by Dia Cole
Unable to help myself, I walked to the end of the driveway. The sight of the horde lumbering down the street stole my breath. There were more than two dozen of them now.
A movement out of my peripheral vision had me spinning around.
Jerry, still shirtless, ambled across his yard with a strange, limping gait.
He must’ve been coming to investigate the gunshots.
I cupped my hands to my mouth and shouted, “Jerry, get back inside your house.”
He canted his head to the right and turned in my direction.
I couldn’t make out his eye color, but the blood streaming down his chest from his tattered neck looked like a crimson scarf in the bright light.
Oh crap. He’s one of them.
My gut churned as he shambled in my direction.
There was a crashing noise. Mrs. Munoz from two doors down stumbled out her front windows. She was saturated in so much blood it looked as if she’d bathed in it.
Seeing me, she lifted her head and made a moaning noise. It was echoed by the two kids who appeared behind her.
Oh, God. Everyone’s turning into monsters.
12
“Lee!” Reed shouted behind me.
Heart beating overtime, I turned and ran up the walkway. I nearly tripped on one of the red plastic cups littering the ground. A hysterical laugh escaped my lips. Just hours ago, my biggest worry was how we’d pay rent and who’d clean up the mess from the party. Now, I needed to figure out how we’d survive the hour.
Reed held the door open for me.
As soon as I darted past him, he slammed it closed and turned the dead bolt.
Like that will keep them out.
I swung my gaze around the room realizing that we had the same floor-to-ceiling windows Mrs. Munoz and her zombie kids had just crashed through. “We need to barricade the glass.”
Reed nodded and headed in the direction of the couch.
“Good thinking,” I said following him.
Eden was digging through the entryway closet.
“What the hell are you doing?” I screamed at her.
She held up an old collar of Sasha’s in her hands. “I need this,” she said buckling the stupid thing around her throat.
“You need to help us or we’ll all die,” I said through gritted teeth. “Go grab the other side of the couch.”
Eden took two steps toward the couch and froze. Her gaze was locked on Cami, still writhing under the weight of the television set.
“Eden.”
She jerked her head up. “What?”
I motioned her over to the couch. “Help us push this over.” She shook her head as if to clear it and hobbled over. Spying Ronnie’s body lying on the floor, she let out a gasp.
I smacked her arm. “Focus.”
The sounds of clicking and moaning were getting louder. The zombies had to be right outside.
“Okay,” she said in a shaky voice.
Between the three of us, we managed to push the couch against the window and flip it over so it blocked most of the glass.
“Do the same thing with the other furniture,” I shouted as hands slammed against the windows.
Reed grabbed the recliner and dragged it over.
Glass shattered.
The barricade won’t hold.
Terror had me choking on my breath.
“They’re coming through,” Eden shrieked, her eyes wild.
We all backed up from the windows.
Bloody arms and legs pushed their way inside.
“Shoot them,” I screamed raising Nero’s gun. “Take one of the guns, Reed.”
Reed shook his head. “I hate guns.”
This wasn’t time for his anti-gun rhetoric. “Reed! You need a weapon.”
He glanced down and picked up the baseball bat. “I got this.”
Eden raised Carlos’s gun and fired on the first zombie who pushed his way past the couch.
It was Jerry.
He kept coming.
“The head. Aim for the head,” shouted Reed.
Eden’s next shot took off the top of Jerry’s skull.
He went down and stayed down.
Mrs. Munoz and her kids stumbled over the couch.
Reed stepped forward with his bat, and then lowered it.
“Reed,” I screamed. The zombies were closing in on him.
“I can’t. They’re kids,” he cried.
“They’re monsters.”
His hands shook. The bat wavered in the air.
“Just get out of the way.” As soon as he moved back to my side, Eden and I unloaded into our neighbor and her ten- and thirteen-year-old boys. The kids were faster and harder to hit than the adults. I emptied the handgun before they finally hit the floor.
I tossed Nero’s gun and drew Duncan’s revolver.
“I’m out of ammo. What do we do?” Eden screamed.
More creatures pushed their way into the room.
I handed her Carlos’s other handgun. “Shoot as many as you can.”
Together we fired on the advancing line of dead.
As soon as one collapsed, another creature seemed to take its place.
All too soon, our ammo ran out.
“Get back,” I shouted, pushing Eden and Reed toward the hallway.
The living room filled with zombies. Some with black veins mottling their faces and skin, others with horrific wounds to their necks and torsos. All clicking their teeth excitedly as their frosted gazes focused in on us.
How can we possibly survive this?
Desperation and sinking despair churned through me. I looked behind us at the bedrooms.
We can hole up in one of the rooms, but how long before the zombies break through? Seconds? Minutes?
The sound of rapid gunfire had me jerking my head around.
“Machine guns,” Reed gasped, a startled expression on his face.
While my mind struggled to process what that might mean, the front door flew open.
A dark-haired giant wearing military fatigues and a tactical vest covered in knives stormed into the house.
Almost as one, the horde of zombies turned toward him.
In movements so quick they barely registered, the man threw a succession of knives at the creatures.
Every single zombie fell to the floor, a knife embedded in their forehead.
“Wow,” Eden said under her breath.
Wow is right.
Not only did he have perfect, deadly aim, the man was gorgeous. The sight of bulging muscles, chiseled cheekbones, and full lips made my heart pound harder.
The man’s dark gaze roamed the room and found us gaping at him from the hallway. “Are you okay?”
In unison, Reed, Eden, and I nodded.
“Have any of you been bitten?”
We all shook our heads.
A tall, dark-skinned woman also decked out in camo prowled into the house. She pointed her assault rifle at the bodies on the floor. Seemingly satisfied there was no threat, she turned to the man. “Sarge, we’ve eliminated the infected outside the house, but more are coming.”
With a grunt, he looked down at her. “The list?”
The female solider reached into her pocket and handed the giant a piece of paper.
He looked at it for a second, then pinned us with his black gaze. “Is Eden Walker or H. Lee Walker here?”
“Yes.” I said, my voice coming out as a squeak. I cleared my throat. “I’m Lee and this is my sister Eden.”
“Good,” He folded the paper and handed it back to the woman. “I’m Sergeant Dominic Rosario with the U.S. Army. I’ve been put in charge of evacuating civilians from the Valley. Lee and Eden, please come with me.”
Hope pulsed to life inside me.
We were being rescued.
We all started forward.
The sergeant held up a hand and pointed at Reed. “Wait, who are you?”
Reed cringed under the soldier’s hard stare. “RRR…eed Marshall,�
�� he stuttered.
The sergeant’s features tightened. “There’s no Reed on the list. You’ll have to stay.”
“He’s not staying here,” I gasped.
The soldier glared in my direction. “My orders are clear, Ms. Walker. Only those on the list come with us.”
I glared at the man with narrowed eyes. “Who came up with this list?”
“Just go,” Reed said, giving me a shaky smile. “I’ll be fine.”
“No, you won’t,” Eden said, tears swimming in her eyes.
Like hell we’ll leave Reed.
I met the sergeant’s scowl with one of my own. “Screw your list. Either Reed comes with us, or we all stay.”
Not that we’ll stay here. We’ll jack the gang members’ ride and get the hell out of town.
The female solider let out a huff of air. “Ungrateful civvies. We should leave ‘em, Sarge.”
The sergeant took a step closer to me. “If you don’t come with me right now, you’ll be dead within twenty-four hours.”
Cobbling together my last bit of strength, I lifted the revolver to show him I was armed. He didn’t need to know I was out of ammo. “I might surprise you.”
His gaze swept over me from my boots to my blood-covered hair. His lips quirked up. “I think you might.”
I straighten my spine, not liking the way my body warmed under his gaze. “Reed is coming with us, okay?”
He sighed and motioned us toward the door. “Fine. Everybody in the jeep.”
Reed flashed me a relived smile and helped Eden make her way to the door.
The adrenaline rush I’d been riding crashed into a brick wall. Feeling dizzy, I stumbled over a corpse on my way out.
The sergeant grabbed me and hauled me against his muscular chest. “Are you always this much trouble, Ms. Walker?”
The heat of his skin sent tiny electric shocks down my body. Gasping for breath, I gazed into his dark eyes.
Something indefinable passed between us.
“Always,” I said, somehow knowing my fate would forever be tied to his.
DID YOU ENJOY HEAVEN BEFORE HELL?
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About the Author
Dia wanted to be a writer from the time she could hold a pencil. A lover of science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, and paranormal romance, she writes action-packed stories featuring kick-butt heroines and the alpha male heroes who fall for them.
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Books By Dia Cole
Heaven Before Hell
Heaven in Hell: Episode One
Heaven in Hell: Episode Two
Heaven in Hell: Episode Three
Heaven in Hell: Episode Four
Heaven in Hell: Box Set (Episodes 1-4)
Lover in Hell - Coming August 2017
Excerpt Heaven in Hell: Episode One
Live by his rules or die by them…
In the wake of the zombie apocalypse, twenty-year-old Lee Walker is desperately trying to keep the last of her family alive. Salvation seems to come in the form of Dominic Rosario, a sexy army sergeant. Despite his questionable motives and brutal tactics, Lee can’t deny the scorching attraction burning between them. When a dangerous mission goes south, Lee must face her growing feelings for Dominic and a terrifying new creature that will hunt them to the grave.
1
The dead woman slammed into the café window. The glass rattled and the brightly colored tinsel hanging over the dusty wood blinds danced in the hazy afternoon light.
It was yet another reminder that the zombie apocalypse had come two weeks before Christmas. Three months later, I was still battling the undead in a town forever festooned in the cheerful trappings of my least favorite holiday.
The woman’s filmy white eyes rolled in her desiccated skull as she tottered back to the sidewalk in heels and a dazzling purple sequined dress. The creature, who I immediately dubbed Ms. Sparkle, lifted her head like a dog sniffing the air and then hurled her body against the glass a second time.
I jolted at the sound of the impact.
The Biter is going to break the glass.
I tightened my fingers around my knife. There was no way the creature could see us crouched down near the cash register, but she could smell us.
Next to me, my friend Reed tensed. Although nineteen, the same age as my younger sister, Eden, and only a year and a half younger than me, his long blond dreadlocks and scruffy beard made him looks years older. “We shouldn’t be here, Lee.”
I nodded, wishing I could ease the lines of strain around his bright blue eyes. I’d do anything to keep both him and my sister safe.
“This is a suicide mission,” he said in a low voice, nodding at the chilling view through the window.
I leaned up far enough that I caught a glimpse of Heritage Square Plaza in the distance behind Ms. Sparkle. There the rotting remains of Saguaro Valley’s finest shuffled around the memorial fountain. The tattered army fatigues, hospital gowns, and Southern Arizona University sweatshirts fluttering against putrid flesh were evidence that the town’s former citizens had been an eclectic mix of retirees, college students, and military families. They almost looked like normal people, until you noticed their heads bent at odd angles as they lurched forward. Some dragged half-torn limbs in their wake.
A chill worked its way down my spine. Although slow, Biters were dangerous in large groups and there were close to a hundred in that horde. “I’m sure Dominic has a good reason for bringing us here,” I said with more conviction than I felt.
Reed gritted his teeth. “It’s probably just one of his stupid tests.”
I couldn’t argue with that. The sergeant in charge of our ragtag group was obsessed with assessing our fighting skills. In addition to daily defensive training, he’d regularly wake us in the middle of the night for mock zombie invasion drills. It was tedious, but I’d play whatever games he wanted to keep Reed and my sister safe. I looked over to where Eden knelt by the display case filled with rotting pastries.
She hadn’t so much as batted an eyelash for the past twenty minutes. Her strange mannequin impersonation was as unsettling as her new look. For some ridiculous reason, she’d recently bleached her brown hair a hideous shade of white-blonde that only served to emphasize her too-pale skin. She’d also been skipping rations to the degree that her pink Have You Hugged a Vegetarian Today T-shirt hung too loosely on her thin frame. And I’d bet my last pair of clean socks that the sunglasses she wore hid dark circles under her eyes.
She shouldn’t be here.
Bang.
Ms. Sparkle hit the glass again.
The sound will draw the others.
The thought made my stomach churn.
Where the hell is Dominic?
I leaned up again so I could peer out the window and scan the street outside.
No stubborn, infuriatingly handsome sergeant in sight.
What if something happened to him?
An invisible band tightened around my heart. I shook my head, rejecting the possibility. The man’s fighting skills were legendary.
He’s fine. More than likely he’s watching to see how we’ll handle ourselves.
The window rattled again, harder this time.
Reed cursed and fumbled with his shotgun. The long sharp combat knife Dominic had secured to the tip of the barrel quivered dangerously in my direction.
I quickly reached out and pushed the weapon away.
“S-sorry,” Reed said with weak smile that didn’t dull the panic in his eyes.
I ground my molars together in frustration.
He does
n’t belong out here.
He’d spent the past three months assigned to food prep at the safe house for good reason.
Damn Dominic for insisting that he and Eden come today.
Neither of them was in any condition to fight.
Bang.
The window cracked.
Fear for Eden and Reed sluiced like ice water through my veins.
I have to do something.
I rubbed a sweaty palm against my jeans. “Reed, can you go check on Eden?”
He gave me a jerky nod and crawled in her direction.
Moving fast so he didn’t realize what was going on, I stood and crossed over to the door. Every step seemed heavier than the last. Going toe-to-toe with a Biter was never something I usually volunteered for, but I had to protect my family.
The bells tied to the handle jingled as I opened the door. I stepped outside and the damp air enveloped me in a clammy embrace. I took a precious second to glance at the rain clouds gathering in the gray sky above.
It never rained this much in the Valley where triple digit temperatures in the spring were more the norm. It was as if Mother Nature got the memo that the world had gone to hell and wanted to come to the party.
Ms. Sparkle turned away from the front window and shambled in my direction. Back when she’d had a heartbeat, she might’ve been an attractive young woman or an elderly bag lady. Her rotting skin made it impossible to know for sure. Her milky white eyes locked on me and she let out a loud moan.
Please don’t let the other zombies hear.
I froze, panicked at the thought of the horde turning in my direction. I tried to push away the anxiety and summon Dominic's training exercises. I settled into a fighting stance and raised my knife.
She was three feet away.
I waited until she was close enough that the perfume of death burned the back of my throat. Then, dodging her skeletal hands, I swung my knife at her head.
Two feet of razor-sharp military-issued steel sliced through her cloudy eye in a stomach-turning squelch.