It was great that he was back. It was great that zombies hadn’t chowed down on his face. It was great that he rescued his ex-wife and brought her back to our compound. It was right of him to go and save her.
Fuck, who was I kidding? I hated the bitch. He was an idiot to leave.
I tuned into what he was saying, obviously sharing the story of their death-defying adventure.
“Clara was stuck in a hotel in downtown Houston with her sister, Madison. They had found Patricia.” He pointed to two other girls that were standing off to the side. “and were surviving on snacks from the vending machines and water from mini-fridges. They had blocked off the stairwells because the dead security guard was in the bottom of the stairwell, and they didn’t know who else was in the hotel with them, living or dead.”
I heard a snicker from next to me and looked over to see Hannah sidle up to me. The snicker was loud enough that Clara looked over at the two of us and frowned. She dismissed us quickly and moved closer to Blake.
“What a bunch of idiots. Let’s just stay in the hotel and wait for a man to rescue us. I didn’t have any respect for the girl before Z. I don’t know why I’m surprised.” She shook her head as if amazed. I tried not to laugh at her comment, but she had hit the nail on the head. What was the thought process there? Let’s wait for a man to travel almost 400 miles to save us instead of helping ourselves? Did they just sit there and wait? How they wrestled up a radio to get in touch in the first place was beyond me - if they could do that, why couldn’t they have gotten out of the hotel, or at least reinforce their location and get supplies? It didn’t make sense to me. And why couldn’t Blake have radioed when he got there and let us know he was alive, the little voice in my head added? He probably didn’t plan on coming back. Wonder what changed his mind?
“I don’t get it either,” I whispered back.
“He was always doing that, running to go get her out of some mess that she created since the moment I started working there. It always seemed she couldn’t do a thing by herself. I don’t like women like that. They need a daddy not a man,” Baby hissed back.
“When I got to Houston,” I tuned back into Blake’s story, “I had joined up with Liam and Bret and they helped me clear the lobby and get to the girls. Houston actually wasn’t as bad as we expected. It seems the zombies are grouping together in hordes, like packs, and they seem to like to move west. Every horde we skirted was moving in the same direct westerly path.” There was excited murmuring in the crowd. Our bridge that was the only way zombies could really get on our island was a southeast path and the only westerly route headed in our direction was a two-lane highway. That was one less thing we had to worry about if what Blake said was true.
He smiled and nodded at everyone, his quick mind understanding their thought process. “It was harder heading out of the city. Going east we faced a lot of packs. I had used the Humvee we left at the docks, but we lost it on Hwy. 90 coming back. If it wasn’t for Ray, who was driving this big ass dually with a cow catcher on the front, we would have been zombie food. He just plowed through them like they were bowling pins and we had to climb out of the top of the Humvee and get into the bed of his truck. I miss that truck.” He laughed and was joined by a guy wearing a cowboy hat.
“Yeah, that was a great truck,” Ray said in a thick Texas twang. “We made it what, 100 miles in that thing? ’Til we busted a tire on some spikes that were laid on the roadway.”
“Someone intentionally put down spikes in the road?” Grace asked looking horrified.
“Yes ma’am, the world ain’t like it used to be. Bad and good people survived and, unfortunately, the bad people had a lot of guns when the shit hit the fan. They were ambushing people for their vehicles and food. They didn’t see Blake coming though. The moment we realized it was an attack by humans and not zombies, he hid and took them out before they could take us. They were keeping the women and children and killing the men. That’s when we added Phoebe, Millie and Mark to our little party. Later we scooped up Orlando, found him holed up in a burger joint near Jeanerette.” Ray nodded to an overweight man with dark skin and hair, who just shrugged his shoulders when everyone focused their attention on him.
“So, that’s basically it,” Blake laughed. “We made the entire journey sticking to highway 90. The westbound lane was backed up, but eastbound was clean and clear. We only ran into some issues when we went through large towns. Luling was a little sketchy and going through the West Bank was even worse. But we made it.”
A few of the men slapped Blake on the back and shook hands with the new members of our group.
Then as if by some signal, they all turned to look at me and Zach. We were adding ten people to our ranks. We had five empty houses–only one was furnished though, Blake’s old weekend house.
“Who has responsibility of the children?” I asked the group.
A timid looking brunette stepped up. “I am.”
The woman next to her was obviously related to the blonde at Blake’s side. They could almost be twins, so I assumed she was Madison, Clara’s sister. So this would be the other damsel in distress, Patricia.
Madison, Clara’s sister, stepped up next to Patricia. “We’ll stay with you, Tricia, and help you with the kids.” She had a smile on her face while her sister was frowning as if this was the worst idea ever. Madison rubbed Patricia’s back reassuringly and smiled at me and Zach. From what I could tell, the sisters were in their early to late twenties, but they were both kind of dirty and ragged looking, so it was hard to tell. They had mousy blonde hair that was probably a pretty color with highlights and hair dryers, but now just looked like dirty sand. One had it cut short and the other one had it long and tied up in a ponytail.
Clara was the one with the longer hair and she was still hanging back and frowning at her sister, not quite ready to hold up to what Madison had offered. Looks like their group isn’t as cohesive as ours.
“We only have one furnished house. Madison, Clara, Patricia, along with the children, can take that one. It has four bedrooms, but can sleep a lot more if you don’t mind bunking on a sofa or a cot. It has plenty of room for six people. Blake can show you where it is.” I nodded at the women.
That left Blake, Liam, Bret, Ray and Orlando.
“Gentlemen, there are four remaining houses and plenty of room in the barracks. The houses are unfurnished though. I would recommend staying in the barracks. And if any of you decide you need your own space, come to me or Zach and we’ll hook you up with a house. You’ll just have to furnish it on your own time.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Duke, can you get our new arrivals settled in the barracks?” He smiled and motioned for the new guys to join him near the back of the room.
“Blake, the key to 201 is in our–” I stopped myself. “Your office. If you want, we’ve got a few golf carts from the camps down the street. You can take the girls over there to get settled. All cars and vehicles have to be kept by the barracks, because they are only used outside of the compound. If someone wants to live in the motor home, we’ll try and make accommodations, but I don’t know about sewage, water and electricity.”
“We are happy to accommodate everyone and welcome to S-Island, but we do have a few rules here,” Zach stepped up and addressed the crowd before they could disperse. “Everyone works toward compound goals. We all have to take shifts, no one is exempt. If you can’t do one particular job, you’ll do another. We respect one another. If you want to participate in violent behavior, go on supply runs, but don’t bring it back to the compound. Aggressive and violent behavior is not tolerated.”
“We also ask that if you want to drink, do so with one another, not on your own,” I added. “There is a rec room in the Barracks and that has turned into our designated bar and lounge. If you are scheduled for watch, you are not permitted alcohol.”
“Tomorrow we’ll get everyone settled and talk to you about what jobs you feel comfortable with doing.”
I tried to smile reassuringly, to be welcoming. “And now that we have more children, we’ll probably have to start thinking about education. Welcome to S-Island, everyone. Dinner is at seven. If you have any questions, look for Hannah or Romeo in the barracks or Zach and I have the white house at the end of the outlet. You can knock on our door at any time.” I tried to act all welcoming, but it might have been a bit strained. There were a lot of things to think about now.
Blake looked like he wanted to say something, but with Zach at my side he just shook his head confused, turned to the ladies and motioned for them to grab their things. A lot had changed since he left. Seven months ago we were just a group of shell-shocked survivors, now we were a functioning community.
“I’m going to go help the guys staying in the barracks unload. Do you want to come with me?” Zach asked.
“Might as well, you shouldn’t have to face an inquiry on your own.”
EIGHTEEN
Sluts and Slurs
We walked outside and surveyed the new arrivals unloading their SUVs. They didn’t have much, just a pack each. They grabbed their things and just stood around taking in their surroundings. It must be surreal for them.
Zach walked over to the group of men milling around one of the SUVs, so I walked over to Patricia and stuck out my hand awkwardly. Guess I gotta go get friendly with the women.
“Alexis Winter.”
“Patricia Graves. I’m thinking about changing my last name though. It’s not very popular at the moment.” I liked her immediately, my earlier timid assessment didn’t seem to hold true.
“You guys were out there a long time, this must seem really different.”
“Yeah, it’s different. It’s been a long time since I could say I feel safe, but this place…I don’t know how you guys did it.”
“Most of it was already in place before we even got here. We just had to put up the wall, but even that is rather redundant. With the water surrounding us, only something with a boat can get to us or if they can float.” I had a few reoccurring nightmares about floating zombies.
“Are there other people, I mean, out there?”
“There is a family that is staying in a big house in a neighborhood about a mile away. That is the only sign of life we’ve seen close to us. Our remoteness works in our favor. This isn’t a main thoroughfare–you have to know it’s here to find us. Did you encounter a lot of people on the road?”
“No, the ones we encountered, we brought with us. Except the guys that tried to take our stuff. Those Blake and Liam…well…”
“They killed them?” I finished for her.
“Yeah. And when we found the girls, I knew they did the right thing.”
“Did they hurt the girls?” I looked over at the children who were standing quietly with the sisters. One was about twelve and two seemed close in age. A boy and a girl, Millie and Mark, they looked no older than nine or ten.
“I don’t think so. Millie and Mark won’t talk about it, but Phoebe told me they all had parents with them and the men killed their fathers and took their moms into a room all the time. They would come out looking injured and would try to convince the kids that nothing happened, but it was obvious something was wrong. Phoebe’s mom didn’t come out of the room one day and from what we could tell Millie and Mark’s mom was still alive when we went in there, but we couldn’t find her anywhere. Blake suspects that there was at least one guy that ran off. He must have grabbed her and fled.”
“God, that is horrendous.”
“I couldn’t face it. When they went in there, I stayed outside. But from what I could tell, they kept the kids locked up in an upstairs room, so they didn’t see anything that went on. They fed them and kept hinting that they had a plan for them.”
“How people can reduce themselves to behaving that way is beyond me.” I shook my head and walked over to the children. Kneeling down in front of them, I tried to be as harmless looking as possible.
“Hey guys, I’m Lex. I know you traveled a really long way to get here, but I’m glad you came. We have some other children here–Julie, Kelly, Cougar and Uma. They’ll be so excited to meet you. Maybe tomorrow you can jump on the trampoline with them.”
“You have a trampoline?” the little boy, Mark, asked.
“Yes, we do, at the Peters’ house, which is going to be two doors down from your house.”
“We get our own house?” Pheobe asked.
“Yes, you are going to be staying in your own house with Patricia. No one will hurt you here.”
“No zombies?” Millie asked in a small and scared voice.
“No zombies, all the zombies are on the other side of the water. So as long as we stay on the compound, we’ll be fine.”
“I like islands,” Mark spoke up matter-of-factly.
“Well, then hopefully you’ll love S-Island.”
“What’s the S for?” Phoebe asked.
“Survivors, because that is what we are, survivors, especially you guys. I’m really proud of you for making it here.”
When I got back to my feet, all three of them were smiling along with the sisters and Patricia. I couldn’t even imagine what they had been through to get here. I might not have agreed with how the women handled their little hotel stay, but I knew it was quite a journey getting here.
“I’m Madison and this is my sister Clara,” the friendlier looking sister said and she stepped up and held out her hand. “I’m assuming from the way you took charge that you are running this show.”
“Not really. Zach and I kind of share some duties just to keep things running. The MJ crowd was used to following Zach’s orders, and with Blake back, I’m sure they’ll defer to him too. Zach is the be-all, end-all as far as rules.”
“MJ Crowd?” Madison asked.
“MJ Security,” Clara said to her sister. “the firm that Blake owns, the one that owns this island. I’m assuming because it is Blake’s island that he’ll be more than deferred to. He is the rightful owner of this place. You won’t have to share anymore duties with Zach, Blake can handle it now. Don’t you think that is only fair?” Clara said benignly, like it was self-evident. I looked at her with a questioning look, her tone of voice held some underlying message that I wasn’t getting.
“I don’t know, I guess we’ll see. There really isn’t any set leadership role.” I shrugged.
“People like to have defined leaders to take charge, if not, things get out of control. Blake is perfect to rule this place. He does own it–it’s only right.” Clara looked almost smug now. What was her issue?
“Rule?” I knew my face showed all of my weirded-out emotions because she drew back and frowned. “Should I be dusting off a crown or something?” I tried to cover my disgust with humor.
Her face contorted in a grimace, but before she could say anything in response she was interrupted. “Been here five minutes, Clara, and you’re already planning my future world domination.” Blake walked up and placed his hand on my shoulder, which I tried to shrug off.
“I always look out for you, Blake. If not, who else would? And I wouldn’t exactly call it domination, just, you know, like being the boss, like you were before. This is your place, you own fifty percent, right?” Clara preened.
“Let me look out for myself, Clara. I don’t really think it’s appropriate to be throwing around a word like rule when you haven’t even unpacked.”
Clara’s frown deepened.
“So, this is her then?” Clara’s already pinched expression went hot.
“That’s enough, Clara.” Her sister tried to pull her back, but she wasn’t moving. Her dirty boots stuck in the boggy ground of my compound. I couldn’t quite believe that the bitch was starting in already. I had kinda expected it but she had been here a total of five minutes. In my mind, when Blake left, I had thought of her as a heinous bitch, evil to the core. But I thought that was me only forcing my negativity on her. The fact that she actually lived up to my expectations, all pinched and hungry f
or power made my day, it was easy to hate the heinous. If she would have been all cute, nice and demure I would have felt guilty. She was barely ten feet into our safe haven and was turning our little paradise into an episode of the Bachelorette. The bitch in me prepped for a fight.
“Is there something I’m missing?” I asked pleasantly, even though I pretty much knew what she was referring to. I kept a smile plastered to my face.
“I was just wondering if you’re the slut that Blake had to get back to–forcing us to leave every nice place we found.”
“Enough, Clara,” Blake said sharply, but the dumb girl just kept going.
“What, Blake? At least I’m honest, and I think it’s pretty obvious she wasn’t waiting on you. She and Zach look mighty close.”
“I think you need to go settle into the house that we are providing you and your family and friends with,” I said, all sugar and charm. She just rolled her eyes when both Blake and her sister glared at her and the kids looked at her oddly.
“What’s a slut, Mark?” Millie said in a loud whisper to her brother. Mark just shrugged and they both looked at Patricia who had gone bright red.
“Let’s get you guys settled, you have to be tired.” Zach pulled up in one of the oversized golf carts that we had on the premises, interrupting at the perfect time. They loaded up the bags into the shelf underneath the seat and Blake took the driver’s seat. Clara, of course, jumped in next to him and forced the three kids to squish themselves on the back seat. Blake pulled off and I looked at Madison and Patricia. “We can walk over, it’s about a quarter of a mile, or we can stay and wait for him.”
“I’m going to stay here and get the rest of them settled in,” Zach said to me and I nodded.
“Let’s walk, we’ve been cramped in that car, I could use a good walk,” Patricia said, hefting her pack onto her back. Madison nodded in agreement and we set out.
Fight (NOLA Zombie Book 2) Page 9