Mail Horror Bride (One Nation Under Zombies Book 1)

by Lee, Raymond

  “Shit.” Raven looked down at the scene. The girl was clearly beside herself with grief and not focusing on her surroundings. She hadn’t even paid Raven any mind when she tried to warn her. The zombies were steadily walking that direction, drawn by the sound. The girl was in trouble and there was no one else around to help but her.

  “I couldn’t even save Sky,” Raven mumbled to herself, chewing on her lip as she watched the zombies. They picked up the speed as much as they could. It wasn’t very fast but there were three of them and the girl didn’t seem to have the sense to run away, which she should have already started doing.

  Another moan sounded and she turned to see two more at the other end of the street.

  “Son of a bitch!” Raven grabbed the butcher knife she’d found in the apartment and ran down the stairs, through the door, and onto the street.

  The zombies were closer now, but she was faster. She hurried across the street and grabbed the little girl who she guessed to be around twelve under the arm. “Come on.”

  The girl surprised her by flinging her hand away. “Leave me to die! I deserve it. I killed her. I killed her!’

  The little girl screamed the words, helping the zombies pinpoint their location that much more.

  “Dammit, shut up! Whatever you did I’m sure you had to. Unless you want those things to kill us both, move your ass!”

  This stunned the girl into silence but it only lasted a moment before her bottom lip trembled and she was crying again. “You don’t understand. I’m a horrible person. I don’t deserve—”

  “Do you want me to die because instead of moving, you chose to park your ass here in the street and cry?”

  The girl looked at her, sniffed. “What?”

  “I’m not leaving you here to die. Now get up and run or we are both going to die.”

  The girl sniffed harder and stood. Her eyes widened as she saw the zombies approaching behind them. “Oh!”

  Raven turned her head and saw the zombies ambling toward them from less than eight feet away, arms stretched before them, mouths open, ready to tear into flesh. She grabbed the girl’s arm again and forced her to run away from them, toward the other two zombies approaching from the other direction.

  “There are more of them!”

  “I see them but they’re slow and we’re not.”

  They continued to run, staying on the left side of the road to avoid the zombies approaching from the right. The whole time, Raven scanned the street, searching for something.

  “Where are we running?”

  “Look for somewhere there might be food or weapons,” Raven answered. A butcher knife was alright but she hated how close she had to get to a zombie to use it. “There!”

  She pointed toward the pawn shop and veered right to cross over to it.

  “A pawn shop?” The girl managed to say while gasping for breath.

  “Weapons,” Raven explained as they stopped before the door. She turned full circle, scanning. “We outran the zombies. Now we just need to get inside before they catch up.”

  She tried the door, not surprised to find it locked.

  “Now what?” the girl whined.

  “Relax. I got this.” Raven retrieved the bobby pins above her right ear and set to work on the locks. She had all three unlocked before the zombies came into view.

  “How’d you do that?”

  “I may have spent some time in juvie.” Raven replaced the bobby pins in her hair and opened the door, shoving the kid inside before the zombies reached them. She locked the door behind them and let out a sigh of relief. “We should be fine now, for a little while. Why were you alone out there? Where are your parents?”

  The girl started wailing again.

  Raven groaned before grabbing the girl by her shoulders and walking her toward the back of the store. Glass cases surrounded them, everything from jewelry to baseball cards showcased inside. She found what looked like a sitting room in the back and sat the girl down on a black leather couch. She hoped it was far enough from the front of the building that the zombies wouldn’t hear the girl’s crying.

  “I understand that this shit is scary,” she said, kneeling before the girl. “Crying isn’t going to help you though. If anything, it’s only going to get you killed faster. Now, we can survive this if we stay smart and keep it together.”

  “Why are you helping me?” The girl wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m a horrible person. I’ve done a horrible thing.”

  “Your parents?”

  The girl shook her head. “My parents died when I was a baby. My aunt raised me. I came here with her on vacation but she … she didn’t make it. They surrounded our car. I made it out and I ran. I looked back and she was … There was nothing I could do for her. She screamed for me to run so I did.”

  “You feel guilty about leaving her?” An image of Sky’s mangled body rose up in Raven’s mind and she quickly forced it away. Just like she’d told the girl, she had to keep it together. Move forward.

  “No. I mean, I’m sad she died that way but there was nothing I could do and I know that wasn’t my fault, but then I … oh I’m so horrible. I killed a person.”

  Understanding dawned. Raven grabbed the girl’s hand and squeezed. “You killed one of those things before it could kill you. That is nothing to be ashamed of. You had to.”

  “But it wasn’t just a monster!” The girl sobbed again. “I killed Miley Cyrus!”

  Raven stared at the girl as she dissolved into sobs. Of all the scenarios she’d expected, that one hadn’t been close. “You killed who?”

  “I think it was her. She had the hair and the body.” She hiccupped loudly before another sob tore out of her. “But she was dead, or undead. Whatever. Her eyes were all white and she wanted to eat me.”

  “So you’re not sure it was her?”

  “It looked like her and this is Hollywood. Stars are always here and I know she was shooting her new video here. It had to have been her. I killed her!”

  “Maybe it wasn’t her,” Raven suggested as she fought down the sick urge to laugh. “I mean, as she died, did she … twerk?”

  Icy green eyes rose to meet hers. “Is that supposed to be funny? I rammed a cross through her eyeball!”

  Raven cringed at the image that put in her head, all humor dispelled. “I’m sorry, kid. If it was her she was already dead and all you did was kill a monster. She’d probably thank you for it.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure of it.” A few jokes popped into Raven’s head but she didn’t allow them to slip out her mouth. Instead she wondered what the hell was wrong with her. Killing someone wasn’t funny, even if it was Miley Cyrus. “No one would want to be one of those things, have their bodies do things they can’t control.”

  “You don’t think they’re aware of what they’re doing?”

  Raven thought back to the group of zombies she’d fought off at the hotel and the ones she’d been seeing on the street since. They were like rabid animals, intent on eating anyone in their way. “No, I don’t think they are conscious at all, just decaying blind bodies programmed to kill. If you have to stop one from killing you, then just do it. No regrets. They aren’t people anymore.”

  The girl nodded, wiping her eyes. “That makes sense.”

  “It’ll be alright,” she said, not sure why. She had no clue if anything would ever be good again but for some reason she felt responsible for the girl. “I’m Raven. What’s your name, kid?”

  “Jeremy.”

  “Jeremy?” Raven studied the girl. Feminine features, girly clothes, and although they weren’t particularly large, the breasts were there. “That’s a boy’s name.”

  “You’re named after a bird.”

  “Touché.” Raven grinned. “Nothing wrong with an uncommon name.” A pang of sorrow hit her hard as she remembered all the teasing Sky went through at school being named Sky Bleu. Even if the last name was spelled differently than the color, i
t was pronounced the same. Raven was unique but nowhere near as bad as Sky Bleu.

  She turned away before tears could fall.

  “What are we going to do?”

  Thankful for the change of subject, Raven took a deep breath to collect herself and faced Jeremy. “We’re looking for anything useful. I don’t have anything on me but this butcher knife and I noticed you don’t have anything on you at all. ”

  “You really think they’re zombies? Like, living dead horror movie stuff?”

  “They’re already dead and they eat people. I’d say ‘zombies’ is an accurate description.”

  “I guess so. Seems so crazy though.” Jeremy shoved her hands into her pockets. “I don’t have a weapon. I didn’t have one when I was attacked. I just made use of what was near me.”

  “Well, I’m glad it worked but now you have nothing so we need to fix that. Let’s spread out and look for weapons. Knives, swords, no guns unless you actually know how to shoot one.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Of course. That would make things easier.”

  “I could learn.”

  “Not from me. I don’t know squat about guns and I’m not going to be the one who helps you shoot your own foot off. Maybe if we meet up with some other people, they’ll teach us both. Let’s go see what we can find.”

  “You think there was an alarm on that door? Like one of those silent kinds?” Jeremy asked as she followed her out to the shop floor.

  “If there was, I doubt any police would come. I kind of wish they would.”

  “How bad do you think it is?”

  Raven found a glass display case full of collectible knives and whistled, getting Jeremy’s attention as she slipped behind the counter and opened the back of the display. “Got some knives over here. Take some. As for your question, I think it’s really bad. I sat at that window for two weeks straight and you’re the first living person I’ve seen.”

  Jeremy frowned at this, the frown deepening as she met Raven behind the case and looked at the switchblades. “This one has Elvis on it. I can’t kill someone with Elvis’s face.”

  “So use one of the ones with a wolf on it. Besides, by the time you have to use a knife on someone, they should already be dead.”

  “What if they aren’t? I watched The Walking Dead. The people were worse than the walkers.”

  “Well, if they’re doing something to make you need to stab them, they deserve it.” Raven grabbed a knife, a particularly sharp looking one with a dragon handle and a curvy blade. “Take this one.”

  She grabbed a wolf designed one for herself, and found a leather sheath that fastened around her waist to carry the butcher knife she’d found in the apartment. She slid the switchblade into her pocket and scanned the rest of the floor.

  She ignored the guitars she would have given her right arm to play a few weeks ago and the plentiful jewelry displays. There were guns but she didn’t bother with those either. Most of them looked so old she didn’t know if they’d fire and even if they did, she didn’t know how to use them and had nothing to carry them in. “You see any backpacks?”

  “I saw some Coach purses.”

  Raven shook her head. “We need backpacks, something to carry supplies.”

  “What kind of supplies?”

  “Food, water, stuff we’ll need to get by.”

  “We’re going back out there?”

  “We need food and we’re not going to find that in a pawn shop.”

  Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Those things are out there and they want to eat us. Can’t we wait here for help?”

  “Seriously?” Raven controlled her urge to laugh at the absurdity. “Have you tried to make a phone call? Phone lines and cell towers are dead. Before that, you couldn’t get through to anyone anyway. All you got when calling 911 was a recording. The last time I was able to check the internet all I saw were stories of these zombies growing in numbers. The military was supposed to send out troops to eradicate the infected but have you seen any? No. Seen the police? No. We were told to lock our doors and stay inside. That was the government’s way of protecting us. They didn’t do anything.”

  “It’s only been about three weeks and they are trying to help,” Jeremy argued. “My aunt was taking me to this place she heard about on the radio. There are these military places where you can go for protection.”

  “Right. We have to go to them. They aren’t coming to help us.”

  “It’s not like they aren’t trying. This is a war and soldiers are dying in it.”

  Soldiers and innocent little girls. Raven forced the image out of her head. No matter what she did, the image always wormed its way back in. Mangled arms. Legs. So much blood…

  “Look, all I’m saying is that we can’t wait around on someone to come help us. The police and the military are hopefully out there somewhere making a dent in the undead population but they aren’t here to help us now. This isn’t some TV show. It’s really happening. Daryl Dixon isn’t going to ride up on his motorcycle and take us away from here.”

  “I’m pretty sure he lost his motorcycle after the prison attack.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah.” Jeremy looked toward the front of the building. The wall was all glass so they could see the trio of zombies across the street shuffling off aimlessly down the road. “So what’s the plan?”

  “Right now? Survive.” Raven stepped out from behind the display case she’d been searching and walked over to the front of the room. “We wait until those guys have moved a safe distance and then we head out in search of food and whatever else will come in handy. I was staying in an apartment above the record store, right there where I saw you on the street. It was high up. Safe. We could go back there after finding food.”

  “Shouldn’t we go to one of the places the military set up?”

  “Just the two of us? With just a couple of knives? We’d have to get a car, a lot of food, supplies. Let’s see what we can find today and if we do well, we’ll move on. Do you know where your aunt was headed?”

  “I think Arizona.”

  “Probably Fort Huachuca,” Raven muttered, remembering the slimeball she’d dated years ago. Last she’d heard, he’d joined the army, got stationed there, and married some girl he barely knew. She so didn’t want to go there. “Where are the other bases located?”

  “I don’t know. She said we were going to the closest one.”

  “Great.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” Raven silently chastised herself. It was the freaking zombie apocalypse. If she had to face the jerk, and for all she knew he was overseas somewhere or had been moved to another base, then she would face him. The glint of something shiny caught her eye and she turned her head.

  “Holy Michonne!” she blurted as she half walked, half ran toward the large sword.

  “What is it?”

  Could it be? Raven reached the display case across the room and picked up the weapon propped on top. She gripped the handle and pulled the katana out of its sheath. “This is my new best friend.”

  “That’s awesome.” Jeremy’s eyes lit up as she looked at the sword. “Do you know how to use it?”

  “Swing and slice. What’s to know?” Raven slid on the sheath and practiced putting the katana in it and pulling it free until she had it down. “Now we’re ready to go out there.”

  “Don’t get cocky now.”

  Raven chuckled at the younger girl’s warning. She was starting to like her, which wasn’t really a good thing. She didn’t want to like anyone anymore. She damn sure didn’t want to care about anyone in a world designed to take them away.

  Damian Quincy Jones kept his back to the wall and held his breath as he waited for the dead man on the other side to leave. At least that was the outcome he prayed for. The other scenario involved the dead guy walking around that wall and coming for him, mouth open and ready to chow down on his flesh. Damian wasn’t going out like that, which was why his
hand gripped the rock hammer tight. It was the deadliest thing he’d found in the prop room, one of few real items, and he was thankful for it. The pointed end was sharp enough to sink right through to the brain if he had to use it, and he’d had to use it a few times already.

  He’d almost laughed at the absurdity the first time. His mother had been worried he’d get sucked in by the gangs while growing up in Oakland, turned into a killer, and then she’d discovered his love for makeup and fashion and feared he’d be killed for his lifestyle, unable to defend himself against thugs who didn’t approve of his sexual orientation. Well, he’d never gotten sucked into a gang but he’d learned real quick how to use the rock hammer to defend himself. If his mother could see him from Heaven, he didn’t think she’d be upset about it now. Surely she didn’t want to meet up with him again this soon.

  The dead man continued shuffling along, unaware of his presence. Damian didn’t think they could see, at least not very well, and they weren’t very fast, especially when they didn’t know fresh meat was around. They had a strong grip though, and determination. He had no clue if their sense of smell worked but they definitely could hear so he held his breath and waited.

  It was the longest ten minutes of his life but the zombie, and he still had to wrap his mind around the fact he was using that word, finally ambled far enough away for him to move. He released the breath he’d been holding and crossed over to the door the zombie had walked through.

  He almost did a celebratory dance after closing and locking that door, but he didn’t want to waste a moment. There were lots of rooms in this building and there could be more of those things creeping around.

  “Time to get and git,” he said, murmuring a quote he recalled his grandfather using when he was younger. He slipped off his backpack and started grabbing cans from the shelves filling the room. Canned beans, canned greens, canned potatoes, canned corn. He quit reading labels and just grabbed, figuring that before long he’d quit caring what he ate and would just be thankful to have something.