Harriet raised a perfect eyebrow and his eyes strayed from her face to her tits where they pushed against her t-shirt. He held his breath.
‘We will discuss it. I don’t like the thought of returning either so perhaps a new way might be best.’
She turned, dismissing him with a wave of her hand, and he watched her go again. He could watch her go all day. He needed to get ready and collect some devices. He would head down the tunnel, recharge, and speak to Az, then head out somewhere new. Just him and thirty of the hottest women he’d ever met.
He pushed the door open and froze. Bayleigh and Alex stood in the corridor, chatting in hushed voices. He needed to get out of here without them seeing him. Then Alex looked up and raised a hand.
‘Hey, Jackson, where’ve you been? The device is missing from reception. Can we talk to you for a minute?’
Bayleigh
Jackson strolled towards them. He looked casual enough, but his eyes remained fixed on the floor. She was always inclined to believe the best of people, but she struggled with Jackson. She struggled to believe anything good about him at all. The way he looked up, like a kid waiting for his parents to spank him, made it even harder.
How he could look like a little kid when he stood head and shoulders above her she didn’t know. But he was up to something. Fortunately, perhaps, Alex spoke first.
‘The device has gone from reception and we think the soldiers took it.’
‘That’s weird. I just checked and it was there.’
‘Just? When’s just?’
‘Like, five minutes ago.’
Bayleigh almost set off down the corridor to check herself. ‘You’re sure it was there?’
‘It was there, alright? I’m not blind.’
Bayleigh held her hands up. ‘Hey, easy, it’s fine.’ What the hell was happening? ‘Could Harriet have put it back?’
Alex shrugged. ‘Maybe. What was the point of it all though?’
‘To get you killed?’
Alex turned pale and put his hand on the wall. ‘I don’t think so. We’re been getting on pretty good. I mean…’ He trailed off, blushing, and she did a u-turn in her mind. He was supposed to be the good one, but with one look he’d become just another guy. Nothing unexpected really, but it still hurt. She went to ask about the device again but found different words coming out of her mouth. ‘Is she really all that?’
‘Uh, well, I mean—’
‘She’s all that. Trust me, she’s fine.’ Jackson nodded and smiled as he spoke. Bayleigh could imagine the crude gestures he’d be making with his hands if he thought he’d get away with it. Alex’s blush deepened and spread to his forehead. It was half cute and half really annoying.
‘Fine, whatever. She wasn’t trying to get you killed. So what was the point in stealing it then putting it back?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t think it was her. I know you don’t like her, but she wouldn’t do that.’ Alex sounded like he was pleading. Bayleigh sighed. ‘God help me. Being pretty doesn’t make you a nice person.’
‘Hey, I’m not saying she’s a shining example. I’m just saying, I don’t think it’s in her nature to do something that could get someone else killed.’
Bayleigh harrumphed, but he was quite possibly right. She didn’t know Harriet except as an annoyingly pretty woman with an unhealthy interest in God, but she hadn’t displayed signs of wanting to kill any of them.
‘You’re sure it’s back in the drawer?’
Jackson curled his upper lip and snarled at her.
‘Fine, fine, okay. How about the other four, when did we last check them?’ Shrugs all round. ‘Right, we check them and meet straight back here. Watch for any zombies that might have come in.’
‘There were four dead downstairs, who was that?’ Jackson asked. Like it mattered.
Alex raised a hand. ‘I did one and Dave did the other three.’
‘Dave bagged three zombies? Not bad at all. And you got one. About time.’ Jackson patted Alex on the arm and strolled away, smiling broadly. Bayleigh leant close to Alex.
‘You know how you feel about him? That’s how I feel about Harriet.’
She stalked away before he could reply. Stupid bloody woman with her perfect skin and boobs and every other bloody thing. It didn’t matter how pretty she was, she was perfectly capable of being a psycho.
Bayleigh’s device was where it should be and still warm. She wandered back to the private room, head spinning as she tried to sort through everything Harriet had said.
Could she really have that much of an issue with someone who’d saved her life? Apparently she could. That alone was worthy of the loathing and annoyance Bayleigh felt towards her. It was selfish and arrogant and those things didn’t sit well at all.
She reached the private room first and crept past to the door of the main room. Ten of the ladies were in there, reading magazines or chatting quietly. Sophie sat in the far corner with her feet up on the chair and her knees pressed into her chest. She held her phone at arms length beside her feet.
‘Hey, how you doing?’ Bayleigh said as she reached her.
‘Oh, hi Bayleigh—’
‘Call me Bay, if you want.’
‘Oh, sure, thanks.’
‘Do you know what’s going on?’
‘Going on?’
‘With Harriet and her…’ Her what? Gang? Cronies? ‘Her group.’
‘Oh.’ She looked back at her phone and Bayleigh knelt beside her. ‘Sophie, I’m worried. If you know what’s going on, please tell me.’
Sophie looked at her, big brown eyes that looked ridiculously young pleading with her not to ask.
‘Come on. This matters.’
‘I think they might have said something about leaving? But I don’t know where to or how or anything. I didn’t hear that.’
Was she really older than Krystal? Bayleigh sighed and stood. ‘Thanks, really.’
She walked away before she could snap at Sophie. It wasn’t her fault. It was bloody Harriet’s. She’d stirred it all up and now she had some power. Bayleigh knew girls like that. There’d been a few in school and she’d been thrilled the day she left and got away from them. Then she became the boss and forgotten all about them. Yet here she was again.
She left the room, checking faces on the way. She recognised most, all lovely people. But then, all one hundred were lovely people. She was still struggling to find negative things about any of them. Except their perfect skin. That she could bitch about till the cows came home. Except she had no one to bitch about to. Layla would have understood.
Alex was waiting and shook his head as she approached. ‘Both still there, both still working.’
‘I don’t understand. I don’t get it—’
‘So what’s Jackson up to?’
‘You saw it too?’
‘How could you miss it? For a guy who used to be a criminal, he’s got the worst poker face I’ve ever seen.’
She chuckled and nodded. ‘I don’t like it when he’s up to something.’
‘I’m not sure any one does.’
He stopped talking as Jackson rounded the corner. The big man dug his hand in his pocket and pulled a device from it. ‘Here’s the plan. I’m gonna take two of these into the cavern and charge them up. Then I’ll do the same for the other three.’
He walked right by them and Alex, despite his past experience, grabbed his arm. ‘You can’t do that.’
Jackson spun and Bayleigh in turn grabbed Alex’s arm. ‘You can’t stop him.’ She said.
Alex shook her hand away. ‘I can and I will. You can’t take the devices, it leaves us unguarded.’
‘Not any more, mate, not now you’ve found your inner hunter. You’ll be fine.’
He threw him a bright smile and stomped away down the corridor.
‘Jackson, wait up, hold up.’
Jackson kept walking and Alex rushed to catch him. ‘Alex, be careful, don’t do anything stupid.’ She called after him.
>
He waved a hand and said something she didn’t catch. She longed to follow, but she had someone else to talk to. She headed into the bedrooms, small hospital rooms with eight beds crammed into each making a raft of mattresses. In the third was Harriet.
She was cramming underwear into a tiny bag and jumped when Bayleigh said her name.
‘Where are you going?’
Harriet didn’t answer and Bayleigh was about to scramble onto the beds and grab her when she turned and sat amongst the sheets.
‘I’m leaving. Some of my sisters are coming with me.’
‘Why?’
‘You know why.’
‘Harriet, where will you go? You can’t go back to the soldiers, please tell me you aren’t going back there?’
The girl kept her eyes down cast and Bayleigh hissed. ‘They’ll rape you. You know that, right? They kidnapped you using drugs and kept you unconscious while they unleashed a plague that killed pretty much everyone on Earth.’
She ran out of breath and realised she was panting. ‘Tell me you aren’t going back there.’
‘Where else is there? You just said it, there’s nowhere else that’s safe.’
‘It’s safe here.’
‘HE’S THE DEVIL. Don’t you see that? He’s lying to you, it’s what he does. Whatever he’s told you, it’s a lie—’
‘He saved my life. And he saved it before that, too, just in a different way. He’s not the devil, he’s an angel who got a bad reputation.’
Harriet snorted and Bayleigh only just resisted the urge to slap her. ‘He can save as many people as he likes, it doesn’t change what he is.’
‘I don’t… I don’t understand you.’ Bayleigh replied.
‘Well then, it’s probably a good thing I’m going because I don’t understand you either.’
‘Stop saying I. How many of you are going?’
‘Why does it matter?’
‘Because we need a certain number to repopulate and I don’t fancy the chances of you being allowed to live after they’re done with you.’
Harriet paled and shook her head, lips pressed together in a line. ‘I bet he told you that as well.’
She didn’t say anything else. She shuffled forward until her legs hung over the edge of the bed then pushed past her and out of the door. Bayleigh watched her go, grinding her teeth together. This was ridiculous. Luke was going to be so pissed off. She was pissed off. How could they be so blind and ungrateful?
She stepped out into the corridor and Alex came racing up, panting. ‘He’s gone.’
‘Already?’
‘I followed him down to the car park. He wouldn’t listen, just grabbed the back door device and headed straight down the tunnel.’
Bayleigh was about to speak when Alex glanced over her shoulder and, muttering ‘see you’, brushed past her. She spun, already knowing what she’d see but still moaning in frustration when she did. Harriet was half-in and half-out a doorway, beckoning to him with a dimply smile that made Bayleigh want to punch her. They spoke for a moment before disappearing into the room together.
Bayleigh squeezed her eyes closed and blinked back the tears. She should feel tired, but she didn’t. Her brain hurt but her body was still on that weird high. She could run to the river and back right now and not break a sweat. Luke had warned her it might run out and to be ready for the comedown, but there were no signs of it yet.
Where was Dave? Did it matter? He wasn’t good for much either way. She just wanted Luke to come back and take control. She hated thinking that, hated the weakness in her. But she wasn’t weak, not really. This was something she’d never imagined before. No one person could handle it, not alone. Why did she feel alone?
She pushed through the door into the private room. Ed stood at the window, head resting on his folded arms. She joined him watching the zombies come and go. That was when she spotted the van.
‘Where did the van come from?’
‘Dunno. Been there since I came back in here.’
Bayleigh frowned. She watched it for a while before deciding no one was getting out.
‘How’re you doing?’
‘M’okay. Bored. You?’
She sighed. ‘Frustrated.’
‘Worse things to be.’
She glanced down at the top of his head and smiled. ‘That’s very true. I could be dead—’
‘Or a zombie.’
‘Or a zombie. Small mercies, huh?’
He nodded and watched and she watched with him. She registered the door opening and Alex shuffling in. He joined them by the window, hands shoved deep in his pockets. She glanced over at him and he gave her a sheepish smile.
‘You going with her, then?’
‘Of course not. She’s a bit of a bitch, if I’m honest.’
She smiled and went back to staring. When it came, the scream was unbelievably loud and such a shock she only just stopped short from wetting herself. She raced from the room, Alex thudding along behind her. She’d outdistanced him when the scream came again.
The room was right on the edge of the safety field and the door swung open as she pushed it. She got a flash of what lay beyond, of blood on white sheets and someone’s face with the eyes gouged out, before the door swung back.
Krystal
It was like watching a movie in fast forward. One moment the zombies were gathered around the coke, the next they were hurtling towards them. The first was on Luke before she had a chance to think. The other two were only marginally slower and she raised her sword enough for one of them to run itself through. She felt the blade burst out its back as it arms closed around her and its mouth lunged for her face.
She snapped her head back and the teeth clashed together just short. Then she bashed her forehead into the creature’s nose. It growled and she did it again. Its arms left her shoulders and she butted it for a third time, putting everything she had into it. She bashed its cheekbone as it turned its head and the world spun as she felt it crack.
The creature thrashed around on her sword and she jumped away, yanking it as hard as she could. It came out like a fiver from a rich man’s wallet, so she had to take more steps and keep pulling. The zombie fell back and finally it tore free.
The third had been dithering, making strange chucking noises, but it decided now was its time and rushed her. She dashed to one side and it grabbed her sleeve. She hacked its wrist and its hand was left hanging from her jacket. She smacked the hand with the sword hilt, trying to ignore the urge to scream and flap her arms. She broke it off, but by then the creature was back, shoving its bleeding stump in her face.
She opened her mouth to scream, and shut it just as it bashed her in the jaw. She kept her lips pressed together, protection against the blood smeared on her cheeks and chin. The zombie finally got its arm out of the way and dived in, teeth snapping. Her sword was trapped between them, pointing at the ceiling. Just before the thing bit her face off, she thrust straight up. It went in through the soft underside of its mouth and broke out the front of its forehead.
It sounded like someone throwing an apple at the ground really hard. She waited for it to go stiff but it didn’t. Her sword was yanked from her hands as it staggered away across the room. The first zombie, bleeding profusely from its broken face and gut wound, came charging back. She was defenceless.
Krystal grabbed its hands and the two of them danced across the room. Somehow she kept her feet and kept the zombie at bay. Then her back hit the wall and it charged, mouth wider than should have been possible. She had a moment before the jaws closed around her neck, and in that moment she saw the pile of dead.
She twisted, escaping the jaws, and the weight of her attacker pushed her down the wall until her foot caught the first corpse. It was now or never. She let go of its hands and dropped into a crouch. The zombie came crashing onto her but in the split second she had, she grabbed an arm and hauled it from the pile.
It came free and she shook with relief. Then the full weight
of the zombie landed on her and she tumbled over. She lay among the bodies, smothered in the stench of rotting flesh, feeling them shift and give way beneath her. She wanted more than anything to scream and wail, but she could feel the blood dried around her mouth. She didn’t dare open it.
She wriggled and writhed and got free from beneath the zombie. For a brief moment they lay side by side, ready to make out. Then she heaved herself up until she knelt above it. It reached for her, mouth opening again.
With all the strength she possessed she raised her stolen arm and drove it straight down into the creature’s mouth. The rough bone thrusting out the end went straight through the back of its mouth, tearing out its throat and severing its tongue.
It thrashed. One hand smacked her in the side of the face and sent her flying. She landed on the ground beside the pile of dead and glanced about her.
The zombie she’d stabbed was still in the corner of the room, helplessly fumbling with the sword stuck through its face. Luke was on his back, his attacker clawing and grabbing at his face as its teeth drew nearer and nearer. She looked again at the pile of dead and spotted a tool belt on one dressed. Most of it was buried, but she grabbed the belt and heaved. The body came out far enough for her to explore the pouches strapped to it.
A long screwdriver hung down and she grabbed it with a silent ‘yes!’ She took three steps to where Luke was defending himself and rammed the screwdriver straight into the back of the zombie’s skull. It twitched and went still. Luke heaved it off with a roar and lay on his back, staring up at her. She gave him a nod.
She’d saved him. She’d just saved an angel. She grinned and went flying as the zombie, still gagging on the arm bone protruding from its mouth, barrelled into her. She hit the floor and kept rolling, praying it kept her out of the creature’s reach. It wasn’t coming for her, though. Luke was back in the same position, the zombie astride him clawing and snapping.
It was the best thing that could have happened. The screw driver went in nice and easy and it joined its friend on the floor. This time Luke jumped to his feet and they faced the remaining zombie together.
Thirteen Roses Book Four: Alone: A Paranormal Zombie Saga Page 6