His lips thinned. “Well, Cassie is being held somewhere by the government. Ever since I brought her into the CDC for help, they’ve been giving me the runaround. Now they’re refusing to let me see her and I don’t know where they’ve taken her.”
“What happened to your face?” asked Tiny.
Dave touched the bruise on his cheek and smiled humorlessly. “That’s the answer a couple of the soldiers gave me when I put some pressure on them for answers. Cheap bastards.”
Tiny cracked his knuckles. “Looks like I’ll just have to come with you next time.”
“Appreciate it, Tiny,” smiled Dave. "I’d like to see the look on their faces with you standing by my side.”
“So, where’s Bryce?” asked Henry. “That feller who Cassie was moonin’ over?”
Dave sighed. “Bryce is M.I.A., haven’t seen him since yesterday morning after we were shot at by those guys in the truck. They grabbed him and I took off.”
“Oh, no! Did they kill him?” asked Kristie.
“I don’t know. I feel lousy for not being able to help, but he was behind my truck and they started shooting right as I got in. I saw them grab Bryce and I took off because I didn’t want any of the kids getting hit by stray bullets.”
“What a nightmare,” said Kristie, shaking her head.
“Well, what about the others? Sara and the two kids?” asked Henry.
“Bobby’s upstairs with Kris and Allie. Sara got ahold of her brother, who’s in the Air Force and he picked her up in a helicopter yesterday. He took them both back to Washington to some kind of underground shelter.”
“Oh good; at least they’re safe,” sighed Kristie.
Kylie’s eyes lit up. “Allie’s here? Can I see her?”
Dave nodded. “Yeah, I’ll take you to her.”
“How’s she doing?” asked Kristie.
“She’s pulled through,” he said with a relieved smile. “It’s a miracle.”
“It is,” replied Kristie.
“Wait a minute,” said Dave, looking back toward the van. “Where’s Paige?”
Kristie’s eyes became shiny and she couldn’t speak. She turned away to compose herself.
“We don’t know,” replied Tiny, for her. “Someone kidnapped her.”
Dave’s face fell. “Kidnapped her? Are you kidding me?”
“Wish it was a joke. Someone took her in front of the CDC earlier today, actually ran off with her. We have no idea where the bastards took her,” said Tiny.
Dave frowned. “Interesting that you said that. My wife’s friend, Carly, is also missing. She disappeared earlier today, too. We thought it had to have been zombies, but after hearing your story, I’m thinking it might even somehow be related.”
“Sounds very plausible,” said Dan, who’d been listening to the entire conversation. “From what Kris said, Carly shouldn’t have been taken down by a couple of zombies. Not when she’s survived this long and knew how to use a gun.”
“We need to keep searching for them,” said Kristie, wiping her eyes. “God, if anything happened to Paige, I just don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Babe,” said Tiny, pulling her close. “She’s alive. Have some faith.”
“You know,” said Kristie, “when this all started, I would have never guessed that the real danger wasn’t the zombies, but other living people. It’s truly a messed up world.”
“It always was,” replied Dave. “Even now, the undead can’t top the evil that still lurks in many of the living.”
15
Bryce
It took a while to convince Belinda that Luke was indeed her nephew, which was making him nervous. He knew her friends would be back soon, and when they saw him, he’d probably be a goner. The one thing he did have going for him was that Belinda was warming up to him.
A lot.
“So,” she purred, pouring both off them a shot of tequila, “you worked for my brother, huh?”
He nodded. “Just for a few weeks.”
“Mm – so what’d you think about him?”
He shrugged. “Kind of cheap but business smart.”
It was a safe answer.
“He WAS a cheapskate,” she said, raising her shot glass. “And may he rot in cheapskate hell.”
“Wow,” he said after drinking his shot. “He must have really been an asshole to you.”
She scowled. “I practically raised him,” she said, her eyes slightly glossy. “I spent most of my childhood wiping his nose and making sure he was fed. See, our dad died when we was really young, and mom, well she was always working. I mean she worked two damn jobs so we’d have a roof over our heads! Anyway, my no-good brother had the audacity to tell me to go to hell when I really needed him last year. I’d lost my job, my husband had cheated on me, and I needed some money. I asked if he could loan me a little until I got myself back on my feet and he said ‘no.’ Can you believe that crap?”
He poured her another shot and handed it to her. “That is bullshit. You don’t do that to your family,” he said as she downed the shot. “Especially to a sister who sacrificed so much for her little brother growing up.”
“You got that right,” she slurred, her eyes raking over his chest. She laid a hand on his pecs to steady herself. “By the way, I love your T-shirt.”
The way she was undressing him with her eyes indicated that she loved what was underneath the T-shirt even more. “It’s a little tight,” he replied. “Not mine.”
She caressed his chest. “You must work out. If your T-shirt’s too tight, maybe you should remove it, handsome.”
He ran a hand through his dark hair and smiled flirtatiously. “How about one more shot first? I guess I’m a little shy.”
She burst out laughing. “Oh, you are a tease, aren’t you? Okay. One more shot and then maybe we can lose my nephew for a little while and have ourselves a little ‘private’ party?”
“Maybe,” he answered, still smiling.
He poured two more shots and as she drank hers down, he quickly flung his over his shoulder instead of into his mouth. Fortunately, she was much too drunk to notice.
“Lithen,” she said, trying to focus out of the one eye she still had open. “I’m…”
Then both her eyes rolled back into her head. He caught her in his arms before she hit the floor.
“Now that’s a lightweight,” he said, relieved. “Hey, Luke?”
“Yeah?” he answered from the other end of the bar. He’d been sitting there and watching the entire time.
“She’s obviously ‘out.’ I’m going to take her back upstairs and put her into bed. We’re out of here as soon as I come back.”
“Okay.”
Bryce carried Belinda upstairs, tucked her in, and stuck her gun into the back of his pants. As he was making his way back downstairs to Luke, he heard loud voices, and his blood ran cold.
“Who in the hell are you, kid?” growled Charlie.
“Um, I’m Belinda’s nephew,” said Luke.
There was a long pause. “Is that so?”
“Hell yeah I am.”
“Tell me, kid, does your aunt know this?” asked Charlie. “Because she never mentioned you before.”
He snorted. “She was just down here talking with me. She had a couple shots of tequila and then needed to lie down.”
Bones chuckled. “Sounds like her.”
“You arrive here all by yourself?” asked Charlie. “No mommy or daddy, here?”
“I’m not two years old,” snapped Luke. “No, my mother and father are not here. They’re both dead.”
“Shit, sorry, kid. Good thing your aunt is still alive.”
“Yeah, at least I have Aunt Belinda,” lied Luke. “She’s all I have left.”
Bryce didn’t know what to do. He had a gun but there were more of them, and obviously, they were armed. He decided that Luke was probably safer if the men didn’t find him, so he snuck upstairs back into Belinda’s bedroom and opened up the window.
> “Where’ you going, sexy?” slurred Belinda, looking up from the bed as he began climbing out.
“Your boyfriend’s back,” he whispered. “Belinda, we just had such an amazing round of sex, I mean it was spectacular. Shit, he’d probably kill me if he finds us together.”
She gave him a lopsided smile. “It wath pretty damn awthome,” she slurred. “You’d better get out of here while you haf the chance. Charlie’s got a real bad temper.”
He nodded. “Take care of your nephew, Luke. He’s a good kid.”
She closed her eyes and mumbled, “Don’t worry about him. I always take care of my family, one way or another.”
***
Snowflakes and bright stars lit up the nighttime sky as he walked. They fell all around him, light and cool on his skin.
“Bryce!”
He turned around and his breath caught in his throat. A beautiful girl with long, dark hair smiled at him in the distance. She wore a flowing white dress and there was a shimmery light surrounding her pale skin.
She held out her hand, beckoning. “Come here!”
He smiled and began walking toward her. Something about this girl was so familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Hurry up, pokey,” she teased.
“I’m coming,” he replied.
Her brown eyes were dazzling and he felt something tugging at his heart as he drew closer. Just as he was about to grab her hand, she picked up the bottom of her dress and began running away.
“Wait!” he called after her.
She looked back at him and giggled. “Can’t catch me!”
He grinned and then began chasing her through the woods. He hadn’t felt so free or happy for a long time. He could spend all day chasing this beautiful little flirt.
Then he noticed the cliff.
“Wait!” he cried in horror.
She turned back toward him and laughed again. “Don’t be a chicken, come on!”
“No, stop!”
She didn’t notice the cliff until it was too late. She slipped over it as if in slow motion, and her screams of terror echoed throughout the woods. “Bryyyyccce!” she cried, reaching up toward him as her body fell toward the ocean and rocks below.
“Cassie!” he choked, kneeling over the edge.
***
Bryce woke from the dream in the early hours of the morning and stared up the street toward the bar where he’d abandoned Luke. He was responsible for putting him in such a dangerous situation, and was determined to make it right. When Charlie and his crew left again, he would rescue the boy and get the hell out of Atlanta. But for now, he’d just sit and wait. As far as he knew, he had nowhere else to be.
He ran a hand through his hair. Although he’d remembered his name, his mind was still muddled, and everything else was a mystery. Even the girl in the dream, he wasn’t sure if she was someone he used to know, or a just a figment of his imagination.
Sudden movements by the bar caught his attention. Charlie, along with his two goons, were leaving the place, and they appeared to be stumbling and drunker than all hell. Unfortunately, this time, Luke was with them.
“Going to make a man out of you yet, kid!” roared Charlie with laughter, his voice echoing down the street. “Make your aunt proud!”
“Shit,” muttered Bryce, running a hand over his face.
The four of them got into the pickup truck, and after a few minutes, it began to move down the dark streets. From the sloppy way Charlie was driving, it was fortunate that there weren’t many zombies cluttering the road, or it would have gotten really ugly.
He waited until they were far enough away, then started his engine and began following without using his headlights. As he followed Charlie, he noticed they were moving less than twenty miles an hour; zombies stumbled faster than that. It then occurred to him that the group was on the hunt for women, like they’d talked about before. The thought of that put a sour taste in his mouth.
After about an hour of driving without apparent success, Charlie changed his speed and they eventually pulled in front of a luxury hotel where they were greeted on the curb by two well-dressed men carrying assault rifles. Charlie spoke to the men for a few minutes and then finally got out of the truck, taking Luke with him. As he watched them disappear into the hotel, he experienced a dark feeling of dread.
Two Days Later…
Cassie
16
I’m not sure which woke me first, the horrifying screams, or feeling so parched that my lips felt like dried cement. One thing I knew for certain, I’d been asleep for far too long and was no longer among friends.
My eyelids felt weighted down and kept refusing to respond. When I finally managed to lift them, I thought for a moment that I was still trapped in a nightmare, because the scene unfolding near me was too horrible to be real. But then I remembered I was living in some sort of crazy zombie apocalypse and disturbing images were now the norm.
“Help…” gurgled the bloody soldier curled up just outside of my cell.
I blinked and sat up.
My cell?
His hand reached toward me but there was nothing I could do for him, even if I’d wanted to. Attached to his torso was a zombie who seemed to be relishing every morsel of the warm dinner.
“Oh, God!” I choked in horror, thankful that there were metal bars separating us.
The zombie moaned in pleasure and then lifted its rotted face, staring at me absently while chewing on a piece of the man’s flesh. That, the horrifying stench of death, and the bloody gristle smeared across the floor did me in. I soon found myself hurling violently over the side of the cot. Because there wasn’t much in my tummy, dry heaves soon followed.
“Eck…” I whimpered. I don’t know why, but puking always brought me to tears.
When I was finished spitting out the last of the acidy foam, my throat and chest were sore from heaving. I brushed away the tears and lay my head back down, closing my eyes.
Mom, I thought; aching for her comforting presence. I missed her so much and felt like the distance between us was growing every day. I knew she and my sister needed me though, so I reached deep inside and found the strength I needed to get moving. There was absolutely no time for melancholy.
Opening my eyes once again, I swung my feet over the cot and stood up on trembling legs. It was then that I noticed I was wearing some sort of hospital gown, and underneath it, I was butt-naked.
What the hell?
My mind was still pretty muddled, but I somewhat recalled struggling with Eva, and then her actually sinking her teeth into my flesh. I looked down at the back of my leg and found that the wound she’d given me was healing surprisingly well.
The zombie, only now figuring out that he had a living person with fresh blood just a few feet away from him, stood up and tried reaching for me through the bars.
The lustful hunger in the zombie’s reddened eyes stirred my temper. I glanced down at his soldier who, thankfully, was no longer suffering, and looked back up at the zombie, glaring at him. “Finish your meal before you go for seconds, you greedy son-of-a-bitch.”
The zombie growled and continued to reach for me, getting more aggravated by the minute.
I shook my head in disgust and decided to ignore him for now. Instead, I took slow and steady steps around my cell, looking for clothing or something I could use as a weapon. Not finding anything but a few empty IV bags and some Ace bandages, I knew my situation was bleak. Not only would I be pretty defenseless against the zombie, but my bare ass was hanging out. Sure, I’d been through a lot in the last few days, but my modesty was still somewhat intact.
“Hey,” hollered a shadow in the cell across from mine. It was a girl’s voice.
I took a step forward. “Hello?”
The zombie was also caught by surprise. It jerked around and half dragged its gruesome body toward the other cell.
“Get the keys, Wild,” demanded the other prisoner.
My jaw dropped.<
br />
No freakin’ way!
“Oh my God, Nora!” I cried. “You’re alive!”
She snorted. “If that’s what you want to call it. Now move your skinny ass over to the dead soldier and grab the keys so we can get the hell out of here.”
“Um, okay,” I said, moving toward the slimy mess the zombie had left of the disfigured man. I shuddered in disgust as I stuck my hand through the bars and reached for his pockets. When I touched the ring of keys, I sighed with relief.
Nora came out of the shadows and I noticed that she was also dressed in a hospital gown.
“You want some of this, zombie boy?” she taunted. Nora then turned around and shook her own bare butt at the zombie, who stared at her white cheeks in fascination.
Yeah, it was a pretty disturbing scene.
I cleared my throat and she glanced back at me while I held up the keys to show her I’d been successful.
“Good, I’ll keep him busy while you get out and pound the living crap out of him,” she said.
“Easy for you to say,” I said. “Unless I have a gun or something to stab him with, this thing won’t be easy to keep down.”
She pointed to the gun on the floor lying near the zombie. “Problem solved.”
I nodded and looked through the ring of keys. The zombie apparently heard me jingling them because it turned back toward me and made a strange gurgling noise.
“Hey, ugly,” called Nora, trying to regain his attention.
He looked back at her in confusion, probably wondering which of us to eat first.
With a mocking grin, she flicked her tongue across her arm. “Mmm… this is so yummy,” she said, licking her lips. “You want some of this, don’t you, freak-show? Yeah, come closer… come on…”
The zombie grasped the bars of her cell and started shaking them in frustration, trying to get to the snack that was just out of reach.
I quietly turned the key in my lock and swung the door open. As I tiptoed and reached for the soldier’s gun, the zombie turned to me and gave me a sickening grin.
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