It was kids staring at her through the iron gate. Wild looking children with warpaint and spears and there were animals standing with them. Bears and panthers and wolves. She saw foxes and monkeys. Her eyes dimmed to black and she smiled a bloody smile. Her babies would be safe, she had found a warrior tribe of feral children who would teach them to be fierce.
They watched as the woman behind the wheel slumped over and the van slowed to a crawl. The undead were halfway across the parking lot, screaming and keening in a hungry frenzy. The engine made a final wheeze and seized up, bringing the smashed-up minivan to a halt near the sidewalk. Without the grinding, gasping sounds of the motor, they heard crying and then the driver sat bolt upright. She snarled and launched herself towards the rear and whoever was in it started screaming in terror. They watched wide eyes and speechless as the thing was jerked back into its seat, held in place by rope around the steering wheel.
“GO!” Cody yelled before he could think of any of the ten thousand reasons they shouldn’t.
“Wait!” Gordon yelled but the others were already sprinting through the gate, racing the undead for the prize in the van.
“Get the kids!” Cody yelled at Harper and Vanessa. He was running straight for the fastest of the runners, Otis overtaking him in a few quick bounds. The giant bear knew who the enemy was. He could sense the unnaturalness of the screaming things, the same as the rest of them. If his master was running to kill them, then he would kill them too. Donny and Yewan passed them, the pairs speed unmatched by any one else and they met the first sprinter head on. Yewan sprang and claws like butcher knives sank fast and slashed deep. Donny’s aim was true and the next one flew off its feet when sharpened steel drove through its head. The twins thundered by riding high on Popsicle and Daisy, a battle cry on their lips and saw bladed axes in their hands. They swung them with wild abandon, their tattooed bodies as pale as their mounts, their fearlessness unmatched. The bears roared their challenge and slammed into the horde, bowling the undead aside with their huge shoulders. Cody and Otis fought side by side, claws and hammers finding faces and heads. Their mottled gray bodies broke and bled, were torn apart and crushed, destroyed with fury and rage.
The thing in the driver’s seat was thrashing wildly when the girls ran up.
“I’ll cover you, get them out!” Swan yelled and put herself between the two girls and the first of the undead running at them. She gripped her tomahawks, one in each hand and crouched, adrenaline and fear making her heart pump fast. Zero and Lucy stayed by her side, growling and snarling their warning. Their lips peeled away from long, sharp teeth as they tensed to spring. Swan had the same snarl, same wrinkled nose and same low growl in her throat. When the first one was twenty feet away, she loosed her tomahawk. It spun once and buried itself with a dull thunk into the thing’s forehead. It dropped and the second screeching woman stumbled over him. She almost got her balance again but Zero sprang at her, driving her to the ground. She snapped yellow teeth at him and he tore most of her head off when he popped her skull in his powerful jaws.
Ziggy hovered protectively around Vanessa, her throat swelling as she cried out her warnings and she danced and flapped her wings.
Harper ignored the torn lipped thing lunging at her from the driver’s seat and grabbed the sliding door handle. She could hear at least two kids, maybe three, shrieking in terror at the frothing monster only a few feet away from them. She saw the ropes digging into the flesh, peeling the skin away as the black-eyed thing jerked and raged. The blood-soaked jeans and the bite marks on her leg told the story. Harper yanked with all of her adrenaline-charged strength and the plastic handle snapped in her hand. The door was locked from inside and she almost fell over backward when it gave way. Neither girl was armed, they had both run out with nothing, hadn’t thought to grab a weapon. Harpers half-finished morning star was where she’d left it and Vanessa only had the laser pointer still gripped in her fist.
“Ziggy” she said to catch the big bird’s attention and pointed the red dot at the glass window in the sliding van door.
. Ziggy reared her head back on instinct and her long neck propelled her beak against the glass. It disintegrated into a million shards, revealing three very scared children. Tear streaked faces yelled even louder when they saw the giant eyed bird staring at them.
“Hurry.” Harper said and held her arms through the opening. “If you want to live, we have to hurry.”
She pulled each of them through the broken window as fast as she could as Vanessa pointed them towards the gate and told them to run. It was closed but Gordon was there, he’d open it. The second the last little boys’ feet touched the ground she yelled for the others to come back. It was hard to be heard over the sounds of battle but they’d been listening for the retreat order. They had killed their way through the first of the runners but the main horde was bearing down on them and was only seconds away. They couldn’t fight those kinds of numbers, they’d be overwhelmed. Cody shouted ahead to the crazy twins and Annalise acknowledged with a wave of her axe. They had aimed their bears into the heart of the horde and a thousand pounds of pissed off Polar’s were plowing them down, running full speed through the midst of them with the wild-eyed kids whooping, swinging their battle axes, screaming in defiance and sending blood sprays in high arcs.
Donny rang his spear twice with his ring, the metal on metal a signal to his panther to come. Yewan heard and obeyed. He crushed a head in his jaws then heeded the call. He ran for his pack brother. The man cub who taught him to hunt and kill. The boy who showed him his true nature.
Cody yelled for Otis and ran, he didn’t wait around to see if he followed. The horde was almost on top of them and the bear could take care of himself.
Donny caught him easily and they saw the others stacked up at the gate as soon as they rounded the van.
“Get inside!” he yelled, breathing hard. “What’s wrong?”
Are we locked out? Was the first thing that crossed his mind. How did that happen?
He felt Otis bound up beside him as they left the parking lot and ran along the walkways to the ticket takers booths. The gate opened suddenly and everyone poured through it, humans and animals alike sensing relief at being behind the fences. Away from the unnatural things. The twins came in last, only yards ahead of the horde and dismounted with a flourish as Cody and Donny rammed the gates shut and turned the lock. Mottled, weathered faces slammed against it, arms shot though, hands reached for the warm meat that was so close. The children hurried away from the mob as they stacked up, away from their cries of hunger and away from the stench of rotting bodies. Across the parking lot, dozens of broken undead crawled forwards on shattered bodies. Dozens more lay unmoving with splashed open or missing heads, snapped spines and crushed backs.
As they neared the fire pit, Cody rubbed his bears’ ears, put his forehead against Otis’s and held it there for a moment, thanking him for his help.
“We couldn’t have done it without you, buddy.” he said and tried to convey his feelings, to let his friend know how he felt. The feelings of love and relief and gratitude were almost too much. The bear sent a big wet tongue up his cheek and Cody laughed.
“Gross.” he said and wiped the slobber off.
He swung a leg over his back and gigged him closer to the others. Otis obliged for a few paces then twisted, sending him rolling towards the ground. He wasn’t like the Polar’s, he didn’t like anyone riding him.
Swan stood over Gordon with a Tomahawk in each hand, ready to sink one into his face. Zero was by her side snarling a warning and ready to rip into the boy if his mistress willed it.
“You son of a bitch, you nearly got us killed.” she shouted.
Cody grabbed her arm before she could swing
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he said and pulled her away from the boy whose lip was bleeding and already starting to swell. “What’s going on?”
“That bastard locked us out!” she yelled, pointing a tomahawk still dripping
with black blood at Gordon who was struggling to his feet.
“I had to check for bites!” he shouted right back. “One bite is all it takes to kill us all!”
“You could have checked after we were inside!”
Swan was livid and had a right to be but Gordon had a point.
“Stop it, both of you.” Cody said. “He’s right. Everybody check each other out. Swan, take Zero and go for a walk before he kills Gordon.”
“I wouldn’t shed a tear.” she said but stalked off with the wolf trailing her.
When everyone calmed down and started examining each other, Cody eyed the boy coldly.
“Never put the lives of the tribe in danger.” he said quietly.
“But…” Gordon started to protest
“Never put the lives of the tribe in danger.” Cody repeated then turned away.
Harper and Vanessa were fussing over the newcomers who were trying their best to stop sniffling and crying. They weren’t babies anymore, they’d seen things over the past few months. They’d grown up hard and fast since September. You had to or you died.
The three children stood in awe of the older kids and the magnificent animals. It was like something out of one of those movies they weren’t supposed to watch but did anyway after their parents were asleep. The chittering of monkeys caused them to turn their attention to a boy in a wheelchair. Four cute little brown furballs were hanging off of him, peeking at them with open curiosity.
“Welcome to Piedmont Animal Sanctuary.” he said, in his best impression of John Hammond, welcoming his guests to Jurassic Park. He laughed as the monkeys swarmed over them, checking their pockets and hair for something to eat or steal. Clara shrieked but it turned to a giggle and the capuchins chattering and playfulness made them forget, for just a moment, the horror they’d just survived. The foxes were curious too and came close, their inquisitive noses sniffing out the new smells, their long, bushy tails wagging happily when they started being petted. They were used to attention from hundreds of kids a day in the petting zoo but hadn’t been getting much lately. They relished the human touch and curled themselves around the trio, whining happily and licking away the salty tears.
23
Gordon and Harper
“Hi, Harper.”
She turned to find Gordon staring at her and wondered how long he’d been there. She set the pitchfork aside, brushed her long blonde hair back out of her eyes. She’d been working with Bert, mucking out stalls and lugging water buckets for the petting zoo all morning. Her back ached and her hands were calloused from the daily routine. Her clothes were dirty and in need of a good wash. She loved it. She loved the zoo and the animals, especially Bert.
Teddy, the buffalo lowered his huge head to grab a mouthful of feed pellets from his freshly filled trough. Cody had been working him all morning dragging downed trees out of the woods. The shaggy beast was old and tired and deserved his rest but not until he devoured his lunch.
“Hi, Gordon.” she forced a smile at the boy, although her patience was running thin. Most of the others didn’t even try to be nice to him anymore and the room temperature seemed to drop about twenty degrees whenever he and Swan were in it together.
He’d either skipped out on his chores or half assed them again. No way was he done this early in the day. He leaned casually against the gate post of the buffalo enclosure, hands in the pocket of his khakis. He wore a multi pocketed vest and a button-down shirt, his hair carefully combed. He looked like he was posing for an LL Bean catalog. He never wore his armor, she wasn’t even sure he had any, and all the clothes he’d taken from the surplus store were overpriced brands that didn’t hold up very well to everyday work. They were for city people who wanted to look like they were outdoorsmen. Too many pockets and zippers and buttons. He was supposed to be cleaning out Millie’s pen. Cody had taken him off of the wood chopping detail and had him working with the animals. They’d hoped he would settle in and bond with one of them. So far, that hadn’t happened.
She sighed. They’d get nothing out of him again today. Until it was time to eat anyway. Then he’d load his plate with food and return for seconds. When he was done, he would go to his room to do whatever it was he did up there.
“Aren’t you tired of this place? The flies and the crap and the creaky old house?”
“I like it here.” she said, running her hand over Teddy’s head. “It’s safe. We have everything we need, and I get to spend all the time I want with Bert.”
“Bert,” Gordon snorted. “He’s gross. Always farting and drawing flies to him.”
Harper cut her eyes at him disapprovingly.
Sensing he was losing ground, Gordon changed his tact. Even with her messy hair and dirty clothes, she was still the prettiest girl left alive. The only one who had a little something in the chest department pressing against her armor.
“Yeah, he is pretty cool to watch, maybe if you changed his diet, he wouldn’t be so gassy.”
“Maybe,” she answered.
“But, you know, there’s a whole town right down the road. There are some pretty nice houses just sitting empty. A couple of generators from the hardware store and we’d be set.” he said slyly.
“I don’t think Bert would like living in town, hitting his head on stoplights and all that. This is the best place for him and all of the other animals too.”
“It’s not too far to visit.” Gordon pressed. “They could stay here, we could live in town. Have you seen the stuff just sitting in the jewelry store? There’s gold necklaces and diamond earrings and platinum watches just waiting to be plundered.”
“I don’t care about that kind of stuff.” she shrugged, wiped her hands on her dirty tactical pants and armor pads. “It’s kind of useless, really.”
“Yeah, but surely you’d rather wear something besides those clothes and hockey pads.”
“They’re comfortable, and once you get used to the pads, they aren’t so bad. You should get you some, just in case the zombies ever get inside the gates.” she told him.
He scoffed. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in those rags.”
He tugged at the hem of his vest, trying to draw her eyes towards him. She obviously had the hots for him. She never looked him in the eyes. She was hiding her feelings. Probably didn’t want to break Cody’s heart, he thought smugly. He knew they all but worshipped Mr. High and Mighty.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is, we should leave, just you and me. You can come back anytime you want and visit Bert. We’ll live it up, eat good food, have hot water and surround ourselves with all the finest things. Sooner or later someone is going to come through and rescue us. We can move into one of those fortified towns and live like civilized people. If we stay out here, we’ll miss them.”
His tone was sharp, almost condescending. He’d watched his Dad reduce people who owed him money to tears and begging with the same tone and he copied it the best he could. Maybe she just needed a firm hand to get her priorities straight. Maybe she needed to be told what to do.
“You think we aren’t civilized?” she smiled, but there was no warmth in it.
“No, not you,” he said, backtracking a little. “These other kids. Sleeping and eating with the animals. It’s just nasty. You deserve better than that. You deserve better than that creepy house. It makes so much noise I can barely sleep for all the creaking. It’s going to fall or burn down someday; I don’t want you to be in it when it happens. That’s all. We should think about going someplace better.”
“I’ll be just fine, Gordon. We’ll be just fine. I don’t need to be rescued and I don’t want to live in town, there’s no protection from the zombies if they wander through. We have a good life here, and you could too if you tried just a little.”
Harper wanted him to join them, not be an outsider. She wanted for everyone to get along and be happy. For everyone to do their fair share, it wasn’t that hard if everybody pitched in and helped.
“It doesn’t matter who
you were before this happened.” she continued. “All that matters is who you are going to be. I don’t want to go to a fortified town and have people trying to tell me what to do. I’m not going to give up Bert or go back to being a cheerleader. My parents are dead. All of my family are dead. If we did find a town, they would put me in foster care or something and split everyone up. This is my family now, Gordon. It can be yours too, if you would try. We don’t ask for much, just do your part.”
Gordon shook his head and she could see he would never understand the gift they’d been given. He would never be happy living like animals as he thought of it. He wanted the old world back but it was gone. She almost felt sorry for him.
“Look, I’ve got a lot of work to do and you probably do too.”
Bert strolled lazily towards them. The giraffe angled slightly in his direction, in an attempt to mash him between his body and the gate. Gordon stepped swiftly aside. He wasn’t finished talking to her but the stupid giraffe filled the space between them and put his back towards Gordon. He lifted his short tail and dropped a load of manure in the boy’s direction. Gordon jumped out of the way but didn’t avoid getting dung splattered on his pants. He hated the giraffe.
Harper stepped around him and headed for the barn with Bert following close behind. Her bodyguard. He gritted his teeth in frustration but grabbed the pitchfork and headed over to knock out the jobs Mr. High and Mighty had assigned him for the day. Putting on his best clothes had been wasted on her, she hadn’t even noticed. He’d play along, though. He’d bide his time and wait for his chance. He’d prove to her once and for all that he was the man for her. Once he got her away from all this drudgery and back to civilization, she’d change her mind. She’d never want to come back and he certainly never would. Not unless he had a gun to put a bullet in Bert’s head.
24
Gordon
Gordon was miserable and smelled like animal dung. He’d been trying for a week or so but his plan of going along to get along was just too much work. He hated it here. It was cold, his room was drafty and he never seemed to be able to get Harper alone. If he didn’t know any better, he would think she was avoiding him. Sure, this place was maybe a little better than the room where he’d been trapped for months but not by much. Or weeks, as they kept correcting him. Whatever. It felt like months. He had nothing in common with the others. After his little talk with Harper he’d tried to fit in but he was simply too civilized to be with these people. They all thought they were Tarzan or something the way they ate, slept and bathed with the filthy animals. Hell, they were becoming animals. Even the new kids were running around with the foxes and wolf cubs like they were harmless puppies, not dangerous animals that could turn on you. It only took them a week and they were nearly as savage as the rest of the idiots.
The Feral Children [A Zombie Road Tale] Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 15