The Living Dead Boy (Book 2): Lost in Texas

by Rhiannon Frater

  “The windows are going to shatter and then...” Corina shuddered.

  “The zombies will reach in to get us,” Josh finished just before he victoriously pulled a socket wrench out from under the seat. “And we’ll fight them.”

  Chapter 23

  “Fight them?” Troy squeaked.

  “Aim for their eyes,” Josh ordered. “Blind them! Then hit their heads. Gotta kill the brain.”

  Troy leaned over the top of the front seat. “Are you crazy? We’re kids with sticks and tools and...”

  “I killed a zombie with my backpack, Troy. And with a flashlight.” Josh stared into his friend’s terrified gaze. “And we’re not kids. We’re Zombie Hunters. We fight.”

  Nodding, Troy tightened his grip on the tire iron. “Right.”

  A massive hailstone punched through the front windshield, provoking yelps out of the kids. It bounced off the dashboard and struck Corina on the arm.

  “Ow!”

  Immediately, a zombie tried to climb onto the hood to reach through the hole. Dulce shifted onto her knees and set the end of her spear against the bottom of the opening. The second the zombie’s face came into view, Dulce rammed the tip into its eye. Corina gripped the spear to help Dulce drive it deep into the zombie’s head. Again, with no concept of self–preservation, the zombie actually leaned into the assault in an attempt to get to the girls, making it easier for them to kill him. When the zombie finally sagged against the hood, Dulce jerked the spear back into the car, the end of it dripping with blood.

  “That was awesome!” Danny shouted with glee. “We got one!”

  The onslaught of hail was unexpectedly helpful. Stunned by the hard blows to their heads, the zombies crumpled to the ground, writhing as if in pain or disoriented. The small child Josh had spotted was struck with a massive stone that bounced off her head and struck the car with a loud thump. She staggered away from the car and tripped over a tire.

  “I think the hail knocked another one out, or killed it,” Corina said. “It just slid off the car.”

  “Do zombies get knocked out?” Troy asked. “Is that even possible?”

  “We don’t know the rules for these zombies yet, so maybe,” Josh replied.

  The hail bombardment intensified. It was as if all the pitchers for the Rangers were throwing ice baseballs one after another at the car and zombies.

  “Sick!” Danny exclaimed. “One just busted a zombie’s head wide open.”

  “It’s killer hail,” Corina gasped. “I read about this! Killer hail killed over two hundred people in India. It’ll kill the zombies!”

  “That’s good!” Troy fist pumped. “Awesome!”

  “It can also hurt us really bad,” Corina added, watching the hail striking the windshield and leaving deep craters in it. “Get away from the windows!”

  “How? We’re in a car?” Troy asked in frustration.

  Josh could see now that the onslaught was intensifying. Dulce crawled over into the backseat. The windshield was the biggest window in the car and the most vulnerable. Josh and Corina followed, crowding in with the rest of the kids. The bombardment increased, battering the zombies and the surrounding cars.

  “It’s getting worse!” Troy exclaimed. “This is bad!”

  The front windshield was demolished in seconds.

  The kids huddled together against the back of the front seat with their arms over their heads listening to the huge hailstones striking and shaking the car. Several ricocheted through the broken window and onto the front seat. A few sailed over the seat to strike the kids. The loss in velocity reduced the force of the impact, but a few hits were hard enough to make Josh and the others yelp.

  Unable to resist the temptation, Josh lifted his head to peer through the spider web of cracks in the side window to watch Mother Nature bludgeon the zombies to death. One by one, the zombies tumbled to the ground. The onslaught shattered all the windows and cool air rushed through the openings to dispel the stuffy, hot air. The coppery smell of blood replaced the pungent smell of mold.

  As suddenly as the hail had struck, it was gone. The blanket of hailstones ended right before the barn, and didn’t even touch the house. Rain fell steadily in its place, and only a few small pellets of ice pinged off the heavily-dented hood.

  Slowly, Josh lowered his arms from around his head. “It’s over.”

  Dulce swept the hailstones off the seat and sat on it with a weary sigh. She pushed her heavy dark hair out of her face and pieces of ice and glass fell onto her lap.

  “I’ve got bruises on bruises,” Troy grumbled.

  Danny dabbed at a cut on his forearm with the bottom of his t-shirt. “Better to be bruised than zombie mash.”

  “Very true.” Troy kneeled on the backseat and peered out at the zombies. “And they are very, very mashed.”

  “We need to make sure the zombies are really dead,” Josh said.

  “You first.” Danny swept his arm toward the door on the driver’s side.

  “We have to...” Corina lifted her hand with the screwdriver in it. “We have to take care of Sam and the other zombie.”

  Silence filled the car.

  “I can’t believe Sam is dead,” Troy whispered. “And it’s that stupid Chad’s fault.”

  “I knew he was bad news,” Danny grunted.

  Dulce nodded vehemently. “Sí!”

  “I’ll get my spear and do it,” Josh decided. “The adult will be harder to kill. We’ll need to trip him and get him on the ground fast.”

  “We should just leave,” Danny suggested.

  “We need supplies,” Corina said in a firm tone. “We’ll get Chad to open the door and get what we need.”

  “You really think he’ll open the door?” Troy stared at her in disbelief.

  “For me, yes. He wants me to be his girlfriend,” Corina replied.

  Troy shook his head. “Like you’d be interested. He’s so mean.”

  “That’s his sick way of flirting. You know how some boys hit the girls they like and people act like it’s okay?”

  The boys nodded.

  Josh had personally never understood that approach. It seemed wrong to hurt someone you liked.

  “Well, it’s not okay. It sucks, but it has happened enough to me to know that’s what he’s doing. By being mean to Sam and the rest of you he thinks he looks tough and manly in my eyes. He’s wrong. It doesn’t. It makes me angry and sad. It shows that he thinks being mean is okay when you like someone. My mom dated a guy after my parent’s divorced. He said nasty things to her, and hit her a few times. I didn’t know about the hitting, but I heard him say mean stuff. Anyway, the last time he hit her was in front of me. She broke up with him because she didn’t want me to think that it’s okay for a man to hit me.” Corina wiped tears from her eyes. “That’s why she liked Brad so much. He was nice.”

  “That sucks in so many ways,” Danny said.

  “She sounds like a good mom,” Troy added.

  Corina nodded, tears in her eyes. “She was a good mom. She taught me to be strong. Since it’s kinda my fault Sam is dead, I’ll put Sam’s zombie down.”

  “It’s not your fault!” Troy protested.

  “Chad was mean to him to try to impress me, and he pushed Sam too far. I can’t help but feel a little guilty, okay?”

  Josh understood too well how she felt. “I get it.”

  Corina drew in a deep breath, and straightened her glasses. Exhaling, she squared her shoulders. “Just help me do it, okay?”

  Josh nodded. “Okay.”

  “But first, we need to get out of this gross car,” Danny said.

  “I’ll take lead.” Taking a deep breath, Josh slid into the front seat and the glass and ice crunched under his sneakers. He cautiously peered through the side window to see the bloody pulpy mess left by the storm. Holding the socket wrench tight in one hand, he pushed the door open.

  Only one zombie sprawled on the ground was slightly moving. Stepping out, Josh hopped over
the zombie bodies to where he’d dropped his spear and picked it up. The anxious faces of his friends watched through the shattered windows of the car. Gritting his teeth, he stabbed the end of the spear through the battered head of the zombie. It finally stopped moving.

  “Okay. That’s what we do,” Danny said.

  His friends joined him and they quickly made sure that the mashed zombies would never get back up.

  “Now for the last zombie and Sam,” Corina said miserably.

  Josh waved his friends closer, and they formed a huddle around him. “Okay, we need to keep quiet as possible. If there are any more zombies in the area, we don’t want to let them know we’re here. We need to get supplies, and see if there’s a working car around here.”

  “What’s the plan for Sam?” Troy asked.

  Josh looked toward the garage and the area around it. “Uh, see that tire. We need to drag it in front of the door, then have someone lure the zombie out. They’re not very smart. It should trip over the tire. Once on the ground, we pulverize its head.”

  “And Sam?” Corina sniffled and blinked the tears away.

  “He’ll probably do the same thing. Trip and...” Josh’s voiced faded away.

  Anger flared in Troy’s eyes. “I want to punch Chad in the balls.”

  “We all do,” Danny assured Troy.

  “Okay. Let’s do this.” Josh gripped his bloody spear and resolutely walked along the path through the old cars to the garage.

  The other kids were very quiet, to the point he checked to see if they were following. All wore somber expressions, and he understood too well how they were feeling. Sam had been one of their own. It wouldn’t be easy to kill the undead version of him. Anger against Chad burned in Josh’s gut.

  The image of the zombie version of his mother after she’d changed flitted through his mind, and stilled his footsteps.

  “Josh?” Corina laid her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t freeze. You can’t be afraid.”

  Turning his head, he gazed into her worried face. “I know what I’m afraid of now. Why I froze before.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “I don’t want to kill my family and friends when they turn zombie. Escaping, staying alive, means that it could happen.”

  He was trembling, but couldn’t stop. He hadn’t been able to kill his mom, but he had killed Arturo. At the truck stop, he had relived the moment when he’d faced his undead mother and decided to live. And that was what scared him so much. Living meant enduring terrible things.

  “If you want to go, we can. Just sneak past the garage and forget going into the house,” Corina said.

  “No.” Josh shook his head. “No. We need to take care of ourselves. We need to learn how to do the tough stuff. We’ll kill the zombie, then take care of Sam. Get the supplies, find a car, and make it to San Angelo.”

  The kids around him nodded in agreement.

  Josh faced the garage, and with the others in tow, he walked forward to do what any responsible Zombie Hunter would do.

  Kill zombies.

  Chapter 24

  Danny and Troy quietly pushed the tire in front of the narrow opening to the garage, careful to stay out of sight. Nearby, Josh, Corina, and Dulce waited with their weapons in hand. Josh had noticed that Danny didn’t translate for Dulce, but she seemed to know exactly what was going on. She caught him looking at her, and gave him the thumbs up.

  Josh returned the gesture.

  The tire in place, the two boys ran to rejoin the others.

  “Okay, so now one of us needs to lure the zombies out,” Josh said. “Anyone want to volunteer?”

  Dulce didn’t answer. Instead, she walked right over to the opening and waved into the darkness. Spinning about, she ran back to the others.

  Breathless, the kids waited.

  No zombies appeared.

  “They had to have seen her,” Troy whispered. “Right?”

  Frowning, Dulce walked over to the door and waved both hands over her head. This time she ducked next to it, her spear raised, ready to jab any zombie daring to appear.

  The seconds ticked by until they grew into minutes.

  “Something’s wrong,” Corina said. “Could they be waiting inside for us to go in? Like a trap?”

  Danny winced, and gave her an alarmed look. “Zombies aren’t that smart, right?”

  Dulce smacked the metal door with her elbow, either by accident or on purpose.

  The noise was dangerously loud.

  Josh nervously surveyed the area, but didn’t see any zombies appear. Finally, he walked over to where the grubby tire was lying in front of the narrow opening, and stared into the gloomy interior. He raised his spear, and cleared his throat.

  “Hey, zombies!”

  “I don’t think there’s any in here,” a voice answered.

  “Sam!” Josh strained to look into the darkened area.

  “Sam’s alive?” Troy ran to the doorway with Danny close behind.

  Dulce slid the door all the way open, letting the light fill the garage. Sam lay on his stomach on the roof of a black pickup. On the ground beside the vehicle was a zombie with a shovel embedded in its skull.

  “Ohmygawd! Sam!” Corina rushed toward the pickup. “You’re alive!”

  “Did you kill that zombie?” Josh asked in disbelief, though there was no other answer.

  “Yeah, I just pretended to be you, Josh. I had to get up on the truck so the zombie couldn’t get me. There’s shovels and stuff in the back of the truck, so I used one to kill it. Then I climbed up here.” Sitting up, Sam stared at them hopefully. “Are the rest of the zombies dead?”

  “Yeah! The hail killed them!” Josh answered.

  “I thought that was bombs! It was so loud!” With some difficulty, Sam slid off the roof and into the truck bed. It made an awful noise, but nothing other than dirt stirred in the cluttered garage. “How did you guys not get killed, too?”

  “We hid in a car,” Corina answered.

  “Chad locked me out of the house.” Sam climbed over the tailgate slowly.

  “We saw that. He’s a turd.” Troy shook his head in disgust.

  Corina hugged Sam warmly. “I thought you were dead.”

  “Me, too! I thought all of you were dead, and I didn’t know what to do!”

  Dulce stepped onto the running board and peered inside the cab.

  “I think it’s locked. I didn’t try to open the door because if the alarm went off all the zombies would come,” Sam explained.

  “Dude, that’s thinking like a Zombie Hunter. You’re awesome.” Troy held out his clenched hand for a fist bump.

  Sam stared at the gesture blankly.

  “Fist bump?” Troy took Sam’s hand and showed him what to do.

  “Oh! Cool. Like we’re buddies.”

  “We are buddies, Sam,” Troy assured him.

  “We need to decide what we’re doing next,” Corina said, interrupting. “We can’t just hang out here and hope more zombies don’t show up.”

  “Chad hasn’t come out of the house. I say we leave him and just go,” Troy said.

  “I’m with him,” Danny said, nodding.

  Dulce was behind the truck, but she said in her accented English, “Me too!”

  “But we need food and water. We agreed to this,” Corina pointed out.

  “Chad’s not nice,” Sam protested.

  There was a loud thump, then Dulce reappeared dragging a big yellow five-gallon water cooler. “Agua. Water.” She pointed to the garden hose lying nearby. It would easily reach inside the garage so they could fill the cooler.

  “I thought she didn’t speak English,” Sam said.

  “Only a little, when she’s comfortable around people,” Danny answered. “But she understands English really well.”

  “Oh.” Sam seemed impressed by this information.

  “We can’t drag that with us. It won’t fit in a car,” Josh said.

  With a wide grin, Dulce rested her hand o
n the truck and lifted the other from behind her back. A set of keys dangled from her fingers. She said something in Spanish.

  “Those were on the work station,” Danny explained.

  “The cooler will fit in the back of the truck,” Corina decided. “That’ll hold a lot of water, too.”

  Danny said with a grin, “And Dulce can drive a truck.”

  “Do you have a license?” Sam asked Dulce worriedly. “Driving without a license is dangerous.”

  “She’s sixteen. She has a learner’s permit,” Danny answered.

  “You have to drive with an adult with that,” Sam pointed out.

  “Not in the apocalypse,” Josh said with a grin.

  “But does the truck work?” Troy lifted his eyebrows. “That’s the important question.”

  Dulce tapped the button to unlock the pickup, then climbed inside. After about a minute of adjusting the chair to her height, she turned on the engine. It roared to life, and then died when she turned it off.

  The kids cheered.

  Josh was actually a little surprised that Chad hadn’t come out to see what they were doing. But then again, he had acted like a coward and embarrassed himself.

  “So we have transportation and water. That leaves food.” Corina glanced over at the house. “Let me talk to him. I have a plan to get us supplies.”

  By the look on her face, Josh knew that Corina was determined. “What do you need us to do?”

  “First, I need my bag. I dropped it over there. Second, I need you and Troy to do what I tell you. Danny, you and Dulce can fill up the cooler, right?”

  Danny nodded. “No problemo.”

  “Okay, so here’s my plan.”

  As Josh listened, his stomach tied into a tight knot, but he nodded along as Corina spoke. When she finished, he looked toward Troy for his thoughts.

  “It sounds solid, Josh.”

  “We’ll handle the water. You get the grub,” Danny said.

  After reclaiming her bag, Corina approached the back porch with Josh and Troy. There was a window in the back door with a curtain over it. Someone inside pulled it back, peeked out, then it dropped into place.