The blade was shiny and clean. I could tell by its pristine condition that he'd spent time sharpening and oiling it while I was locked down in the loony bin. I turned the blade over in my hands.
After that, we'd gone to see Benji in the canteen. He'd practically jumped over the counter to greet us, giving me a big hug, then standing back and saluting me when his superior officer chastised him.
“Look what I found,” he said in an excited, breathless voice as he held up a new comic book. “It's the Justice League.”
“Glad to see nothing's changed,” I teased him.
He didn't try to ask me about the incident with Simon the Apache at the mall, and I was glad not to have to lie to him. Felicity on the other hand kept bringing it up until I cracked. One look in her sea foam eyes and I knew there was nothing I could keep from her. For the first time in my life I was in love.
“Moto doesn't have as much power as you think,” I said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that he's not going to be able to keep them from shipping you off to Vegas when the General gets tired of you distracting his men with all your charms,” I said.
“I'm not distracting them,” she protested.
“Really?” I pointed off in the distance where a bunch of soldiers that had been sitting and watching us quickly turned and pretended to be working again. “Are you sure about that?”
“I can help out around here too, you know,” she pouted. “If that's how it's going to be then I will enlist like you did. Is that what you want?”
“No,” I said. “Honestly I don't. There is no guarantee that they'd let you stay here at this base even if you did join up. You'd be completely at their mercy. In all likelihood, they'd send you off to the clean zone to supervise civilians and we'd be right back where we started.”
“I don't want to leave you,” she purred, leaning over and planting a kiss on my cheek that I could feel through my whole body. In the distance I heard one of the men whistle.
“There is another way,” I said sheepishly, the words turning to sand in my mouth.
“What is it?”
“We could get married,” I offered, unable to look at her. “If you were my wife then they would have to let you stay with me here. They wouldn't be able to separate us.”
I turned and faced her. She looked like she was fighting back tears.
Cat's out of the bag, I thought. No going back now.
“Listen,” I said, “I know we are both young but the world has changed. People used to get married at our age back when life was shorter, younger even. I can't imagine losing you again. I don't want to be separated. It's the only way.”
My heart beat hard in my chest. I hadn't felt this afraid taking on a zombie horde. It felt like an eternity without words. I wished I had died for real as I waited for her response. For a moment I thought the embarrassment of her impending rejection might just do the trick and finish me off.
“Are you serious?”
I looked her dead in the eyes. I couldn't read her reaction. Her gaze was intense and unblinking as it met mine.
“Yes,” I said. “I am. I don't know what it is about you but you've been under my skin from the minute you threatened to kill me with a shotgun. What can I say? I love you, Felicity Jane. Will you marry me?”
I didn't have to wait long for her reply this time. She threw her arms around my neck again and began crying on me. She squeezed me tight and then pulled back and kissed my neck over and over again.
“So is that a yes?”
“Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!”
I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Felicity pulled back and I kissed her hard on the mouth. It was amazing. I couldn't wait to be able to tell Moto. The base had a working chapel. We'd have the ceremony there with a small group of my brother's friends, the General perhaps, and Benji, of course. Felicity could get a job on the base and we'd see each other at night after I was done with my training and rounds. Things weren't so bad after all. Everything was finally going to be okay.
I leaned in and kissed her again, feeling that amazing sensation of time standing still as our lips touched for a thrilling few seconds. Loud air sirens wailed and pulled us from our perfect moment. They echoed off every side of the base. Standing up, we could see what looked like a huge dust cloud in the distance heading straight our way. After a moment it became clear that there were thousands of people out in the distance moving toward the base at a slow, steady pace.
“Is that what I think it is?” There was a note of wonder and awe in her voice as she spoke.
“Yep,” I said matter-of-factly. “It's a massive zombie horde. The biggest I've ever seen.”
“What do we do now?”
“Now,” I said, reaching out and taking her hand in mine so that our fingers laced together, “we fight.” I held my blade in my free hand and watched in awe as the first wave of the dead crashed through the electric fence and began slowly pressing forward in our direction.
-The End-
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank my loving and supportive wife Angie. Without her constant encouragement this book wouldn't be possible. Thanks also to Troy Fuss, Don Salerno, Ani Arakelyan, Google, and my hardworking editor, Patricia Bains-Jordan. Thanks to Rob Sacchetto for providing the AMAZING cover art illustration. Check out @ZombiePortraits on Twitter for more of Rob's work. Last but not least thanks to Buddha for inspiration and support.
The majority of this book was written while listening to Appetite for Destruction by Guns & Roses. Rewrites and edits were done to Metallica, Marilyn Manson, and Bob Marley.
Look for the next book in the series- THE HUNGRY DEAD — coming soon!
For more of my work and to keep in touch with me visit http://devansagliani.com.
Follow me on Twitter @DevanSagliani.
Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde Page 27