seriously, you can do this,” Justin said, feeling like a cheerleader.

  She shrugged and nodded. They were about to turn the corner to the back wall of the Best Buy when he heard a repetitive thudding. He put his hand up and mouthed, “Stop.” He peeked around the corner of the building, surprised to look directly into the dead eyes of a green-faced Z.

  “Holy shit,” he gasped. He hadn’t been ready for it mentally, but his crowbar was. He pounded on it until its bloated skull popped open like a giant zit.

  “Ew!” Ella screeched.

  Justin turned around in time to see a look of disgusted-terror on her face—a look he’d never forget. Grabbing her hand, he led her to the Best Buy’s back door.

  “Easy-peasy,” he quipped, except that one had actually surprised him. Sure he had heard it, but he’d thought it was on the other side of the building. He figured his spider senses weren’t as amped as usual because he was too busy worrying about Ella. Dude, stay focused.

  “Look at all these CDs,” he announced, re
lieved they had made it to Best Buy all right. Piles of plastic-packaged items covered the floor as if a rowdy bunch of punks had trashed the store, tossing its entire inventory onto the floor. “Okay, so go through the CDs,” Justin said, making sure the back door was securely closed. “I’ll take point at the front of the store.”

  “Look who I found.” Ella waved a CD in the air.

  He looked over his shoulder and recognized the Lily Allen CD cover. “Cool,” he said, trampling over the plastic-coated floor. Uh, what was that? It kind of sounded like it came from the parking lot. He didn’t see anything from the windows.

  “I like this one too.” She waved another CD in the air. “Wow, I always wanted this CD,” Ella exclaimed.

  At least she was having a good time. He was starting to have second thoughts. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. Justin tiptoed quickly to the store’s back entrance to double-check the outside area. No signs of Zs. He made his way back to the front of the store and stood guard again. Ella’s comments comforted him while he nervously spied through the cracked, spider-webbed windows, frenziedly surveilling the front parking lot.

  “Regina Spektor, and, and, Lenka. And Justin, here’s a Linda Ronstadt CD,” she yelled excitedly.

  He heard it again. “Uh, Ella?” he warned in a tone above a whisper. But she wasn’t listening to him.

  “Didn’t you say you love Linda Ronstadt?” she yelled again.

  “Holy shit!” He dashed to Ella, slipping on the CD-covered floor. “Okay, remember, if you get in a jam, swing your bat like you’re a super-insane baseball batter. Ella, like where’s your bat?”

  “I set it down somewhere.” She shrugged.

  It was his turn to give “the look.”

  “What? You told me to get CDs.” She grimaced.

  “Remember rule number—” He stopped in mid-sentence, her frown reminding him how she hated the Z-COS, which he had so logically written. He heard it again, loud and clear. He had no freaking doubt this time. It was the sound of squealing tires. And from the expression on her face, Ella had heard it too.

  “OMG is that—that?” Ella started to shake.

  “We don’t know that,” he lied.

  He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Ella, Ella, look at me. Do you trust me?”

  Her gorgeous eyelashes fluttered closed and then opened to reveal her terror, but she nodded.

  “Chances are they won’t come in here. I’ll keep watch at the front. You stay back here. It’s safer here,” he said, trying to sound calm.

  Two trucks roared passed the store’s entrance down Arden Way. Paxton and Nate? From what he could see, the blue truck stopped at the intersection and spun 360s like a possessed demon or something. He still had nightmares about Paxton’s Z-truck. Having a graphic imagination sucks. Then, the blue truck raced by again, followed by a black truck. The trucks zipped into the mall’s parking lot. Right next to the Best Buy!

  That’s when Justin saw it. Holy shit, dude. Holy shit! It was the horde of all hordes! Paxton and Nate herded it into the mall’s entrance, which was adjacent to the Best Buy parking lot.

  Justin clasped his hands over his ears tightly, not wanting to hear the gushy sound effects of the zombie-trucks plowing over the horde in a gut-gushing, bone-splintering rampage. “Uh, ye-ah, it’s Paxton and Nate.” He heard their whooping of yee-haws. When the Z-smashing and the ranting finally ceased, Justin and Ella crept out the back door. Why are Paxton and Nate still in Sacramento?

  “What if Scarlett’s with them?” Ella asked in a papery-thin voice. “If she is, you know we have to rescue her.”

  “Like, how?” he quipped, feeling guilty. All he was thinking about was getting the two of them the heck out of there.

  “You got a gun, right?” she said sarcastically.

  “Seriously, you think I can take down Paxton and Nate?” No freakin’ way, man. “WTF, are you out of your freakin’ mind?” Justin spouted.

  “Justin Luke Chen! Don’t you swear at me,” she snapped, hastily making the sign of the cross, and then reached for the jade rosary beads around her neck.

  I knew I’d regret the day I told her my middle name. “Ella, I’m not some action hero. I can’t go out there all willy-nilly and expect to—”

  Ella stood there, hand on hip, foot tapping the floor. “Really, you’re just going to let them do those despicable things to Scarlett? And what about LuLu? She so saved us.”

  Justin shook his head vehemently. “Not gonna happen,” he said, thinking how unreasonable, more like delusional, Ella was most of the time.

  “What if it was me?” Her voice cracked. Tears sparkled down her cheeks. Not the crying thing. He couldn’t stand the crying thing. Ella was sort of right. Scarlett could be in the back cab of the truck. It had looked like a woman with long hair from what he could tell. But if it was LuLu, he really didn’t think she wanted to be saved.

  “Okay, okay, I’m on it.” Justin peered around the corner of the building. “It looks like the Z-smashing rampage is over.”

  “Are they still there?” Ella asked.

  “The trucks are parked next to a restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory. I’m thinking they’re going on a food raid. I’ll try sneaking up from behind them to get a better look.” How he wished he still had that awesome pair of binoculars, but he had lost them in the fire. “Okay, so you wait for me inside—”

  Ella rushed to him. “You can’t leave me here!”

  “Like, what do you want me to do?” he asked exasperatedly. Do this. No—do that. Then he remembered his parents, and he realized that’s what married life was all about. Better get used to it.

  “Look, I can’t scope it out and protect you at the same time,” he managed to say calmly.

  “I’ll stay behind you.” She practiced swinging the bat. “I’m ready now,” she said, the most determined he’d ever seen her.

  “About freakin’ time,” he mumbled.

  “What did you say?” her caps-lock voice on.

  “Oh, nothing, honey.” He smiled a fakey-sweet smile, and she covered her lips with a cute giggle. “Let’s do this!” he said, sounding more heroic than he felt. And, he wondered why he was freaking out more than she was.

  They crept to the side of the building and then from car to car through the Best Buy parking lot toward The Cheesecake Factory restaurant. “Isn’t this where Penny and Bernadette used to work?” he said, completely off the cuff.

  “Oh yeah, The Big Bang Theory. I so miss that show,” she whispered.

  Justin stopped behind a narrow boulevard of ornamental trees. He spotted the trucks and heard two men talking. Then he heard a third man’s voice. But it wasn’t Dean or Luther. They argued about something, not bothering to keep their voices down. Then he heard LuLu. He recognized the raspy voice.

  “Stay here,” Justin whispered. “I’ll sneak to the shopping cart island and scope it out from there.” He crept to a cluster of Best Buy shopping carts strewn about the shopping cart island. It would provide cover if the men weren’t looking for him.

  “You guys can go screw each other. I’m not getting out of the truck. Hell no. I’ll stay right here, fuck you very much,” LuLu said and slammed the truck door.

  Paxton stomped over to the truck’s passenger side. “I told you to get out—” Paxton ordered.

  Paxton yanked LuLu out of the truck by her hair. LuLu responded by slapping Paxton in the face. Justin heard Ella’s gasp.

  “Bitch, you’re gonna pay for that,” Paxton ranted wildly.

  Two other voices joined in the shouting match apparently protesting Paxton’s violent behavior. To Justin’s surprise, Nate wasn’t there. He’d never seen the other two men before. The argument intensified, and Justin used the opportunity to sneak a little closer. For some reason, Ella was tailing him. He motioned her to go back, but she shook her head. He gave up. Unfortunately, one of the trucks partially blocked his view. The truck’s window captured the reflection of the men throwing punches in the air. It
reminded him of his shadow boxing days with his dad.

  Wow. Paxton and a man were still going at it in one heck of a fistfight. A thud caught his attention. The two men kept at it. But, someone was on the ground. Justin backtracked a few steps to get a better view, bumping into Ella.

  A nightmarish scream pierced the air, stopping the fistfight in midair. Holy shit! LuLu? She was on the ground, convulsing. He’d been zooming-in on the fight and had forgotten about the de-activated Z with a major case of the crushed-leg-syndrome lying on the pavement next to the truck. Only it hadn’t been completely de-activated—just temporarily e-mash-i-ated.

  “What the fuck?” the taller of the two guys yelled.

  “Now we don’t—” the other guy started.

  “Tired of that mangy slut anyway. Time to go. We’ll check out the food joint later,” Paxton ordered. The two men hesitated and stared at each other. Paxton drew his gun. “Think you forgot who the bossman is around here,” Paxton hissed, brandishing his gun.

  Paxton strutted over to LuLu convulsing on the pavement. The Z latched onto her arm and wouldn’t let go as if it knew how to chomp but didn’t know how to eat. It kneeled over LuLu’s spasming body with a mouthful of arm, making Justin think of a pit bull with lockjaw. Paxton shoved the gun to the back of the Z’s head. Bang! He shot it point-blank in the head. Its brain exploded in a gory burst of reddish goo. It toppled over onto LuLu. Paxton tossed his head back with a heartless chuckle and hopped in his truck. The two guys stared at each other, and then at LuLu, and then at the de-activated Z.

  “Hey, man, you’re not going to leave her like that. Show her some mercy. After all—” one of the guys shouted.

  “Shut the fuck up. And let it be a friendly reminder. I’m the bossman around here,” Paxton warned.

  The trucks sped off to the Arden Way entrance. Something brushed past Justin. Before he knew it, Ella had grabbed the gun out of his super-cool, cowboy-ish hip holster. Then, without hesitation, Ella shot LuLu in the head—just like that. She stood over LuLu’s quivering body, gun shaking in her hand and collapsed to her knees. “LuLu, I’m so sorry we didn’t save you in time. . .”