I found it hard to suppress a smile. I looked at the rest of the dirty dishes and threw them all into the trash. I walked out of the penthouse back to my room to pack my belongings. After I finished, I went to find Pearl. I didn’t think it’d be right to leave without saying goodbye to my only friend.
Pearl was still in the penthouse, cleaning up, so I waited outside until she was done. We walked to the lake, and Pearl sat on the beach while I threw pebbles into the water.
“I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Pearl stared at me in disbelief. “Where are you going?”
“Liet said I could go with him.”
Pearl stood and grabbed my arm. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea. I’ve heard bad things about him, Krista.”
I pulled away from Pearl’s grasp. “Yeah? Like what?”
“I heard he’s an ex-con.”
“So? Lots of people get reformed in prison.”
“I don’t think he’s very nice. What do you know about him?”
I sighed and pulled the picture out of my pocket. I handed it to Pearl. “He’s my family.”
Pearl unfolded the photo and stared at it in disgust. “How is he your family?”
“He’s my second cousin.”
Pearl huffed. “How do you know that for sure?”
“Look at the picture. That’s me. There are my parents. This is Liet’s mom. And this is Liet.”
Pearl shook her head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Staying here is? What are we even doing here? We go to school to learn stuff that we are never going to use in life. Then we have to wait on jerks. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to be their servant for the rest of my life.”
“What are you gonna do out there? Huh? Fight zombies? Build a wall? Yeah, that sounds like such a better deal. At least here you have a roof over your head and food on your plate. Did Liet guarantee that you’d have that?”
“At least I’d be doing something. At least I have family.”
We turned our backs on each other and stared off in opposite directions for a long time. Why did Pearl want to stay? There was nothing. At least out there, there was a chance for adventure. To do something with our lives. I didn’t want to be a slave. I might not know Liet very well or remember his family, but he was all I had left. I threw a rock into the water.
“Look, Krista,” Pearl’s voice was soft, “I understand not wanting to stay here. I’ve thought about it a lot too, but I’ve seen what’s out there. I’ve seen what the zombies can do, and I’d much rather stay here where I know I’m safe.”
I sighed. “I’ve seen what the zombies can do too, but pretending they don’t exist isn’t going to make them go away. Something has to be done.”
“Well, I hope you’re successful in what you do.” Pearl attempted to walk away, but I grabbed her arm.
“I don’t want you to be mad at me. You’re my only friend, and I want you to stay that way.”
Pearl forced a smile. “I’m not mad. I’m sad you want to leave. I understand that you should be with your family.”
“Then come with me.”
Pearl shook her head. “I’m not that brave.”
I wrapped my arms around Pearl’s shoulders, and we held each other for a while. Eventually, we let go and then headed into the hotel to spend our last few hours together.
***
Liet showed up at my door at six. I grabbed my duffel bag of clothes and headed into the morning sun. He opened the door to a transport truck, and I climbed into the passenger side. Glancing out the window, I noticed three more trucks were making the trip, two of them were filled with kids from my class and other civilians from the town. The third was full of the soldiers who’d come with Liet. He smiled as he climbed behind the steering wheel.
“You ready?”
I smiled and nodded.
“You better be because we ain’t ever coming back here.” He turned the key and put the truck into gear. Whether I was ready or not, we were on our way.
My stomach fluttered, but I didn’t look back. I thought about Pearl, wished briefly that she’d decided to come, then focused on what lay ahead. It’d been two years since I’d been outside Florida, and I was anxious to see what had happened in that time. From what I’d been told, most of the country had been abandoned. Cities lay in ruin, and bodies were left to rot in the streets. The power on the East Coast had been redirected to Florida so the survivors could live in comfort. There were some stories that pockets of survivors stayed in the West, eking out a living on the sparse reserves that were left. I wasn’t sure if I believed it all. The country had been populated by millions of people, it was hard to believe only thousands of them were left. All I knew was I was leaving Florida. I was going to be free.
Liet stared at me out of the corner of his eye, so I pulled myself out of my thoughts and turned toward him.
“So you’re a general, huh?”
He nodded.
“How did you get that position?”
“No one else wanted it.”
“Really? Why not?”
“They’re scared.” He glanced at me. “You haven’t been out for a while, but the world is a much different place than what you remember.” He focused his gaze back on the road. “Life won’t be easy in North Platte. In fact, it’ll be hell.” He smiled and looked at me sideways. “You’re lucky. I’ll be there to take care of you.”
“I don’t want you to take care of me. I want you to teach me to fight.”
“Oh, you’ll learn to fight. You’ll have to. Or you won’t survive.”
“I hear you’re an ex-con. Is that true?”
Liet snorted a laugh. “Yeah. It’s true.”
“What did you do?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Does it really matter?”
I stared at him for a second. “Probably not. Did you escape from prison or did they let you go?”
His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel and his jaw muscles tighten. “What kind of question is that?”
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just curious.”
“I did my time. I paid my debt to society.”
“Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
His grip loosened and his face relaxed. “It’s okay.”
I decided it was best to change the subject. I didn’t know what that was about, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to see it again. “Tell me about North Platte.”
“What do you want to know?”
“What does it look like?”
“Nothing much. The town still exists, and we’ve set up camp in the most viable buildings and houses, but most are in ruins. When the threat got out of hand, the people tried to burn the undead down. You can’t kill a zombie like that. You have to destroy their brain. All you do when you light them on fire is make them a walking torch. They light everything in their path until they can’t walk anymore.”
“Have you killed a lot of zombies?”
The right side of his mouth pulled into a smile and he looked at me. “More than any man you’ll ever meet.”
“Are they hard to kill?”
“Nah, not if you know what you’re doing. Like I said, you have to destroy the brain or behead them. After that, there’s nothing to ‘em.”
“If there’s nothing to them, and they’re so easy to destroy, how did they get out of hand?”
“Because they have numbers on their side. You see, your average zombie isn’t very smart. They have one thing on their mind, and that is to eat. And you don’t want to get bit. If you do, you have about twenty-four hours before you turn into the walking dead. They don’t move very fast because they’re dead and their bodies are falling apart. So we have that as an advantage, but where there’s one, you can bet in a few minutes there will be more. If you can remain undetected, you’ll be fine. If you see one, make sure you kill it before it can summon its friends.”
“How do they summ
on their friends?”
“With the most godawful moaning you have ever heard in your life.”
I thought back to the night my family and I had hid in the attic and shivered. “How do they track you?”
“I don’t know. No one knows. We’re not here to study the darn things.”
“How many are there?”
“Too many.” He looked at me. “We’ve got a long time to talk about zombies. Let’s talk about something else.” He turned back to the road. “Tell me about yourself.”
“There’s not really that much to tell.”
“Tell me about your parents. I don’t really remember them.”
I averted my gaze to my lap. “They’re dead.”
“They weren’t always dead, were they? You did have a childhood, right?” He pushed on my knee. “Or were you the first kid in the history of the world to be raised by zombie parents? Was it your family who started the plague? Tell me what it was like to grow up in Oregon.”
I looked at him, and he smiled. I smiled back and told him about my childhood. He listened intently and asked a lot of questions. Occasionally, he told stories of family members he remembered, who I saw frequently, and we laughed. It was the first time in years that I focused on happy memories of my parents. I was sure I made the right decision to leave Florida.
CHAPTER 6
It took us two days to make it to North Platte. I spent most of that time contemplating life and the apocalypse. As I said before, I never understood people’s interest in it. I suppose thinking about it is a luxury when you don’t really think it’s going to happen. If you’re lucky enough to survive it when it does occur, all you feel is helpless and depressed. All the planning and foresight doesn’t make coping any easier, and it doesn’t change anything. The world ends and you realize how insignificant you are, but there was a vague glimmer of hope. With every end, there is a beginning, and people start focusing on how they’re going to make things better. We survived the freaking apocalypse. We were entitled to a little optimism.
In reality, not everyone was ready to start a new life. In fact, most people wanted to pretend zombies never rose from the grave and have life go on as usual. Those were the people who stayed in Florida. For the rest of us, we were ready to make a difference and rebuild what we’d lost.
I’d fallen asleep in the passenger seat, and when I woke up and looked out, I was sorely disappointed. There were a few buildings still standing in the middle of town—the courthouse, jail, and a few stores. Houses with peeling paint and broken windows surrounded the perimeter. Tents were set up everywhere else. The town was overcrowded with workers who were in poor health, desperately needed a bath, and malnourished. I wasn’t expecting Paris, but I thought North Platte would have been slightly more habitable. I took it back. Florida was the third level of hell. Nebraska was the ninth. Maybe I was spoiled. I mean, life in Florida was pretty cush. It’d be fine, though. I could make the best of it. What other option did I have?
The wall was on the west side of town. It wasn’t much to look at, just the beginnings of a trench and a row of razor wire. Guard towers were set up at varying intervals down the length of the fence, and guards stood in each with guns trained on the field outside the city. Others patrolled the grounds with dogs, and the rotting corpses of dead zombies filled the field on the opposite side of the fence. I choked down the urge to vomit.
I opened the door to the truck and hopped into the mud. The stench of rotting flesh permeated my nostrils, causing my stomach to clench. I placed my hand over my mouth to keep the vomit in. Liet stepped around the truck.
“You’ll get used to that eventually.” He placed his hands on his hips and arched his back.
I swallowed down bile. “Isn’t there something you can do with them?”
Liet popped his neck by placing his hands on his cheeks and twisting. “Yeah, we’re actually planning on burning them. We haven’t had a chance to build the pyre yet.” He stepped forward and placed his arm around my shoulders. “Let me give you a tour of the place.”
It took five minutes for Liet to show me the grounds. My stomach unclenched a little, but I was sure I’d never get used to the smell. He took me to a house and explained it was the women’s dormitory. It’d been blue at one time, but the color had faded to gray. The windows were covered with particleboard that had been warped by rain, and the door practically fell off its hinges when Liet pushed it open. As we stepped inside, the smell of mildew drifted into my nose, and, sadly, it was a welcome relief from outside. There wasn’t much furniture—a couch and a couple chairs. Dishes were stacked in the sink, and clothes hung around the room. Cots had been set up in the empty spaces, and a few female soldiers eyed me as I walked in.
“Ladies, this is Krista. Please make her feel at home.”
I furrowed my brow. “Aren’t I staying with you?”
Liet nodded. “Eventually. They’re finishing the remodeling on my apartment. As soon as it’s done, you can move in.” He grabbed the door handle. “I’ll see you at dinner.” He winked, then turned on his heel and left the house.
I tightened the grip on my bag and looked around the room. “Um, should I set my stuff anywhere?”
One of the women stepped forward. I tried not to flinch, but the soldier was almost a head taller than I was and twice as wide. Her hair was pulled back in cornrows, and lines etched her face. She placed her hands on her hips and looked me up and down.
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen.” The word caught in my throat and I choked it out.
The woman laughed. “Seventeen? What in god’s green earth are you doing out here?”
“I couldn’t stay in Florida.”
The woman laughed again. “I bet you’re rethinking that right about now.” She stepped forward and gently grabbed my biceps and pulled me into the room. “You can sleep on the cot next to the kitchen. What did you do in Florida?”
“I was a housekeeper.”
The woman turned to the others in the room. “Well, I’ll be! We were just talking about how we needed someone to help us clean this mess up. Look, girls, God does answer prayers.”
The others chuckled.
“Here, set your stuff down. Where are my manners? I’m Pam.” She stuck out her hand.
I grabbed it, and my hand was engulfed in calluses and sandpaper skin. “Krista.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Krista. I assume that since Liet didn’t put you out in a tent that you are somethin’ special. What kind of combat training do you have?”
I set my bag on the bed and shook my head. “None.”
I thought about telling her Liet was my cousin, but since she didn’t specifically ask, I didn’t say a word. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her. On the contrary, she was nothing like the others. I didn’t get any Carmen vibes at all, but I didn’t want to be treated differently. I wanted her to treat me like a soldier.
“None? What the…?” She turned to the other girls, who’d come forward and surrounded us. “We’ll have to remedy that situation.”
“Liet already told me he’d teach me to fight.”
Pam laughed. “That’ll be the day. More than likely, he’d pawn you off on one of us. Since that’s the case, let’s make a deal. We’ll teach you how to kill zombies, and you make this house livable. Deal?”
I looked around the house and frowned. The carpet was torn and frayed with an inch-thick layer of mud and the walls were yellowed. “I guess.”
Pam slapped me on the shoulder. “Good. We’ll start combat training tomorrow. You have a few hours before dinner, perhaps you could get started now.”
I nodded and took a deep breath. I thought the easiest thing to start would be the dishes, so I headed into the kitchen. As I ran the water, I desperately wished I had my iPod. I didn’t make the journey to be another maid. I scrubbed furiously at a plate. I probably could’ve gotten out of it, all I had to do was tell them I was related to Liet, but I’d made a deal. I didn’t wa
nt to be treated special because the general was family. I wanted to make my own way. I hoped they were going to teach me something worthwhile or I was going to be angry. I felt eyes on me and looked over my shoulder. A few of the girls stared, but they didn’t say anything. I turned back to my work.
After I finished the dishes, I headed to the courthouse. I stepped through the threshold and took a deep breath. The room had been converted from the courtroom into Liet’s office. He’d kept the bench and jury box, but had the other seats ripped out. He spoke quietly to a man I assumed was one of his officers because of his uniform, and he smiled at me as I entered.
“I’m glad you could make it. How are you settling into your new home?”
“It’s almost like I never left Florida.”
Liet chuckled. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.” He snapped his fingers, and some soldiers brought in a table and two chairs.
We sat, and plates of roast with carrots and potatoes were set in front of us. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until the smell drifted into my nostrils. My mouth watered, and I dug into my plate. I was halfway through my food when I looked up. Liet stared at me, his eyes wide. He cleared his throat and averted his gaze to his plate.
“After we eat, I’d like to show you where the new burning grounds are going to be.”
I swallowed my bite of food. “Okay.”
“I know it doesn’t sound that thrilling, but I want you to know we’re trying to make this place habitable. Besides, there’s really nothing else to do here.”
I smiled. “Wonderful. By the way, Pam seems to think she is going to be teaching me how to fight.”
Liet stabbed at the meat on his plate. “Oh, good. So the two of you made some arrangements?”
“I thought you were going to teach me.”
“Krista, you have to understand. I’m a very busy man. I have an entire camp to run. I’ll certainly be there when I can, but if Pam has the time, I’d recommend learning from her.”
“Oh, okay.” I finished the food on my plate and waited.
Six guards escorted us to the first guard tower as the sun set. Shades of orange, pink, purple, and red lined the sky. If it hadn’t been for the stench, I would have enjoyed the moment. We climbed the stairs to look over the area. A few workers were in the trench, digging postholes, filling them with cement, then sticking in the metal poles for the chain-link fence. The horizon was flat, and the ground was covered with thousands of corpses. In the distance, a few mobile ones limped their way to the perimeter. I glanced at the guard tower to my right. They tracked the zombies with a pair of binoculars and spotting scopes. I squinted at the horizon to get a better view.
Life After The Undead (Book 1) Page 6