Midway: The Harvesting Series Book 2

by Melanie Karsak

  I sat down on the cot beside Vella and was about to tell her about the tilt-a-whirl that Puck had found when I saw she was totally engrossed with her cards. Her brow was furrowed as she shuffled them over and over again. She would stop, pull one card, frown, then stick it back in the deck and shuffle again. This time, however, when she pulled out a card, I took it gently from her.

  “Judgment?” I eyed the image on the card. Angelic looking creatures raised their hands to the sky in prayer just as a wave was about to wash over them.

  “Reversed,” Vella clarified, as if it meant something important. If so, I didn’t know what.

  “You keep gettin’ the same card?” I asked her.

  She nodded.

  “What does it mean?”

  Vella puckered her lips then arched her thick black eyebrows, her forehead furrowing with worry as she shook her head.

  “Let me try,” Chase said, sitting across from us.

  I handed the card back to Vella, and she reshuffled. “Cut the deck then show the bottom card,” she told Chase.

  He did what he was told. I tried not to gasp out loud when he turned over the Judgment card.

  “So, what does it mean?” Chase asked Vella.

  “The waters are rising,” Vella said, her voice shaking. “We better get some rest.” She stuffed her tarot cards back into her bag.

  Ariel, Chase, and Vella crawled into their cots and slept. Darius sat playing with the radio. Again and again it played the quarantine alert. Puck crawled onto the foot of my cot, but he didn’t sleep. He kept lifting his head at every little sound. I stared at the cot above me and tried not to think about shadows, or rising water, or anything else.

  * * *

  I was the first one to wake up the next morning thanks to Puck, who had started dancing in front of the door fifteen minutes earlier. I could tell from his whine that he really needed to go.

  “Okay,” I whispered quietly. “Don’t wake everyone up. I’m comin’,” I told him as I rose groggily. I pulled on my boots then opened the door as quietly as I could. Just like a bank vault door, the fallout shelter door had a metal wheel. I turned the wheel hard: I could hear it unbarring the pins between the frame and the bunker wall. After a moment, the door opened with a squeak. To my surprise, no one else woke. It was no wonder. We were all exhausted.

  Puck wiggled out the door and headed upstairs. Still wiping the sleep from my eyes, I followed him. “I’m comin’,” I groaned tiredly. But when I got to the top of the stairs, I was surprised to see Puck standing there with his teeth bared. He growled low then crouched, his hackles rising.

  The sound had been dampened by the fallout shelter; we never heard them. I could see their shadows under the door and around the shuttered window. They pounded on the door, pushed on the window covering. There was no mistaking their groan. The zombies had come. We were totally surrounded.

  Chapter 14

  “What is all that noise?” Darius asked sleepily as he climbed the stairs.

  “Shhh!” I hissed at him.

  When he reached the top of the stairs, Darius’ eyes went wide. “Where did they come from?” he mouthed to me.

  I shook my head.

  My heart was thundering in my chest. Darius pointed back downstairs. We rushed back down. Puck bolted ahead of us. When we reached the shelter, Darius swung the door closed, trying to be as quiet as possible, and locked the door.

  “Wake up,” Darius told Chase, shaking Chase’s shoulder.

  “Man, come on,” Chase complained.

  “Ariel, Vella, wake up. We’re in trouble,” I whispered to them.

  “Get up. We’re surrounded,” Darius told Chase.

  “Surrounded by what?” Ariel asked as she started pulling on her sneakers.

  “Those sick people. . .those zombies,” I told her. “They’re practically busting down the door up there.”

  “How? We locked the whole place up!” Ariel exclaimed.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Vella answered. “The flood is here. Don’t curse the tide, run from it.”

  “Shouldn’t we stay here? We’re safe in here, right?” Ariel said.

  “Safe, yes, but we’ll starve to death if they don’t wander off. And for whatever reason, they know we are in here.” I replied.

  “Grab everything,” Chase said, and we started filling our bags.

  Darius flung open the supply cupboard and pulled out a crowbar and a shovel. He held them out to Ariel. “Pick your poison.” She took the shovel.

  “There is a back door upstairs,” Vella said.

  “Go quiet and stick together,” I told everyone as I opened the shelter door. “And you, stay with us!” I scolded Puck.

  Carefully, we opened the door. From above, we could hear the zombies banging on the door. They hadn’t broken through yet. We moved slowly up the stairs. When we got to main room, we could still see their shadows and hear their groans. There were at least a dozen of them trying to get in.

  “Back door,” Darius whispered.

  Vella led us to the musty smelling storage room in the back. Tables and chairs filled the space. No one was banging on the metal back door. We all stilled and listened.

  “There,” Ariel said, pointing to the window above the door. “Boost me up,” she told Darius. “I’ll look out.”

  Darius locked his fingers. Balancing herself, holding onto his shoulders, Ariel pulled herself up. Darius backed against the door so Ariel could steady herself. I saw him turn his face away from her body as her bare stomach and the front of her jeans brushed his face. In spite of himself, he smiled.

  Ariel’s fingers gripped the top of the door frame: she looked out. “I don’t see anyone.”

  Carefully, Darius lowered her back down. A smile passed between them when they were face to face, him holding her by the waist. Well, if we didn’t die in the next five minutes, I supposed that could turn into something.

  Vella and I looked at one another. We were running again. I was very glad she was with me.

  “We’ll head back to the Bronco. Quick and quiet,” I whispered.

  Everyone nodded. Slowly, Chase unlocked the door. It opened with a click. Giving it a little shove with his shoulder, he popped the door open. From the other side of the building, we head loud groans.

  “Let’s go,” Vella said, and we took off, running from the flood.

  Chapter 15

  It didn’t take us long to figure out that while we had outsmarted the zombies banging down our front door, they were the least of our worries. The place was creeping with sick people. It looked like all of Old Towne had come for the fair. No sooner had we turned down one aisle than we ran into a hulking man. He wore a faded Aerosmith t-shirt and no pants. He was just roaming the world in his tighty-whities, white froth dripping from his mouth. His moon-white eyes centered on Vella. He lunged at her.

  Before she could move, Darius dropped a crowbar on his head. The first blow slowed him down but it wasn’t until the third strike that he finally dropped.

  “They’re everywhere!” Ariel shrieked. “What the hell!” Already some of the others, hearing the commotion, turned toward us.

  “This way,” I said. “We’ll head through the rides, cross the bumper cars.”

  We hustled down the aisle, running as fast as we could. When I looked back, I could see a horde chasing us. We passed the pony ride corrals and headed toward the games. We had just turned the corner at the duck pond when a group of five more came at us. Among them were two small children.

  The children were fast. They gritted their teeth and sprinted at us.

  Vella swung, taking out the first one with the high striker mallet. Chase aimed his gun at the second, but she moved too fast. In a split second, she lunged at Ariel, knocking her to the ground. The shovel tumbled from Ariel’s hand.

  Puck barked and grabbed the child by the pant leg, pulling her away from Ariel who kicked and wiggled as the girl snapped at her. I pulled out my big hunting knife. Chase kicked the
girl off, and I quickly dropped the knife on her head. The unholy light faded from her dim eyes. I saw that my cut had also severed her braid. Her yellow hair slipped to the ground, its pretty unicorn bow still attached. My heart broke, but I didn’t have a chance to think on it because a second later, I heard a gunshot. I turned to see Chase shooting at the others advancing on us. I cringed. The gunshots would draw the others in. Chase dropped the woman advancing on him while Darius smashed an elderly man in the head. But no sooner were they down then the horde that had been chasing us, plus several more, caught up.

  “Run!” Chase yelled.

  Darius helped Ariel up, and we all took off. I was at the back of the group, Puck running beside me. When I looked back, I saw that there were now more than twenty of them after us. We ran down a side row toward the rides. I was following the others when a group of zombies pushed open the door of a game stall between me and the rest of the group, cutting me off.

  “Cricket!” Vella yelled.

  I stopped dead in my tracks and backed up. “Go! Go! Don’t stop! I’m coming,” I called. I turned and fled around the back of the long building. The horde that had been in the building pursued me.

  “Cricket! Hurry!” I heard Ariel yell. I could tell from the sound of her voice that they were running in the opposite direction.

  Moments later I found myself in front of the Ladies Axillary joint. I cast a glance behind me. They were gaining on me, and there were more of them now. I needed to cut across the aisle to catch up to Vella and the others. I ran to the carousel and started picking my way to the other side. The carousel platform shook when three zombies jumped onto the ride with me. They were so fast. Why were they so fast?

  Puck turned and barked at them, growling and baring his teeth. He grabbed the pant leg of one of the zombies and tugged him hard. The man stumbled then fell against the game controls. A second later, the carousel lights flickered on and, moving very slowly, the carousel started to spin. The sweet, tinkling sound of carousel music chimed. One of the zombies teetered then fell into the horns of a carousel bull. The bull impaled him in the gut. He was stuck. The zombie struggled to get free.

  The ride, which had sat idle for years, was unstable. The platform jerked, knocking me off balance, banging me between an overgrown eagle and a prancing horse. I grabbed the plastic horse’s bridle to steady myself, but the fake leather bridle snapped in my hand. I fell. It was a weird sensation. I hit my head hard on the metal platform. Pain seared across my skull. I felt like my eyes were going to bulge out of their sockets. Dark spots flitted in front of my eyes and for a second, my eyes closed. I slid across the platform. Barely aware, I grabbed the footrest of a nearby lion and held on. I looked at the mirrors overhead. I saw paintings of cherubs carrying wreaths and playing trumpets as they flew across the sky behind a dancing girl who swung a parade master’s baton. My eyes fluttered open and closed. I wanted to sleep. I forced my eyes open just a crack to see a zombie approaching me. Puck put himself between us. He lunged. The zombie fell off the ride. As the carousel spun, the zombie who had fallen into the ride gears pushed himself up. When he did so, he pushed the acceleration gear. The carousel began to spin quickly. The colored lights flickered on and off. The carousel music continued to chime. At least a dozen more zombies got on the ride. I saw their bloody clothes, froth dripping in long strings from their mouths, as they moved toward me. Puck whimpered nervously. I could barely keep my eyes open. My head ached. I looked across the aisle to see the tilt-a-whirl. If I could get off the carousel, maybe I could make it to the tilt. I couldn’t think of a better place to die.

  I tried to crawl to the edge of the carousel, but my head felt like it was splitting open. All I wanted to do was sleep. Again and again, the carousel spun past the tilt-a-whirl. It felt like a sick joke. Puck nosed me under my chin, trying to rouse me then whimpered. Through my cloudy eyes I saw that the first zombie had finally reached me. I also realized that the back of my head felt wet. Was I bleeding? Wiggling, I pulled the gun out of the back of my jeans, but my fingers were weak. I dropped the weapon. Puck barked loudly at the zombie then looked at me. He whimpered. I closed my eyes. I’ll be with you soon, Daddy.

  I felt the zombie grab my boot with a jerking wrench. I couldn’t open my eyes. My heart slammed in my chest. Maybe I would just die of a heart attack. Puck made a weird half-grunt, half-bark sound then yelped as if in pain.

  “Puck,” I moaned softly. They had killed him.

  Seconds later, I heard a gunshot, then another, then another. Then someone picked me up.

  “Not here,” a man’s voice said. “Of all places, not here.”

  With the last of my strength, I opened my eyes just a crack. A tall and very attractive young man with long, dark hair and gold-colored eyes was looking down at me as he rushed me away from the carousel. . .and the zombies.

  “Hold on, Crick,” he said as my eyes fluttered closed again. “I’ve got you.”

  Chapter 16

  “Is she alive?” I heard Vella ask.

  “She is. I found her on the carousel. She was passed out, but she’s coming around now,” the man replied.

  “Come on, come on,” Ariel yelled in a panic. “They’re coming!”

  I heard gunshots.

  I opened my eyes just a bit to see I was lying in the back of the Bronco. I heard the screech of the fairground gate opening. The engine turned on.

  “We’re good,” Darius said as he jumped into the front seat.

  “Chase, get in,” Darius yelled. “Let’s go!”

  I tried to sit up. What was happening? I wanted to see.

  “Easy,” the golden-eyed man as he gently helped me sit up. “Your head is bleeding,” he added. I realized then that he was holding a rag against the back of my head.

  Ariel, and then Chase, climbed into the back of the Bronco, slamming the tailgate closed behind them.

  “Where’s Puck?” Ariel asked.

  The man shook his head. “The dog. . . he’s gone.”

  I closed my eyes. Hot tears stream down my face. “He tried to save me,” I whispered. My head hurt. I had no idea how we’d outrun the horde chasing me, but we had. . .and I had Puck to thank for it. I wiped my tears then opened my eyes just a little and looked out the back window of the Bronco. What looked like a hundred zombies chased us.

  “Thank God you were there, man,” Chase told the stranger.

  “I scaled the fence this morning. I was looking for a quiet place to get some rest.”

  I realized then that the stranger had some sort of accent. It wasn’t southern or Irish or anything I’d ever heard before. It was just. . .different. I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “Who do I thank for savin’ my life?”

  The stranger smiled at me. “Tristan.”

  “Thank you, Tristan.”

  “My pleasure,” he said then wiped a tear off my cheek. To my surprise, the gesture felt okay.

  “Someone tell me where to go,” Vella yelled from the front as she drove away from the fairground.

  Ariel, who I noticed then was covered in blood and had a big gash on her forehead, pulled out the map. “I don’t know! There is nothing around here. We’re rural. Just small towns and lots of farms. Maybe we need to find a house. Lay low.”

  “That hasn’t worked out so well so far,” Chase said.

  “I still don’t understand. How the hell did they get in?” Ariel exclaimed. “Were the gates open? Did you see anything?” she asked, turning to Tristan.

  “I saw animal tracks, that is certain, but no living people.”

  I closed my eyes and pressed the palms of my hands into my eye sockets. Puck was gone. Puck was dead. But at least he had died at the fair, by the tilt-a-whirl. At least he had died somewhere that felt like home.

  “Turn left at the junction,” Tristan said then, surprising us.

  Vella looked back at Tristan. “Left? Why?” Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, but after a moment, I saw her dark eyes widen.

  �
�Left to where?” Darius asked. There was a hard edge on his voice.

  “Where I was going. There is an old place. . .about fifty miles from here. It’s a very old building. Very high walls. Remote. It will be. . .safe.”

  “What kind of building. Like a castle or something?” Ariel asked.

  “Something like that,” Tristan answered. He held Vella’s gaze. “All right with you, Vella?”

  Vella and Tristan gave one another a long, hard look.

  “It will be safe,” he told her softly.

  I wondered why the rest of us were being left out of the conversation. There was something to be read between the lines, I just didn’t know what.

  I glanced at Chase. He looked perplexed.

  “So, left?” Vella asked Tristan, her gaze softening.

  “There is nowhere else in the world to go,” he replied with a grin.

  Vella smiled, shook her head, and then turned left. As we drove away from the fairground, I watched the zombies rush after us. It was a disgusting sight: humans chasing humans, blood and milky saliva dripping from their mouths, crazed moon-white eyes. For a brief moment, however, I spotted a fox sitting at the edge of the road. It turned and disappeared into the grass. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The world had died, but by dumb luck, I had stayed alive. I hoped to keep it that way. I looked up at Tristan who smiled softly at me. From a distance, I heard the soft notes of the carousel music carry on the wind.

  Thank You

  I hope you enjoyed Midway. If so, would you mind telling your friends or posting a review? The Harvesting Series is a very quirky and unusual “zombie” series. Potential readers would love to hear what you think, and word of mouth is an author’s best friend. Thank you!

  Continue The Harvesting Series HERE

  The Harvesting Series reading order:

  The Harvesting

  Midway