“It looks like they didn’t find her friends,” Nerit said somberly.
“It’s too dangerous out there anyway,” Travis decided.
At that exact moment, Jenni broke from the others ran for the abandoned truck. Katie immediately knew what Jenni was planning. She was almost out of shells, so she tore off her rifle and grabbed the pistol in Travis’s holster.
“Katie,” Travis gasped.
“I can’t let her go alone!” Katie answered, shoving the pistol into her belt.
Before anyone could stop her, Katie lowered herself over the wall. After making sure there weren’t any zombies too close to her location, she dropped. She hit the ground just as Jenni slid through the blood and muck to her side.
“I’ll drive,” Katie informed her.
Jenni grinned and dove into the front seat of the truck, and Katie followed.
Chapter 8
Grabbing the passenger door, Jenni hauled it shut as Katie did the same. The zombie pack was closing in. “We need to go, Katie.”
“On it.” Katie started the engine and shifted gears.
When the group had abandoned the vehicle, they had left all the doors open, which meant the rear ones were still ajar. The momentum of the pickup lurching forward helped drag the two doors to a close. Before the one behind Jenni could shut all the way, it banged into a female zombie lunging into the cab. The zombie’s bloody, bitten hands scrabbled at the back of Jenni’s seat. The determined zombie clung to the headrest with one hand while thrusting the other at Jenni. The undead creature’s feet dragged on the ground as the truck accelerated.
“Jenni,” Katie gasped.
“I got it!”
Avoiding the grasping hand straining to reach her face, Jenni scooted around on her seat with the crowbar clenched in her sweaty hands. The zombie’s head was obscured by the headrest, so Jenni used the end of the crowbar to attempt to pry its fingers off the seat. The zombie’s grip on the chair was unrelenting, so Jenni decided on another tactic. The zombie’s bloody, broken teeth were visible in the gap between the headrest and the seat. Attempting to wedge the crowbar into the crack, she grunted when it got stuck. The zombie’s hand flailed far too close to her cheek as Jenni struggled to liberate the crowbar.
“Fuckin’ puta!”
“I’m going to take a hard turn to try to knock her loose.” Katie’s voice was clipped with worry.
Jerking the crowbar free, Jenni braced herself with one hand on the door. “Do it.”
Katie spun the wheel, taking a corner far too fast for comfort. Jenni slammed into the door, and the crowbar dropped from her grip and into the space between the seat and the door. The zombie had the sense to grab onto the back of the chair with both hands and managed to hold on.
“I hate the fresh ones! They’re too damn smart!”
“Shoot it, Jenni!”
“I can’t with the truck shimmying like this!”
The truck was weaving through a loose collection of zombies shambling along a side street. “Trying to avoid zombies, Jenni!”
“Trying to kill a zombie, Katie!”
Jenni squeezed her hand between the door and seat, fumbling for the crowbar while dodging the thrashing arm of the zombie. Its fingers tugged on her hair, and Jenni cussed at it angrily. Katie yanked the pistol from her belt and tried to aim at the zombie’s head. The action drew the zombie’s attention to Katie, and it lunged toward her. Its snapping teeth almost closed on her fingers.
Katie jerked her hand away in time. “Fuck!”
“Watch the road! I’ll get this bitch!”
Grabbing the lever at the base of the seat, Jenni scooted her seat back as far as it would go, pinning the zombie against the bench in the rear of the cab.
“Ha! Gotcha!”
Able to reach the crowbar now, Jenni freed it from where it had been caught. The snarling zombie savagely beat on the back of Jenni’s seat, attempting to get free.
“Fuckin’ bitch,” Jenni hissed.
Setting her knees far apart to stabilize herself, Jenni stabbed the zombie’s head over and over again. At last, the creature stopped moving.
“Is it dead?” Katie asked, taking another sharp turn.
Surveying the bits of brain clinging to the end of the crowbar, Jenni experienced both satisfaction and the urge to throw up. “Yup. And she’s super-fresh. Yuck.”
“Julie said there’s people still on the roads. A group must have been overrun near the town.”
After scooting the chair back into place, Jenni climbed into the back, shoved the dead zombie out, and pulled the door shut. Blood and brains were everywhere. “I’d hate to be the one to clean this out.”
“We’re nearing the gas station where they were headed. I need you up here.”
Rejoining Katie in the front, Jenni tried to wipe her hands off on the side of the seat. “Ugh. I need wet wipes.”
“Jenni, I need you to focus.” Katie’s voice was pure steel.
“Gotcha. Focused.”
Only Katie could talk to her so brusquely and not meet Jenni’s wrath. The years of Lloyd’s abusive and absolute control made Jenni resistant to taking advice or orders. It didn’t help that people often didn’t value Jenni’s opinion or take her seriously. Like Lloyd, people often just saw Jenni’s beauty and not the woman beneath the pretty face. Often, it was assumed that Jenni wasn’t too smart because she was attractive.
The memory of his face and voice made Jenni feel helpless, and she struggled against the dark well of despair that always threatened to swallow her when she remembered the past. Jenni had spent her twenties not only being beaten by Lloyd but having every part of her life controlled by him. A strict diet and daily exercise routine created by her husband had helped her maintain the look he preferred. Even her hairstyles and clothing were dictated by his approval. He would’ve lost his shit if he saw how she dressed now.
The thought made her smile.
The snapping of Katie’s fingers in front of her face brought Jenni back to the present. “Jenni. Focus.”
“Sorry,” she muttered.
Katie’s green eyes seared into Jenni. The look made Jenni bristle, but it was also a lifeline. Jenni didn’t want to disappoint her best friend.
“I need you here, Jenni.”
“You have me,” Jenni promised.
Katie slowed the truck as she talked. “We’re almost to the gas station. I need you to keep an eye out. There are zombies all through this area.”
The zombies wandering across the road were the slow kind. The elements had destroyed most of their human features, and to Jenni, they looked like bad Halloween decorations. As the truck roared past them, the undead pivoted about to follow. As usual, the dead always formed a parade behind the living. Jenni fought the impulse to do a beauty queen wave to a cluster they passed. She was feeling wild and untethered again, which was not a good thing. Reaching out, she rested her hand over Katie’s on the steering wheel.
As always, Katie seemed to understand and gave her fingers an encouraging squeeze.
Focusing on their surroundings, Jenni looked for any sign of a living person. There weren’t any huddles of feasting zombies, so that was a good sign. The world looked so different now that most of humanity was dead. She never quite got used to how empty it looked. The windows of the empty buildings reflected the headlights. If someone was hiding, they should be able to see the truck. The fort lights glowed above the buildings, so Julie’s comrades had to know that survivors were nearby. Maybe they were on their way to the fort, but what street would they use?
The gas station loomed out of the murky night, the front doors open. The shelves had been stripped bare when the proprietors had joined the fort. The men seeking medicine wouldn’t have found anything inside.
Jenni sat up straighter, withdrawing her hand from Katie’s. Chewing on the inside of her bottom lip, she scanned the area, twisting around in her seat to make sure she missed nothing. Katie drove as slow as she dared while circli
ng the block.
“I’m only seeing dead things,” Jenni mumbled.
“Me, too.” Katie hesitated, then added, “They might be dead, Jenni.”
“I know,” Jenni reluctantly admitted. “But I can’t give up yet. Those kids need their daddy. He was willing to risk himself to save them.” The stab through her gut was almost unbearable. She swallowed, trying to kill the knot that formed in her throat.
After seeing Lloyd eating Benji, she’d run down the stairs with Mikey at her heels and...
“Jenni,” Katie said, once more pulling her back and anchoring her from the abyss.
Blinking away the wetness in her eyes, Jenni concentrated on the buildings and empty lots drifting past the window. Then she saw something.
“There! Katie!”
There was a snarl of zombies clawing at a utility pole while gazing upward. The zombies on the street had been drawn to the spot, so the rest of the road was relatively clear. The pole was partially obscured by a tall pecan tree, so Jenni wasn’t able to see what or who had attracted the dead. It wasn’t likely to be a squirrel or cat. Zombies ignored animals.
“That has to be them,” Katie decided and dimmed the lights as the pickup slowed to a crawl.
The growling zombies were so intent on their possible prey above their heads, they didn’t even turn about to look at the approaching vehicle. The undead had a tendency to hyper-focus on prey, which could be either good or bad. The heft of the crowbar in Jenni’s hand was reassuring, and the need to kill boiled in her gut.
“Melee weapons, not guns,” Katie suggested. “Unless necessary.”
“Same as before,” Jenni agreed.
Drawing her machete, Katie brought the vehicle to a stop. “Leave the doors open.”
“Okay.”
Jenni’s door creaked as she propped her foot against it to keep it ajar. Glancing at Katie, she was comforted by the determined look on the other woman’s face. In silence, they joined hands for a few seconds. Katie gave Jenni a small, encouraging smile.
“Let’s go kill zombies, Jenni.”
Together, they burst out of the truck.
Chapter 9
Arms aching, muscles in her back burning, Katie raised the machete over her shoulder and slammed it into the head of one of the zombies clustered at the base of the utility pole. There were less than a dozen of the shambling creatures, but the women would have to move fast to kill them while they were still distracted. Once the zombies focused on the two women, it would be harder to kill them. Plus, every second risked more arriving.
Jerking the blade free, Katie swung and sliced off the head of another shriveled zombie. A taller, burlier one started to shuffle about to face her, but Katie brought her weapon down on its head, cleaving it in two.
Close by, Jenni was stabbing zombies viciously, then kicking their falling bodies to the side. The remaining four continued to paw at the pole. Jenni punched the end of the crowbar through the back of the skull of what may have once been a teenage boy, but it was hard to tell. Katie dispatched another zombie, then shoved another onto the growing pile of bodies. Planting a foot on its back, she hacked at its head.
The disturbing meaty noise of Jenni’s crowbar perforating the heads of the zombies announced the death of the last of the undead. To make sure all were dead, Katie delivered a few more whacks to each of the bodies surrounding her while Jenni did the same.
At last, it was over.
The women lifted their heads at the same time to see what had drawn the attention of the zombies.
“Crap.”
A zombie was near the top of the pole, partially tangled in one of the lower lines. Its arms dangled at its sides, and it took Katie several seconds to realize it was dead. Studying the sidewalk, she saw a red puddle had formed from the steady fall of droplets.
“Hello?” Jenni called out cautiously.
The tree branches creaked and moaned overhead.
“Is anyone there?” Katie thought she saw someone in the upper boughs.
Silence.
“I can see you. Hello!” Katie waved, but there was still no answer.
“Are you sure you see someone? Maybe the zombies were dumb and after one of their own,” Jenni whispered.
The more Katie studied an area close to the trunk, the more she was convinced someone was there. Glancing at Jenni, she nodded her head. “Yeah. I’m sure someone is up there.”
“Then why aren’t they answering?”
Remembering Julie’s paranoia and her story about losing a child to marauders, Katie decided on a different approach. “We know you’re up there. We’re here to save you. Julie sent us.”
There was a rustle in the branches, almost as if someone started in surprise.
Jenni widened her eyes. “Well, that seems like an answer...”
“Keep an eye out for zombs,” Katie whispered to Jenni.
Jenni answered with a slight bob of her head before directing her focus to their surroundings.
Lifting her head again, Katie waved up at the shadow in the tree. “Julie and the kids are back at the fort. It’s the fort lights you see above the buildings. We’re fortified. We have a wall, shelter, food. The mayor of Ashley Oaks and his city manager are in charge, but we also have law enforcement officials. It’s a safe place.”
“You’re not lying?” a low, weakened male voice asked. “My kids are safe? Julie is safe?”
“No, I’m not lying. I swear. We rescued Julie and the kids.”
“I heard gunshots,” the man mumbled.
“That was us. A zombie herd came into town when they heard the baby crying. Alice is her name, right? Are you Rob or Alan?”
“Rob’s stuck on the pole. I had to kill him. I’m Alan.”
“Alan, we need to get you down and back to the fort.”
A long, weary sound issued forth from the figure in the tree. “I can’t go with you.”
A sick feeling settled into Katie’s gut. “Why not?”
“I’m bitten. Rob bit me. We were attacked and barely escaped by climbing up the pole. I didn’t realize he was infected. He bled out. I tried to get to the tree and...You get the picture.” Alan sounded shattered and a bit angry.
“I’m sorry,” Katie said, not sure what else to say.
“No,” Jenni hissed. “This can’t be! It’s not fair.”
“Jenni, calm down,” Katie whispered.
Tears were in the other woman’s eyes. “But we found him, and he should be reunited with his family. He can’t be bitten! It’s not fair!”
“This isn’t about you or what’s fair.” Katie gave Jenni her fiercest look.
“You don’t understand,” Jenni groused.
“Yes, I do.”
With a furious look on her face, Jenni stalked off to stand nearby, glowering at the world.
Jenni’s need to save the father of the two kids at the fort made perfect sense to Katie, whether her best friend believed that or not. Jenni and her stepson were the only survivors of their family. The compulsion to save other families made perfect sense. Katie had her own driving need because of how Lydia had died. That need was to allow the man a chance to say goodbye and give him final peace.
“Alan, I can deliver a message to Julie and the kids. I can also...” Katie pulled the firearm she’d taken from Travis and held it up for him to see. Killing the zombies was one thing, but killing a human was not easy. The first time, she’d done it out of fear. Now, she was going to do it out of mercy. “I can…you know…”
“Yeah.” The word was barely a sigh on the wind.
The branches of the tree trembled, and the wood creaked as the man made his way to the ground at a very slow pace. When he finally dropped down the last length, he grunted with pain. Bathed in the shadows looming under the cedar tree, he hesitated. Katie waited, her hand with the pistol dangling at her side.
“This is all so damn hard,” Alan mumbled, then timidly stepped into the light. His beard and hair were shaggy from mont
hs of neglect and gave him the appearance of a wild man, but his sorrowful eyes were kind. Battered, bruised, and bleeding from several bites on his arm, he stared at the two women. “We were so close to rescue, but we didn’t know.”
“It’s not your fault,” Katie said reassuringly. If only the fort hadn’t been blacked out on purpose, Alan, his kids, and his friends may have reached safety together.
Jenni was silent, but Katie sensed she was fuming. Not at Alan, but the universe.
Drawing a battered wallet out of his jeans, Alan held it out to Katie. “It has photos of me, the kids...their mother. When this all went to shit, I wrote them a letter and put it inside, too. I knew that if I was dead, they probably would be too, but I wanted to tell them how much I love them.”
“I understand.” Katie slid the wallet into her back pocket.
“Please tell Julie that she’s been one of the best friends a man could ever have. She’s been like a sister to me in the bad times, and I know she’ll take good care of my kids.” Tears streamed down Alan’s face. “She’s good people. Please make sure she’s treated right.”
“You have my promise,” Katie replied.
In the dimmed lights of the pickup, Alan looked pale, sickly, and almost like a zombie already. Katie flashed back to Lydia and the moment Katie had fled instead of killing the thing her wife had become. Regret was a heavy, ugly leech on her soul.
“Anything else?” Katie asked.
Alan shook his head. “No, just that you make it qui-”
Katie lifted the gun and fired.
“It’s not fair,” Jenni muttered angrily.
“No,” Katie agreed, “it’s not.”
Chapter 10
It was anti-climactic returning to the fort. Jenni sat in the passenger seat scowling at the zombies staggering toward the fort lights while Katie drove in silence. When they reached the wall, it was apparent that the runners were all dead and only the sluggish zombies remained in greatly diminished numbers. Several construction workers were using long poles to push the zombies away from the wall to keep them from piling up.
It was easier than Jenni expected to get back inside. Katie parked far from the gated entrance to avoid several pockets of the undead. One of the sentries lowered a ladder, and it only took seconds for the two women to scramble over.
Deadly Night: Jenni and Katie's Untold Tale: A Short Story From the As The World Dies Universe (As The World Dies Untold Tales Book 4) Page 5