A scream clawed its way up my throat and the zombie stilled for a fraction of a second with his mouth hanging open before a fountain of blood and mushy zombie innards spewed forth with a pop, coating every inch of me from the neck down.
In shock, I looked up into the face of the zombie, barely noting the long blade poking through his eye inches away from me.
“Are you alright?” Jude pushed the grotesquely bloated body to the side and held out a hand. I grabbed onto it and let him pull me from the pile of muck. “Were you bit?” he asked, searching my face.
I shook my head and glanced around at the bodies strewn all over the place. I felt lightheaded, slowly raising my hands up in front of myself. I looked at the gore and guts coating my arms in a detached sort of fascination.
“We should probably get moving, Melody,” Jude said gently. His chest heaved under his black tee shirt which was now coated in an ungodly amount of zombie juices.
I bobbed my head again, never taking my eyes off of my arms. I turned slowly and glanced back at the mess I was sitting in and realized how very close I’d been to getting killed.
My head began to buzz, and I pitched forward and vomited until my stomach hurt from the pain of it.
Jude rubbed my back the entire time, but I didn’t hear whatever it was he was murmuring. When nothing was left except a headache, Jude helped me to my feet. He held my blade out to me and I muttered my thanks. We both started walking again, glad to put the semi and all its newly redecorated scenery behind us.
“I need to find somewhere to try and get cleaned up,” I said once we were half an hour further down the road.
Jude nodded, glancing at the mess that was caked all over me.
“We should take a short rest anyway. We only have another hour or two before we should start searching for a place to hole up for the night. There’s a small town up an exit that we’ll head for. Hopefully, it won’t be overrun by zombies or any of the violent groups of survivors I’ve run into in the past,” he said. “Let’s stop over there.”
He pointed over to what had once been one of those roadside produce stands.
I picked up my pace to keep up with him. When we were pretty sure it was safe, we walked around to the back of the stand where there was shade and set our backpacks down. The weeds had grown up wildly and untamed, trying to reclaim the place. Small, purple wildflowers grew in a small patch of grass nearby completely out of place in our new world.
“Here,” Jude said.
I glanced up from my intense hand-scrubbing with half a bottle of sanitizer and took a men’s white tank top from Jude with a frown. “Are you sure?”
Jude gave me a look and then jerked the bottle of sanitizer out of my hand.
“Hey!” I protested.
“Take off your shirt,” he ordered.
“Excuse me?” I asked incredulously.
Jude clucked his tongue and sighed. “Listen, that sanitizer isn’t going to help get all that nasty crap off you,” he said. “Take off your shirt and I’ll help you clean off with some water, then you can put on the tank top.”
I shut my mouth and frowned.
“Believe me, Melody, I want you to get clean more than you do. No offense, but you smell like shit.” He held up a hand and shrugged as if he were merely stating facts.
He was right, of course, my own stench was making me want to throw up again. I had to get clean.
“Besides,” he said with a wicked glint in his eye, “it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”
My face flamed, and he chuckled. But I really didn’t have a choice; I needed his help to get even a little clean. I pulled my shirt up, realizing right away that it had pretty much adhered itself to my skin while we were walking.
Great. Just freaking great.
I yanked it roughly away from my skin and then pulled it slowly over my head, trying not to get any dried flakes of zombie guts in my hair.
Jude took a cloth and a bottle of water out of his pack. He poured water over my hands and I rubbed them together and then over my arms. He poured a stream of water on the back and front of my neck and I shivered as he gently washed my neck and shoulder area with the other hand.
His hand was warm and rough with calluses, and I realized I hadn’t been touched by another human like this since my last hug with my dad the day before the plane crash.
I didn’t dare look him in the eyes as he helped me get clean.
I would have probably died in mortification. And yet some part of me wanted to lean into his ministrations to savor the contact. I had no idea how to deal with the conflicting emotions.
When he poured water over my chest, thankfully letting me wash myself there, he shifted away from me a tiny bit. My sad gray bra was thoroughly soaked, but at least it was still wearable for the time being.
Jude held out a small cloth to me silently. I glanced up at him from beneath my lashes and saw a look of longing flash across his face before he caught me looking. The look was quickly replaced by a cool, detached gaze.
I could feel my forehead scrunch up as I pondered Jude’s looks. I bit my lip.
Can he really find me attractive? I wondered.
Heat rose to my cheeks as I let that sink in. I found that I really didn’t mind all that much if he did. In fact, the thought made me somewhat giddy for some reason.
“You know, this could almost be one of my fantasies, if I could just focus on the wet tee shirt contest part of my fantasy, and forget the puddle of zombie guts,” he mentioned casually.
I rolled my eyes, dismissing my thoughts, and dried off the best I could then yanked Jude’s white tank top over my head. It was too big, but it would work. On the plus side it didn’t reek of noxious zombie guts; on the downside, it smelled of Jude.
Welcome to Belmont
We walked several miles until we found an exit leading into a small, Podunk town named Belmont. A quaint and old-fashioned, white wood church was the highlight of the place, and to be honest, it looked kind of creepy sitting abandoned with no living congregation to boast of.
We moved silently through the eerily quiet town, and I couldn’t help but have a flashback to the day I’d done the same when I had made my way back into Light Oak a few days after my dad was killed.
This town felt the same, except it was quieter and there were a ton of decomposing bodies in cars, bodies in the streets, and an overall feeling of entering the twilight zone. I was not feeling very welcome in Belmont.
“Where are all the zombies?” I asked from where we were ducked behind a car parked on the side of a burned-out gas station.
“Are you complaining about not finding any?” Jude asked.
“I think it’s kind of odd we haven’t seen a single walking corpse in the entire town,” I said uneasily.
Jude nodded and then glanced at the sky. “Let’s find a place for the night. We’ll get out of here at first light,” he said.
Sounded good to me. I would be glad to leave Belmont far behind us.
“There,” I said. “That’s where we should stay.” I pointed my finger at the building a little ways down from us and Jude smiled broadly when he saw it.
“It’s perfect,” he agreed. “Let’s go.”
We approached the used bookstore stealthily, waiting for something, anything really, to happen. When nothing did, we found a back entrance and entered the building warily. The place was a mess.
Old blood was smeared across a wall and splattered the old wooden floorboards, but the tiny bookstore was mostly clean, and the windows were already boarded up. It was uninhabited, and more importantly, not likely to be raided by anyone looking to scavenge for supplies.
Half a minute later, I gasped, making Jude tense into a crouch beside me. But then he saw what I saw—a huge, soft brown sofa miraculously not covered in dried organ bits. We both grinned stupidly at each other.
After that, we secured the doors then went to work making the room as fortified and safe as possible before
we settled in for the night. It wasn’t long before the room was too dark to work in. Jude pulled three small candles out of his pack and put them on top of an overturned bookcase close to the ancient looking brown sofa we’d been ecstatic to find in the store.
It’s the little things that cause excitement now.
Jude walked over to the front windows and checked the area for the tenth time through cracks in the boards. We’d pushed a large bookshelf up against the door to be extra careful, but he still checked everything several times more before he came over and plopped down on the sofa next to me.
“I figure we have about six hours of walking ahead of us tomorrow,” Jude said softly. “That’s if we don’t run into any more major problems.”
I unstrapped my gun and set it on the floor close by, along with my backpack and other weapons. I didn’t dare take my boots off.
“Oh, I forgot!” I said, still speaking just above a hushed whisper. I scrambled off the sofa and pulled my treasure out of my backpack. “Look at what I found,” I said with a huge grin, careful not to make too much noise as I held out a hand.
Jude smiled and reached out, taking a can from me. One bottle of water, one can of Coke, and one bag of Skittles.
“Where’d you find this?” he asked.
“In a mini-fridge under the cash register,” I answered.
I popped the top to the Coke and sighed at the familiar whish sound.
Jude stifled a laugh when I moaned after taking a tiny sip. I couldn’t believe it still fizzed after all this time.
Miraculous.
I held it out to him, and he hesitated a second before taking the can from me.
“I don’t have cooties, Agent,” I said sarcastically.
Jude snorted and took a sip of the coke. “Mmm, I miss that,” he said in appreciation.
I grinned and nudged my shoulder into his.
“This is your lucky day. I don’t share my Skittles with just any guy,” I said jokingly.
I handed him all the green and orange Skittles and Jude’s smile grew wicked.
“Glad to hear it, Mel.”
His voice was husky, but I refused to look at him. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was looking at me in a way that would melt my insides. My heart had already leapt in joy at the sound of his voice.
Did I want that? Want to allow someone to come into that closed off space in my heart and life that would be irreparable if shattered by another loss? I wasn’t sure I could put myself out there like that.
At the same time, I wanted so very much to just melt into that puddle of clay and let Jude handle me. I cleared my throat.
We finished sharing the soda and candy in silence. It wasn’t awkward though, it felt companionable, and I was glad to have someone with me in the darkness for once.
Jude shifted and sat forward. “We should probably get some rest,” he said.
I nodded, already yawning behind my hand. “How should we do this?” I asked.
He glanced over at me and winked. I snorted and rolled my eyes, which only made him grin wider.
“I’ll take the floor, you can have the couch,” he said after a moment.
“That hardly seems fair to you,” I remarked.
Jude took one of the throw pillows and situated it just right before laying back on the couch in a half-sitting position. He crooked his finger at me. His eyes were half laughing, half mocking. Jerk. He didn’t think I’d dare.
His eyes widened when I shifted my body and fit myself sideways into the crook of his arm, my head resting on his chest, my arm flung across his waist.
His laugh rumbled his chest, which heated up my cheeks.
Truth be told, I never would have been so bold in my past life. The only thing I had ever been awkward and unsure of was dealing with the opposite sex. Probably why I’d only had a handful of “boyfriends” worth mentioning and nearly zero sexual experience. That one very awkward encounter really couldn’t count.
“You are full of surprises, Melody Carter,” he murmured against the top of my head.
“What about you, Jude? What’s your story?” I asked. “Where were you when all the crap hit the fan?”
Jude shifted beneath me and sighed. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he muttered.
I snorted. “How old are you?”
“I recently turned twenty-five,” he answered.
“Old man,” I joked.
He huffed. “And how old are you, Melody? About twenty-two?” he asked.
“I’ll be nineteen very soon,” I answered.
“Oh shit, you’re just a baby,” he gasped, sounding horrified.
I smiled against his chest. Let him chew on that for a while.
“Sometimes I feel so much older,” I whispered seriously.
Jude’s arm tightened around me. He was quiet for several moments. “I was waiting for my fiancé at the airport the night everything went crazy.”
“I’m sorry,” I said gently.
“It’s okay. Sometimes it seems like so long ago now.” He sighed deeply. “We should get some sleep.”
I nodded. “Goodnight, Jude.”
“Goodnight, Mel.”
My eyelids grew heavy and I was almost immediately lulled to sleep by Jude’s safe embrace, the scent of his sun-warmed skin, and his rhythmic heartbeat. I tried not to melt into him too much, but it was a hopeless endeavor and not one I was too keen on overcoming.
*****
“Melody.”
I groaned and turned over, pulling myself tighter into a ball.
“Melody, we need to get moving.”
Jude’s voice snapped me out of my left oversleep and I sprung from the couch.
“Easy,” he whispered. “Everything’s okay.”
I pushed my hair back out of my face and glanced up at Jude standing next to the couch. He looked . . . different. He had traded his Army pants and tee for a pair of blue jeans and a black tee shirt. He almost looked normal, in a smoking hot sort of way. I blinked and rubbed my eyes.
“Am I dreaming?”
Jude sighed and threw a wad of clothing on my lap. “Get dressed, smart ass. I hope I was right with the sizes,” he said.
I finally noticed what he’d handed me. A pair of jeans, a dark green tee shirt with the Green Lantern insignia on the front, and a . . . bra? I blushed.
Jude raked his hands through his hair. “I thought you might need a new one after getting drenched in zombie juices yesterday, so I went scavenging for us,” he muttered by way of explanation.
His eyes were looking everywhere but at me. He was embarrassed.
How cute.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
He nodded and walked around toward the back of the room. “I’ll wait over here for you.”
I got dressed, more than a little surprised that everything fit me well, including the cute, pale blue bra. I got my backpack and met Jude a moment later.
“You realize once we make it to Charlotte, we will probably die,” Jude mentioned as he turned to me.
My jaw tightened and I looked at him, searching his eyes. “I’m not going to let that happen,” I answered truthfully.
Jude’s eyes sparkled and his mouth turned up in a crooked grin. “I didn’t think you would.” He nodded his head over his shoulder and stepped closer to me. “There’s four undead right outside that we’ll have to go through to get out of here,” he said.
I reached for my knife, but Jude grabbed my hand and pulled me against his chest. I tilted my face up, searching frantically for his eyes. What was wrong?
“Don’t hit me,” he muttered just before his lips crashed down on mine.
I stiffened in shock, but that didn’t last long, not with Jude working wicked black magic on my lips.
I melted into him with a barely suppressed moan, my hand going up to wrap around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. His tongue swiped out, parting my lips to dip inside and show me what being thoroughly kissed real
ly meant.
It was everything I’d imagined it would be.
When he was done, he pulled back slowly, his eyes glazed, both of us breathing hard.
He stepped back and left me standing there in a bit of a daze.
“You ready to kill some zombies?” he asked, after a pregnant pause.
I could feel my face burning and I had no idea where to look.
Zombies?
Sure, what the hell. Get kissed senseless and then take on some undead. All in a normal day. I picked up my knife, hefting its familiar weight in my hand, and felt the anticipation rise.
With that knee weakening kiss still fresh on my mind and on my lips, I cleared my throat. “What do you think?” I asked with a cocky grin, shooing away my awkwardness.
“Let’s do this.” Jude threw the door open and we both rushed out.
The zombies never had a chance.
We Ain’t in Kansas Anymore
The zombie activity grew increasingly pronounced the closer we came to the Charlotte city limits.
We had probably killed over two dozen zombies since leaving Belmont in the early morning hours, no groups larger than four or five though, so they were dispatched easily enough between the two of us.
About an hour outside of Charlotte, we passed a larger group of zombies moving in tandem. I’d noticed a large portion of them wore suits, business casual clothing, and scuffed up dress shoes. Much dressier than our Light Oak or even Gastonian dead.
It was unnerving to see zombies in neckties.
We avoided them by keeping our movements as quiet as possible and ducking behind a myriad of abandoned vehicles on the road leading out of the city, a sinister reminder that we were definitely headed the wrong direction.
Smarter people would have turned back at that point.
The coup de grâce should have been the smell, the overwhelming, choking smog of death and putrefaction emanating from the city. If that didn’t deter people from entering Charlotte, the sounds should have.
The noise coming from the city at first sounded like a single sound, unified, like an enormous white noise emitter. When we got closer to the city, we realized that what we were hearing was the sounds of thousands of shuffling feet, thousands of undead mouths open in death screams, only to exude rattling moans and gurgles. Their reflections glinted off the shiny, metal and glass buildings, amplifying the scene before us.
State of (Book 1): State of Decay Page 15