Kristie sucked in her breath. “Oh, Lord.”
He turned a corner and then weaved through a couple of abandoned cars. When he reached the next corner, he took it sharp, and then floored it to the next street.
I looked back as he turned again and noticed the other vehicle still trying to keep up.
“Keep at it!” called Justice from the back. “A few more turns and we might get lucky.”
“Turn off the lights,” said Bryce.
“I can barely see as it is with the rain, but what the hell,” said Tiny, shutting them off. “Danger is my middle name.”
A few turns later, we’d lost them.
“Good job,” said Bryce.
“See,” said Tiny, grinning back at us in the rearview mirror. “Didn’t I tell you? My plans work, Dawg.”
“They’re obviously not too far away, so don’t go celebrating just yet,” scoffed Henry. “Dawg.”
“Tiny, do you know where the nearest police station even is?” I asked.
He glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “Not exactly. Fortunately, I’ve never had to deal with the police in this state.”
“Turn left up there,” said Bryce. “We’re only a few miles away. I’ll give you directions.”
“Oh, and you’ve been there?” I asked.
He smiled. “Yeah.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he teased.
I cocked an eyebrow. “What kind of a question is that? Why?”
He chuckled. “Relax. Just a couple of speeding tickets. My motorcycle has a mind of its own.” His face grew solemn. “Or at least it did.”
I reached down and squeezed his hand. “You miss your bike, don’t you?”
“I miss a lot of things,” he replied.
“Me too,” I said. “More than anything… I miss a normal life. One with my parents and sister.”
He pouted.
“And you,” I said, elbowing him playfully in the stomach. “A normal life with you, my family, and all of our friends.”
“You got that right,” said Kristie. “A normal life without zombies or assholes in white pickup trucks.”
“Speaking of,” said Tiny. “You guys keep your eyes peeled. Just in case. Hey, you getting wet from the rain back there, Justice?”
“A little. But I won’t melt.”
“Good. How’s your hand doing, Nora?” asked Tiny.
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s still bleeding, but I’ll live.”
“Good.” Tiny turned left as we all watched uneasily for the headlights while Bryce continued giving directions. When we finally reached the police station, there were three squad cars parked in the back lot, along with a few regular ones. The building, unfortunately, was dark like the rest of the city, and didn’t look very promising.
“It looks pretty empty,” said Kristie, craning her neck as we drove around the building. “Otherwise wouldn’t there be lights somewhere? I’m sure they’d have had to have a backup generator.”
“Even if this place is inhabited, I’m guessing they’d be conserving energy,” said Tiny. “Especially this late at night.”
As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a couple of familiar shadows lumbering around the garbage dumpsters. As soon as they noticed us, the zombies turned and began shuffling our way in earnest.
Frowning, Tiny backed up the SUV until the fender was up against a tall metal fence. “There, this should make it harder for any of those bastards to get in through that broken window.”
Kristie’s forehead wrinkled. “Well, let’s hope. There’s still a little clearance.”
“It will be fine,” replied Tiny.
The zombies approached the SUV in the rain, their gaunt faces slick with water. If anything, I thought they looked even more gruesome.
“I suppose we should take these two out,” said Tiny.
“I’ve got ‘em,” said Justice. He climbed out of the back window holding a baseball bat and charged after them.
“Be careful, Justice!” hollered Paige.
“See what I mean?” said Kristie. “If a big kid like him can get out, they can certainly get in.”
“He still had to inch his way out. The zombies aren’t going to figure out how to maneuver their way in,” replied Tiny.
“Let’s hope not,” she said.
“Uh, you guys better get out there and help Justice,” said Paige, watching as several more zombies rounded the corner of the precinct.
Tiny pulled a gun out of the glove compartment, stuck it into his jeans, and then grabbed a wooden mallet sitting by Kristie’s feet. “After we take care of these guys, you should be just fine waiting for us out here.” He looked back. “Hey, you coming, Gramps? I’m sure you need to stretch out your legs and relieve some pressure in your back.”
Henry didn’t answer, he was sleeping.
I picked up the crowbar. “He’s out cold.”
“Whoa, what are you doing?” asked Bryce.
I nodded toward the building. “What does it look like I’m doing? You need my help.”
He touched my arm. “Oh no… you stay out here with the girls. Tiny, Justice, and I can handle this on our own.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You don’t know exactly what’s in there. There could be a dozen zombies wandering around.”
“Even better that you stay out here,” he said.
“Look,” I said, clenching my teeth. “I think I’ve proven time and time again that I’m not a liability, Bryce. Don’t start getting all macho on me again…”
“Cassie, why don’t you just stay out here with us,” said Kristie. “I seriously think the three of them can handle it.”
“Actually, I think we should all go inside the station,” said Paige, biting her lip as Justice dislodged the bat from one of the zombie’s crushed skulls and then aimed it toward another. “What if those guys in the pickup somehow find us?”
“I hope they do,” said Nora, removing Bryce’s shirt from her hand. Seeing more blood seep out of the largest cut, she grimaced. “So I can thank them personally for this.”
“Honestly, the chances of those guys finding us are pretty slim,” replied Bryce. “I’m sure you’ll all be safer out here in the SUV.” He held out his gun to me. “Especially, if you’re armed with this.”
“Fine,” I said stiffly, taking it.
“Gross,” muttered Kristie, as a male zombie, most of his jaw exposed, began stroking the window with his tongue. “God, do they honestly think if they keep licking the glass like that, they’ll get to us?”
“Uh, someone better get out there,” reminded Paige, as three more zombies surrounded Justice. “Hurry up, you guys!”
“Paige is right, we’d better take care of these guys before they attract even more attention,” said Tiny. He opened the door and joined a very winded Justice.
“Be careful!” cried Kristie as Tiny raised the mallet and charged the nearest zombie.
“Actually, Bryce, I think they could both use a little help out there,” said Nora, wincing as Justice tripped over one of the zombies on the cement and landed on his back. Another leaped on top of him and tried gnashing at his face with her teeth. She was tall, at least six feet, and carried a lot of weight, especially for a zombie.
“You’re underestimating them,” answered Bryce. “Hell, Tiny lives for this stuff. He’s a wrestler and enjoys the challenge. Let him have some fun before I get out there and finish the rest of these guys.”
I couldn’t help but snort.
“Maybe so, but I don’t think Justice is having fun with that Amazon woman,” replied Paige, chewing on her lip.
Scowling, Justice tried flipping the zombie off of him, but her weight was too much, even for a muscular guy like him.
“Tiny! Help Justice!” hollered Paige.
Tiny, cursing loudly, ran over to Justice, picked up the zombie as if she weighed nothing more than a pencil, and tossed her into the ga
rbage dumpster.
“Nice,” chuckled Kristie.
Tiny smiled cockily and flexed his muscles.
“Mm…. mm… mm…” said Kristie. She blew him a kiss. “What a man.”
“Wild, you know, I’m not doing this to piss you off,” said Bryce, opening up his door. “Just remember that.”
“I know exactly what you’re doing,” I said, annoyed. “Trying to protect me when I don’t need it.”
Another zombie, an older fellow with dark skin and a missing upper lip, staggered over toward Bryce, his arms outstretched. Before the creature could get too close, his face met with Bryce’s right foot and he toppled backwards.
“Is that such a bad thing?” he asked, holding the zombie down with the heel of his boot. He reached down and stabbed him in the forehead. “Protecting someone I care about?”
“It is when I could be helping you.”
He wiped his knife on the zombie’s shirt and then pointed toward Paige and Nora. “They need protection too, Wild. Nora’s hand is messed up, and Paige, well…”
Paige’s, head whipped around. “Excuse me? Paige is what?”
He smirked. “Not exactly trained in self-defense.”
She raised her bat. “You want to put those words to the test, karate man?”
Bryce laughed. “No. Anyway, Wild, you know what I mean.”
Before I could answer, another small group of zombies headed toward us, growling like a pack of dogs.
“Stay inside,” ordered Bryce. He slammed the door to the SUV and began moving toward the new zombies.
“Do you ever get tired of him bossing you around?” asked Nora.
I watched Bryce as he kicked and sliced the zombies effortlessly, admiring the way his muscles flexed and glistened in the rain. Even with lack of food and nutrition, he was still pretty ripped and made my insides tingle. “Sometimes, but,” I smirked, “tell you the truth; I can’t say that I don’t mind watching him fight either.”
“Amen, girl,” said Kristie, reaching back to high-five me. “They do put on a good show. The only thing missing is popcorn.”
Nora rolled her eyes as I slapped Kristie’s hand.
“He’d better watch out for that one,” said Paige, pointing to another zombie that was growling and rushing toward Bryce.
“He’ll be fine,” said Kristie.
I watched as Bryce leaped into the air and kicked the zombie in the chin, sending it skidding across the wet cement. Relentless, it got back up and tried attacking again. Before I could even blink, Bryce threw a knife, hitting the zombie in his left eye. It fell backwards, and this time stayed motionless.
Bryce turned around and our eyes met.
Smiling, I blew him a kiss and he wiggled his eyebrow before rushing after another zombie.
Nora grunted. “Wow, such a romantic group we have here.”
Nobody said anything. I certainly didn’t, because I knew that deep inside, she was still hurting and pining for Billie.
When the guys were finished killing the last of the zombies, Bryce jogged over, opened my door, and leaned inside.
“What are you doing?” I asked, staring into his eyes.
“I need some luck,” he said, tilting his head. He slid his hand behind my neck, and I smiled as his lips pressed against mine.
I opened my mouth to his, wishing we were alone, that things were different. Then, just as quickly as it began, he pulled away, ending it.
“Don’t worry, we’ll finish this later,” he whispered, his breath warm on my face.
I sighed. “I hope sooner than later.”
He kissed the corner of my mouth. “Me too.”
“You’d better get out there before they leave without you,” said Paige.
He nodded. “I know. Look, if something happens out here, or if those guys do show up, lay on the horn.”
“Okay,” I said.
“And worst case scenario, if we get separated, go to the MOA and wait for us in the parking lot by the main entrance. Between Macy’s and Bloomingdales.”
“If we get separated?” I asked.
He smirked. “Like that’s going to happen.”
He kissed me quickly again and then slammed the door.
I watched as he joined the other two and felt a sudden pang of dread in the pit of my stomach as the rain began to pour harder.
***
Bryce
Bryce followed Tiny and Justice into the cop station. Fortunately, the lobby was clear when they entered, but the familiar rank of the undead was everywhere.
“We’ve got zombies somewhere,” whispered Tiny. “Let’s check out the back rooms. Try and find where they keep the weapons.”
“Never thought I’d enter one of these places voluntarily,” said Justice in a low voice.
“I hear you, brother,” replied Tiny.
Justice stepped over a couple of gutted rats and grimaced. “Nasty.”
Bryce snorted. “You’ve been surrounded by zombies and a few dead rats bother you?”
“Well, we used to have an infestation at my cousin’s shop. Rat shit everywhere, it was disgusting. Still hate the little bastards, dead or alive.”
“Good thing they don’t come back as zombies,” said Bryce. “You’d never sleep again.”
“No shit,” he replied.
Bryce swatted at a large spider web. He hated spiders, even more than rodents. “So, what freaks you out, Tiny?”
“A plus on a pregnancy test,” he replied, as they walked through a door marked “Employees Only.”
Justice and Bryce laughed.
“Either of you ever have any trouble with the law?”
“DUI once,” said Tiny. “After my bachelor party.”
Justice’s eyes widened. “You drove after your bachelor party?”
“I know - stupid. My bride-to-be threw a fit that night and I obviously wasn’t in the right state of mind. I drove over to her place to calm her down and was nabbed.”
“That’s a bummer,” said Justice.
“Tell me about it,” he replied. “To make things worse, I caught her cheating on me with another wrestler a couple months after we were hitched.”
“Did you kick his ass?” asked Justice.
“I wanted to at the time, believe me. He certainly got his in the end, though.”
“How so?” asked Bryce.
Tiny smiled grimly. “Well, he knocked her up right after our divorce and they ended up getting married. She ended up cheating on him, too, after the baby was born. They split and he’s had to pay child support for the last ten years. Or was paying.”
“Wow, you lucked out. At least you caught her before you had a kid together,” said Justice.
“Exactly.”
“Shit,” said Bryce, walking into a room that was clearly the station’s weapons area. “Looks like someone already beat us here.”
All of the gun safes were open and cleared out.
Tiny inspected the rest of the room. “Dammit, what a waste of time.” He sighed and scratched his head. “Well, deep down I kind of had a feeling we weren’t going to find much. Had to at least try, though.”
“Hey,” said Justice, holding up a blue shirt wrapped in plastic. “You could probably use one of these.”
Bryce grabbed the shirt, ripped it out of the package, and put it on. “It’s a little big,” he said, buttoning it. “But it will work.”
“It’s better than taunting the zombies with your man meat,” said Tiny.
Bryce shook his head and smiled. “That’s sick.”
“Hell, I’m not talking about your Johnson,” snorted Tiny. “But think about it, we’re not the highest carnivores on the food chain anymore. Man meat is in high demand, so don’t advertise what’s on the menu, unless of course, it’s your wedding night.”
Bryce grinned.
“Speaking of,” said Justice as two zombies lumbered into the room, both foaming at the mouth.
“Don’t waste bullets,” reminded Tiny
, advancing on the first zombie.
Justice grabbed a nightstick that had been abandoned and went after the second one. With a swift hard jab, he shoved it into the zombie’s decayed skull and then kicked its corpse to the ground.
“Good job,” said Tiny, retrieving his knife from the other zombie’s brain.
A horn began to blare from outside of the building.
“Shit,” snapped Bryce.
The three men flew out of the room and toward the exit.
8
Allie and Kylie
The girls rode in the back of a black limousine with the priest and Billie, who stared at them with a tense look on his face. It was still dark outside and the rain was coming down in sheets.
“Have either of you ever been in a limo before?” asked the priest, clasping his hands onto his lap. Where Billie looked ready to jump out of the limo, Father Brambati appeared relaxed.
Still frightened and confused at what was happening, both girls said nothing, only shook their heads.
He smiled warmly. “Well, who would have thought that your first ride would be during such dark times? Maybe this is a sign of much better things to come.”
“Oh, mark my words, times will be better,” said Billie.
“Why?” asked Kylie, staring at him.
“They have to get better,” replied Billie, who was holding some kind of stress ball in his hand, squeezing and unsqueezing it. “Don’t you think?”
“Every time I think they’re going to get better,” muttered Allie, “worse things happen. Like getting kidnapped.”
“Come now,” said Billie, tapping his foot. “I told you that you’d be reunited with your sister very soon.”
I’ll believe it when I see it, she thought. Right now, she still didn’t trust anything he was dishing out. Plus, he looked like he was ready to freak out any minute, especially when he looked at Adria.
“How’s she doing?” asked Father Brambati, nodding toward the baby.
Kylie, who was holding her, stared down into her face. “She’s sleeping.”
“She certainly needed that bottle,” he replied. “You’ll have to thank Jenny when we get to the mall.”
Jenny was up in the front with the limo driver, a burly guy who was bald and had plates in his ears and tattoos around his neck.
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