Divided We Rot (One Nation Under Zombies Book 3)

by Raymond Lee

  “I feel something,” Damian said, his upper lip curling.

  “A mixer would be great,” Hal cut in before Damian could say more. He had no doubt whatever Damian was feeling, it wasn’t flattering. “It’s been a long time since we could think about living normal lives. This all started about half a year ago, but it feels like it’s been so much longer.”

  “I can imagine. The mixer will be a great boost to your spirits. We have many lovely women here who are ready to start families.” David smiled at Damian. “How’s that sound?”

  “Uh, pretty good,” Damian said.

  David angled his head to the side. “I thought I’d get more excitement. Surely a young man deprived of female companionship for half a year or more should be jumping at the chance to find love.”

  “Well, actually,” Hal jumped in, “Damian had a girlfriend when this started, but she didn’t make it. He’s still mourning her. It’s rough for him to talk about it.”

  “Oh?” David asked.

  Damian’s eyebrows shot up for a second before he schooled himself, catching on. “Yeah, it’s been rough.” He lowered his head as he sniffed and rubbed his eye. “She was my Beyoncé.”

  “You were engaged?”

  “Yes!” Hal quickly said. “She was his fiancé, as he just said. You can understand how the pain of losing someone who meant so much can linger on. I’m sure Damian will love again, maybe sooner than we know, but at this time it’s probably expecting too much for him to be overly anxious to meet someone else so soon.”

  “Of course.” David nodded as he gave a sympathetic smile. “Whenever you’re ready to find love again we’ll be here to help any way we can. Elsie is an amazing matchmaker,” he added, looking over Hal’s shoulder. “Isn’t that right, Elsie?”

  She looked up from the clipboard she’d been notating while walking. “Huh? Oh, oh yes,” she said. “I’m sorry. I was doing my rounds.”

  “I was just telling our new brothers and sister here about the mixer Wednesday. Poor Damian has lost someone very dear recently, Janjai of course still needs some English lessons before we can get her matched up to someone. Looks like it’s just Hal and young Elijah we’ll be seeing smitten soon.”

  “Oh, there are some wonderful ladies here for you, Hal.” Elsie beamed up at him. “And Elijah is such a fine looking young man. I’ve already heard quite a few of our young girls giggling about him. The Baker girl just turned thirteen and she had her eye on him all through church. Her mother had to reprimand her for not focusing on the sermon.”

  “Now that would be a good match,” David said, smiling.

  “Yes, it would,” Elsie agreed. “And for Hal I think—”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Hal cut her off, “but before you go to any trouble matching me up with anyone or assigning us jobs there’s something Damian and I really need to take care of.”

  “Oh?” David looked at Elsie and frowned before returning his watchful eye on Hal. “What is it?”

  “We left friends yesterday. We were separated from them right before you and your men showed up to help us.”

  “Yes, I recall you said a female friend had been bitten and she escaped with another member of your party.”

  Hal silently cursed Damian’s blabbermouth, recalling he’d told him Raven had been bitten within hearing range of David and his men. “Yeah, well, she fell out of the truck and was surrounded before our other friend, Cruz, jumped out and ran after her. Damian thought he saw her get bitten, but we’ve been talking about it and he isn’t so sure of that. We just left them out there and it’s not right. We really need to go back and look for them, at least the friend we know for sure wasn’t bitten.”

  David shifted his feet. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Damian thought she was bitten and you were pretty surrounded when we arrived. We didn’t even see these other two. It would have been hard for them to avoid getting bitten if they were on the actual road during that mess.”

  “Well…” Hal took a deep breath and looked David square in the eye. “It’s the Christian thing to do, David. We just can’t live with ourselves knowing we left friends like that. They’re out there somewhere in need of help. Even if Raven was bitten, Cruz is still out there and if she was bitten that means he had to put her down and that’s got to be killing him. I’d hate to leave a man in that kind of pain and loneliness, especially in a world like this. Cruz is a good man and he’d be an invaluable asset here. He’s strong and brave, and he has good character. You said we could leave if we wanted to. We don’t really want to leave, but we can’t stay here knowing our friends, at least one of them for sure, is out there suffering.”

  David shared a look with Elsie. “So you want to leave and look for your friend?”

  “Just me and Damian. Elijah’s just a kid and Janjai won’t want to leave her sister’s side. We wouldn’t want her to anyway. Pim shouldn’t be stressed during this time. We’re just taking Janjai around to show her this place so she’ll feel comfortable while we’re away then we’re taking her right back to her sister. They really need each other.”

  “Family is important,” David said, nodding his head in understanding. “I can send a security unit out to look for your friends.”

  “No offense, but we didn’t survive out there through the winter by being dummies. I know my people and Cruz will not trust a group of armed men he doesn’t know. We’ve had some bad run-ins. It needs to be us. We need to go get our friends.”

  “If the woman has been bitten she can’t come here with you.”

  “I understand,” Hal assured him. “We wouldn’t even risk that. We understand how important it is to maintain the safety you’ve created here. We’d like the chance to bring our friend here and share this blessing with him, with both of them if possible.”

  “And you’re not just doing this to get out of being assigned a job, right?” David’s mouth spread into a grin.

  Hal laughed. “No. After what we’ve been through out there, having a job in here would be great, even if it’s cleaning outhouses or shoveling manure. And we wouldn’t leave any of our people here if we weren’t intending to come right back.”

  “No, I imagine you wouldn’t.” David studied him so hard Hal felt his insides were on display but he kept his cool and didn’t squirm under his unrelenting stare. “So this friend, Cruz, must be pretty special, huh?”

  “He’s like a son or a younger brother to me,” Hal said. “Family. It would be horrible and cruel for us to just abandon members of the family we created.”

  David seemed to mull this information over as he looked between them, his gaze lingering on Damian a while before returning to Hal. “At least let me send some people with you.”

  “Cruz will run the moment he sees a group of people. Damian and I will be fine alone, with our weapons returned to us, of course.”

  “Of course. We couldn’t send you out there with nothing,” David said, expression tight. “I insist on sending someone with you. At least one guard.”

  “That’s a generous offer. I suppose an extra person with us will help if we run into trouble.”

  “Then it’s settled.” David smiled at Janjai. “I know your friend must want to get back to her sister so I’ll let you finish your walk. Meet me by the front gate after breakfast. You should eat well before making the trip.”

  “That sounds great,” Hal said. He gestured toward Janjai. “Elijah will be here but we’d appreciate if you could keep an eye on the twins as well. They’re comfortable with us, but I worry about them, not understanding any English and all. It would be great if Elsie or someone else very kind like her could spend some time with them, make them feel welcome.”

  “Oh.” Elsie blushed. ‘Well, I’d love to. Maybe we can work on sight words. I could make up some cards. It’ll be fun.”

  “That would be great.” Hal said, offering her a million-watt smile.

  “Very kind offer indeed,” David said to her before he tipped his head and step
ped aside, gesturing for their group to proceed. “I think I’ve taken enough of your time. Enjoy the rest of your evening and get plenty of rest. I’ll put in a prayer that your task doesn’t take long at all so you and your friend can return before the mixer.”

  “That would be great,” Hal said, smiling as he stepped forward and made an overexaggerated gesture, indicating Janjai should follow. “We walk now,” he said, gritting his teeth together as he saw Damian squelching a smirk out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t do that any worse than you,” he told the younger man once they were out of earshot, walking along the perimeter again. “Beyoncé?”

  “I didn’t know what to say. Why’d you tell them that sob story anyway?”

  “You couldn’t tell he was fishing, seeing how we reacted to the thought of being set up with women?”

  “Yeah, I noticed that. I also noticed him and Elsie talking about setting Elijah up with a thirteen-year-old girl. Hell, you don’t think they make babies that young around here do you?”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” Hal answered. “I’ve seen other places like this where girls married at eleven.”

  “That’s fucked up, and they think gay people are the devil’s spawn? You sure we should leave Elijah here?”

  “Elijah won’t touch a girl that young and we’ll be back before they can try and marry him off.”

  “I hope so,” Janjai said quietly. “It is awful to marry someone just to survive.”

  Hal looked down at the small woman and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. She’d been through a lot, more than she even realized he knew about. He’d seen in his dreams some of what she’d endured at the hands of her husband and in the short time he knew the guy it was clear he wasn’t Mr. Wonderful.

  “So, uh, we got another problem now,” Damian said as they slowed down, deliberately taking their time each time they passed one of the guard posts along the fence. The little buildings were about the same, just small sheds with stairs on the side that led to a tiny watchtower. They’d already assumed all weapons were distributed among the posts allowing easy access for the security staff. Guards were dotted all along the perimeter but often a few of them huddled together near the posts. “We’re not leaving here without a member of the security team. I have a feeling this guard is going to be sent with us more to spy than to protect us.”

  “Yeah, I got that same feeling,” Hal said as they passed the post and quickened their step a fraction. “I also have a feeling not everyone here wants to be here. I’m hoping we get lucky and a sympathetic guard is sent with us. If not, we’ll just have to deal with him. You’re absolutely sure your friend won’t come around to helping us on the inside?”

  Damian laughed. “Trey made it abundantly clear he’s not going to help anyone do anything. I wouldn’t even trust him with telling him what we intend to do.”

  “I think Gemma can be trusted.” Hal looked down at Janjai. “It’s important you maintain your cover of not being able to speak English, especially now that we’ve worked out an in with you and Elsie, but if anything happens where you absolutely need to communicate with someone and can’t find Elijah, Gemma is the only person I’d trust.”

  “You just met her,” Damian reminded him.

  “I’m a good judge of character. Usually,” he added, recalling the signs he’d missed in his goddaughter.

  “Angela was your best friend’s child,” Janjai told him, picking up on his thoughts. “It was easy for you not to see the bad part in her. You wanted to keep her safe for your friend.”

  “Thank you, Janjai, but I shouldn’t have been so blind. It’s a mistake I’ve vowed not to make again. I really feel confident that Gemma isn’t onboard with everything going on here.”

  “So that’s the perimeter,” Damian announced as they reached the spot they’d originally started when they’d decided to walk the outer perimeter of the property, investigating the fence. “I didn’t see anywhere along here where I think they’d be keeping Leah and the front appears to be the only exit.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t notice anything that would work as a prison either,” Hal agreed with him as he changed direction, walking toward the center of the compound. “We’re going to show you the big farmhouse where David lives, Janjai. Damian’s friend made sense when he suggested isolation would be somewhere people couldn’t easily escape and the place would be guarded. David’s house is definitely guarded. We’re just going to walk past it, not too close, so we don’t draw attention. Security will be more suspicious of us than they will be of you so I want you to really look and see if you notice anything that sticks out. Damian’s friend said something about a barn behind the farmhouse. Pay attention to that.”

  “Trey’s not my friend,” Damian told him.

  “Whatever he is, he gave good suggestions on where to look.”

  They continued walking, nodding and smiling at anyone who passed them along the way. Janjai kept her eyes down, appearing demure, and barely spoke. When she did she made sure her hand covered her mouth or her face was turned away from people. They passed a chicken coop and a garage where Tim, the man who’d managed to get their wrecked truck in good enough condition to get them to the farm, sat on a balcony over the top where Hal assumed he lived with his family. A small boy played with a toy car at his feet. Tim lifted his glass of water in greeting as they passed.

  “You think they’ll let us have the truck back?” Damian asked. “I didn’t even think about how we’re getting back to where we left Raven and Cruz.”

  “It wasn’t in great condition yesterday,” Hal answered, “but it’s ours. Technically. I mean, we claimed it. I guess they’ll give it back to us or we’ll catch a ride with whoever they assign to go with us.”

  “I can’t wait to get my rock hammer back. I miss him.”

  “Him?” Hal grinned. “Did you name it?”

  “Yup.”

  “I’m afraid to ask.”

  “Dwayne.”

  Hal groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me guess. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson?”

  “No. Dwayne “The Rock” Hammer, silly. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is what I named my—”

  “Don’t need to hear that,” Hal quickly interrupted, holding his hand up, palm out. He gestured toward Janjai. “A lady is present.”

  “You saying I’m not a lady?”

  Hal stopped abruptly and turned toward Damian, hands on hips and glare at full beam.

  “Ohhhh,” Damian said, bringing his hand to his mouth as he looked around. “Forgot where I was for a second. Man, we gotta get me out of here.”

  “Ya think?” He shook his head. “My idea of having you taken to Leah is looking more and more likely whether you like it or not.”

  “I told you they might not even put me in the same place,” Damian said, walking faster in a huff. “And after that conversation we just had, you told them I was engaged to a woman so if they take me they’ll probably take you too for lying. They might throw us all in their little jail, wherever the hell it is and then what? We gonna be a bunch of sad bitches behind bars because won’t nobody be left to come save us but Pim and how badass is she gonna be with a baby hanging off her tit?”

  “Do you ever just listen to yourself and hear the things you say?” Hal asked, sighing in exasperation as they neared the farmhouse.

  “Yes, and I’m a fucking joy to be around.”

  “That’s the farm house,” Hal told Janjai as they saw it in the distance, choosing to ignore Damian. “We were inside it and the walls didn’t seem like anything special to prevent us from hearing someone screaming. I don’t want to get noticed studying it too hard so you do that for us. Damian, let’s just chat as we walk by. Look carefree.”

  “You want me to skip?”

  “No, smartass, I don’t want you to skip.” Hal saw a bird perched on a tree limb and whistled to it, taking the opportunity to appear as if he were simply enjoying the early evening air, not casing the place. “So you were a makeup
artist. Why’d you get into that line of work?”

  “I always wanted to be a pretty, pretty princess.”

  “Geez, Damian, are you trying to get captured by these people?”

  “I’m not shouting it. Relax a little bit. Unpucker your ass.”

  “My ass is not puckered,” Hal growled. “I’m not so much stressed as annoyed and worried. You’re not helping.”

  “You’d miss me if I was gone.”

  “Possibly, but I’m not willing to bet on it.” They passed by the house, and Hal nodded to a burly guard who hadn’t taken his eye off them since they’d first come into view. The guard didn’t nod or smile back and Hal felt the man’s gaze boring into their backs until they were out of view. “What do you think?”

  “I saw the house and the barn,” Janjai answered in a quiet voice. “The barn is old. The house is big. Is it a big family?”

  “I’m not sure how many children David has,” Hal answered. “I know he had a grown son with him this morning. His children and their families could live with him and his wife in the house.”

  “I do not think he would keep people he thought were very bad with his own family,” Janjai said. I saw doors from the ground.”

  “Cellar doors?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I think that is what they are called. They lead to under buildings but from the outside.”

  “They could be keeping people underground,” Damian suggested. “Like a basement-type area that isn’t actually connected to the house itself?”

  “That makes sense,” Hal said. “Let’s go to the church and then we’ll get Janjai back to the hospital and turn in for the night ourselves. I have to get holy water and we need to see if there’s anywhere people might be hidden in or around the church.”

  “That seems like it would be harder to do,” Damian said.

  “I don’t know about that. People probably wouldn’t even think about it because most people generally don’t expect such horrible crap to happen in churches. Think of all the children who have been molested by priests. Their parents practically delivered them into the hands of beasts because of who they were.”