The Reanimates (Book 3): The Escape
Page 24
I wanted to go out in a hug. I buried my face in his neck. We repositioned our guns so now the barrels were aimed at the back of each other’s heads.
"Okay, I think I'm as ready as I can be. I love you, Trent. One," I said, with a half-smile as I thought of Drew and Trent fishing together.
"I love you, too. Two," he replied. I hoped that he was getting an instant replay of his greatest hits, too. I hoped that he was getting a moment of comfort in the middle of all this fear and chaos.
"See you soon." My eyes were filled with tears as I tightened my arms around my husband for the last time in this life.
And together, we said, "Three."
The last thing I heard was the sharp cracks of the fired weapons, then the room went instantly black.
Drew
"What's taking them so long?" I asked with an annoyed sigh. I was mostly annoyed that my mom and dad were hanging back when they knew we were waiting on them. "They should have been through that window by now."
I checked my watch for about the tenth time, and finally went up to Lucas. "Dude, I'm gonna find out what the hold-up is. This is silly."
Lucas tried to tell me to stay put, but I wasn't having it. I was going to get my mom and dad. Didn't they realize we had a boat to catch? Lucas caught my arm but I spun out of it. "If they were your fam..." I was interrupted by the sounds of two guns being fired at the same time. One was definitely my mom's .22, and the other was my dad's .45. They never fired at the same time before.
"Mom!" I screamed, "Mom! Dad! Say something! Please say something so I know you're okay!" All I heard was the sound of the moans of the zombies. "Please guys, please say something."
They didn't say anything. They didn't say anything at all. My parents wouldn't ignore me. Why weren't they saying anything? Why weren't they answering me?
"Guys!"
Abigail stepped in front of me. "Drew, we gotta go."
"What if they're just hurt?" I asked.
Lucas said from behind me, "You know they'd answer if they were alive. Come on, son, we have to move."
Moving on felt like a huge betrayal. I didn't want to leave my parents in some warehouse. I didn't want to leave them. It was strange how small I felt all of a sudden. I was a man, but my heart felt like it belonged to a kindergartener, just dropped off for school, and not certain they would ever see their mom again. I wasn't certain either.
Lacey, with her arms around Jackson and Justin, who were moving in slow motion now that their dad was dead, said, "I know. None of you want to move, but we honor their sacrifice. They made sure their kids were safe, and we honor that."
I heard the blaring ship horn, so I turned and looked out to the window one last time, hoping to see them, but they weren't there. Lacey and Abigail were right, and I knew that we had to go, but I didn't want to move. I felt like I was wearing cement shoes while an elephant sat on my chest. I knew they were right, we did have to go, but it just sucked. I sucked in a deep breath around the elephant, and pushed it out.
"Yeah." I said, "Let's move."
Acknowledgments
Del-- Thank you for listening to me go on and on about the directions that Cali and the group were going. Your patience while I would check out on the real world while I bumbled around this zombie world is amazing, and I'm very grateful to you.
Connor-- Thank you so much for being the most awesome kid ever. You are the best.
Sarah-- My editing guru. Thank you for putting up with my crazy commas and haphazard hyphens, and thank you for being my friend even after I made you crazy.
Danielle-- Thank you for sticking with me since the beginning. You helped get these people from that small apartment complex in Southern California to Montana.
Stephanie-- Thank you for being my beta reader and all your help in getting the word out about this series.
Anne-- Thank you for being so supportive of this whole project. You've kept me inspired with your love of books and that love for a good story has been infectious.
And super important.... Thank you to all of the readers. You all kept me going with your excitement over the series. You rock!!!
Table of Contents
Copyright
To Connor--
A Whole New World
A New Hope
Home Is Where The...
Fishing Around
The Business District
Walls
Houses in Order
Radio Hello
Save The Date
Moving Home
House Clearing
Is That A Goat?
Life and Relationships
Swap Meet
Have a Cow, Man
Plague
Spaceman
Christmas Gift
Preventable Losses
The Birth of Charity
The Flotilla
A Camp Divided
Pieces in Place
The Escape Begins
Canadian Crossing
The Warehouse
Drew
Acknowledgments