“That’s what I was kind of thinking,” I said. Plus, my stomach was in knots, the feeling of dread overwhelming. I removed my gun from the holster and raced outside, where Henry stood talking to a couple of men through the thick metal gate. The tension in the air was thick as I stopped beside him.
“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, sweetheart,” smiled a greasy looking guy with long, dark hair, powerful looking arms, and a teardrop tattoo under his left eye. “Haven’t seen a real living woman in days.”
“She’s a young girl, not a woman,” said Henry, spitting out a wad of chew. “Mind me, Wild, and go back into the church.”
“No,” said the other fellow, who was shorter, with red-hair and an easy smile. “I think we should ask her the same thing we asked you, see if she agrees.”
“No need to ask her,” said Henry. “She doesn’t make the decisions.”
“Why is she packing then?” asked the dark haired guy. “A girl who can’t make decisions shouldn’t be carrying a gun. What’s the logic in that?”
“What’s your question?” I asked. I loved Henry but I was eighteen now and didn’t need anyone making decisions for me. Heck, not even Bryce for that matter.
Henry shot me a look of anger and I knew the words in his head were going to get him plenty of “Hail Mary’s”.
“We need food and shelter,” said the red-haired guy. “Haven’t eaten in days and our truck is out of gas. We saw this church and figured anyone here would do right by us.”
“Do you have any weapons?” I asked.
Red nodded down towards the bat he was holding. “Got me a bat, don’t need anything more.”
“What about your friend?” asked Henry.
The dark haired guy reached behind his back and pulled out a revolver.
“Put that on the ground, nice and easy,” warned Henry, raising his gun. “We don’t want any trouble.”
“Nor do we,” he answered, removing the bullets. “Look, I’ll let you keep this for me until we leave.”
“Let them in,” said Sister Francine, stepping around me. “The Lord wouldn’t want us turning anyone away.”
“Thank you, Sister,” said the dark-haired man. “Much obliged.”
Henry’s lips curled under. “Fine, then. Toss your gun to the ground and kick it under the gate. No funny business.”
“You all are a little paranoid,” he said, kicking his gun towards Henry. “But I guess I can appreciate that. The world is upside down right now and trust needs to be earned. Don’t worry though. You have nothing to fear from us.” Then he glanced at me and I shivered. Although he was smiling, it didn’t quite reach his cold, dark eyes.
“You can probably keep your bat,” said Henry, stepping away from the gate. “Case any zombies make it through.”
Sister Francine pulled out a set of keys and slid one of them into the gate. “Haven’t had any zombies make it through, Henry. God’s made sure of that.”
“So has that heavy-duty steel lock,” pointed Henry.
“It certainly helps,” she said, with a small smile.
Henry grabbed my arm and pulled me aside as the nun opened the gate. “Listen,” he whispered, staring warily at the men. “You and Nora keep a good distance from those two.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I mean it. See those tattoos under their eyes?”
I nodded
“You get those teardrops in prison- when you’ve killed someone.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Oh, crap.”
“Oh crap is right. You stay close to Nora and the children. I’ll keep my eyes on these two. As you can see, they both have trouble written all over their faces.”
“Okay.”
“What’s your name, Sister?” asked the red-haired guy, as they stepped through the gate.
She smiled. “I’m Sister Francine. What are your names?”
“I’m Travis,” said Red. “And that’s Dwayne. Thank you for opening up your home to us, Sister Francine. Looks like someone has been answering our prayers.”
“Right, like they’ve been praying,” whispered Henry as we followed them into the church.
“I guess we’re not leaving yet,” I said, whispered back. “Not while they’re here.”
He scratched his whiskers. “Something tells me the nuns were right about God having a plan,” he said. “And I believe that we may have just found out where he wants us right now.”
Chapter Five
“Kylie,” said Allie, shaking her. “Wake up.”
“What?” she asked, sitting up in the truck. Her eyes widened as she stared outside. “Oh my God, Lincoln Park?”
Allie nodded. “Yeah, the guys left to go find food inside of the zoo. We’re supposed to wait in the truck.”
“But, there’s must be a ton of zombies swarming around this area,” she said, looking out the window towards the zoo’s entrance.
“Maybe not,” said Allie. “There aren’t that many cars in the parking lot. Obviously many people were too sick to visit the zoo before they changed.”
“Zombies, right there. See, I told you,” whispered Kylie, pointing towards the edge of the parking lot.
“Well, they’ve been hovering over there for the past few minutes and Kylie, they can’t hear you,” said Allie. “You don’t have to whisper.”
“Still, they give me the creeps. What if they notice us?”
“Just get ready to roll up the window if they start moving any closer. The guys should be back here soon, anyways. They’ve already been gone for thirty minutes or so.”
“I wonder if any of the animals survived?”
Allie’s eyes softened. “If they did, they’re probably dying of hunger. Those poor creatures.”
Kylie stared at her in horror. “Oh God, what if the zombies got to them?”
“Then they’re probably either dead or zombies themselves.”
Kylie bit her lower lip and looked back towards the entrance. “If they are zombies, let’s hope they can’t get out of their enclosures.”
Allie stared down at her nails, which were bitten all the way down to the skin. “I’m sure the zombies never even got close to the animals.”
At least, she hoped.
***
“Jackpot,” smiled Luke.
They were in the zoo’s cafeteria which, although smelled almost as bad as the animal cages, still had a large supply of snacks and bottled drinks.
“I can’t believe nobody has raided this place yet,” said Justice, looking around apprehensively. There was a lot of food and some of it was in large plastic containers, as if it may have been recently packed for travel. He clutched his gun tighter.
Luke ripped open a bag of miniature cookies and groaned in pleasure after stuffing a handful into his mouth. “Oh, man, you’ve got to-.”
The sound of gunfire caused both of them to hit the floor.
“Where’d that come from?” whispered Luke.
Justice crouched down and moved towards the entrance, which led to an atrium. “Outside somewhere, not exactly sure how close. We’d better get the hell out of here.”
“But we can’t leave all this food behind,” he said, stuffing bags of Cheetos and popcorn down his shirt.
“I’d rather be hungry than dead,” said Justice, looking nervously out into the atrium, expecting someone to come crashing into the building with guns raised.
“These days, you’ll be both,” said Luke, moving next to him holding three packages of brownies.
More gunfire from outside of the building startled them once again and Justice swore under his breath.
“We have to get to the girls,” said Luke.
“Yeah, I know. Follow me and stay close.”
They crept outside of the building and bolted towards the next building over, for cover, as more gunfire exploded in the distance. Seconds later, they both heard a loud, deep roar.
“Whoa, did you hear that?” asked Luke.
He nodded.
Sadly, most of the animals they’d come across had either died of neglect or zombie attacks. Obviously, a large cat that was still alive after three or four weeks could only mean that it was loose and catching its own food, or someone else was feeding it.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Justice, wiping sweat from his forehead as he tried not gag. The stench from the rotting dead animals was enough to make him forget about any hunger pangs.
Nodding, Luke wrinkled his nose. “Seriously, I didn’t think anything could smell this bad. Not even the zombies.”
Surprisingly, there hadn’t been many zombies at the zoo and the few they’d encountered, Justice had swiftly taken out with the machete.
“Whoa,” said Luke, a few seconds later as they rounded the cat area.
“That’s messed up,” said Justice, looking down into the lion’s enclosure where several motionless zombies lay. It appeared that more than twenty undead had somehow thrown themselves into the lion’s den to feed, but instead, had met with their own demise.
“Why doesn’t the lion finish off the bodies?” he asked, watching as a large male paced back and forth down below. “He must be starving.”
Justice shrugged. “He must sense they’re no longer warm, living creatures. Obviously he still killed them because he’s a predator.”
“I kind of feel bad for him,” said Luke. “He’s stuck down there, all alone.”
“Well, he’s been eating something to stay alive,” he answered, pointing towards a large white sign. “It says there were three lions, total- two females and one male. Looks like there’s only one lion in this den now.”
Luke grimaced. “He ate the others?”
His lips thinned. “Looks that way. Survival of the fittest.”
“He actually had to eat his mates,” he said, in disbelief. “I’d rather die than do something like that.”
“He’s a wild animal, but who really knows what hunger will drive anyone or thing to do,” said Justice.
“I don’t care how hungry I get,” said Luke. “I’m not going after another person.”
Justice opened his mouth to respond when he noticed a group of three on the other side of the enclosure. Recognizing the two girls, all of the blood rushed to his head. “Oh shit,” he said, pulling out his gun. “This is bad. Very bad.”
Even from this distance, they could hear both Kylie and Allie sobbing as the man motioned towards the lion’s den with his shotgun.
***
“No!” cried Kylie, as the older man demanded her to leap down into the lion’s enclosure. “Are you freaken crazy?”
“Jasper’s hungry,” said the man, raising his gun. “And I can’t let him starve.”
They’d been sitting in Justice’s truck when the stranger appeared out of nowhere. With his neatly combed hair, kind brown eyes, and a zookeeper badge proclaiming him to be “Darren”, they’d trusted him instantly and had gotten out of the truck. Then he pulled out a gun and the next thing they knew, he’d was forcing them into the zoo because his lion needed nourishment.
“What’s wrong with you?” sobbed Allie. “How can you do this? Are you on drugs or something?” The goofy grin on his face was definitely not normal, in face it made the hair stand up on the back of her neck.
The man shook his head. “Drugs? No, not anymore.”
“Why…why are you doing this?” she asked again, relieved to see Justice creeping up slowly behind Darren.
“It’s my job. To feed the lions,” he said, smiling proudly. “Jasper needs to eat and I’m his caretaker.”
“We’re not lion food,” said Kylie.
The sound of Justice’s gun being cocked wiped the smiled off of Darren’s insane face.
“Put the gun down,” said Justice, holding the barrel of his revolver against the back of the man’s head.
The man’s lip began to tremble. “I…but Jasper…he needs to eat.”
“He’s going to have to skip this feeding,” said Justice, in an even tone. “Now, put the gun down, man, unless you want to be his next meal. I’m sure Jasper isn’t that picky.”
He dropped the gun.
Justice pushed him away from the gun and picked it up.
Kylie let out a ragged breath. “Thank God. I still can’t believe you were going to feed us to that lion. You’re almost as bad as those zombies.”
Darren just stared blankly.
“Are you the only one here?” asked Justice, handing Luke the gun.
The man ignored him.
“What about those gun shots we heard?” asked Luke. “There must be someone else around.”
“It was probably just him,” said Allie. “He shot the gun up into the air a few times when we first refused to go with him.”
“Hmm…Do you live here at the zoo, Darren?” asked Justice.
The man nodded. “Yes. I have to take care of Jasper.”
“Yeah, we get that. Why don’t you feed him something besides people?” asked Luke.
“There is nothing else,” he answered, “and lions need meat to survive.”
“What about the zombies?” asked Kylie. “Can’t you just feed them to Jasper?”
“No…no…no….Jasper doesn’t like the dead people,” he said. “Jasper likes the warm blood.”
“That’s sick,” whispered Kylie, stepping farther away from him.
“Speaking of zombies,” said Luke, “looks like we have company.”
Two naked, bony zombies stumbled towards them, moaning and foaming something green at their mouths.
“I’ll take care of these two, just keep an eye on him,” said Justice.
Luke raised the gun and pointed it towards Darren as Justice removed the machete from his belt and walked towards the zombies.
Allie looked away as Justice swung the machete twice with ease and the two heads tumbled to the ground.
“Hey!” yelled Luke as Darren took a few steps and then bolted away. “Crap, let’s go get him!”
“No, just let him go,” said Justice, wiping his knife on his jeans. “Don’t waste any bullets on that weirdo.”
“That’s gross,” said Kylie, looking at Justice’s jeans. “Now you have zombie crud all over you.”
Justice shrugged. “I need to change anyway. Got an extra pair in the trunk.”
Jasper began to roar again and they all turned towards the lion, who was pacing down below.
“The poor thing,” said Kyle, peering over the edge of the wall, “he’s all alone down there.”
“It’s so sad,” said Allie, “and the only person he has left to care for him is a raving lunatic.”
“I wonder if we can set him free, somehow,” said Kylie. “At least he’d have a better chance at surviving that way.”
Justice snorted. “Set him free? Like that would work out.”
“Yeah, maybe we should set him free, so he’ll take out more zombies,” said Allie, pointing towards the bodies below. “Look how he finished those off.”
“You’re kidding, right?” said Justice. “Not only would he take out more zombies, but us and everyone else that crosses his path. He’s not a tame animal, he’s a ferocious killing machine.”
“We could find one of those lion-whips,” said Allie, ignoring him. “And maybe we could actually train him to kill zombies. That would be so cool!”
“I doubt they’d have whips here. That’s what they use at carnivals, you know, for tricks,” said Kylie. “Besides, that’s cruel. I could never whip a lion.”
Justice closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Girls, we really have to-”
Allie grabbed her wrist. “Oh my God, remember that time we saw Billy Jameson at the carnival with that tattooed chic and they were slobbering all over each other?”
Kylie laughed. “She had on those super tight jeans and when she bent over, you could see the thong riding up her crack.”
“That was so gross,” said Allie. “Everything about her was sleazy.
”
Kylie smiled. “You’re just saying that because you liked Billy.”
Her eyes widened. “I did not like Billy!”
Jasper roared again in the distance.
“Aw…he sounds so sad,” said Kylie. “And lonely.”
“That’s because he got rid of his two girlfriends,” stated Luke.
Allie’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“I guess they were jabbering away and just wouldn’t shut up. Old Jasper must have decided he’d had enough,” said Luke, with a sly grin. “So he ate them.”
Kylie covered her mouth in horror. “That’s horrible.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” chuckled Justice as he began to walk away. “He ended up with food and silence. I’m almost envying old Jasper right now.”
Kylie glared at Luke when he started laughing. “You actually think that’s funny?”
“Little bit.”
“So, um did you guys find any food?” asked Allie as she hurried to catch up to Justice.
Justice pointed back to Luke.
“Oh yeah,” said Luke, reaching into his shirt. He pulled out a brownie and handed it to her. “Knock yourself out.”
“Well, obviously we’re going to need more than this,” said Kylie as he handed her a brownie, too.
“I’ve got some chips and popcorn, too. But, there’s more in the cafeteria,” said Luke. “I think we should go back and load up.”
Justice shook his head. “No, I have a better idea- let’s just get the hell out of here. Try out luck somewhere else.”
“But we really need that food,” said Luke. “My stomach is beginning to sound like Jasper.”
“I thought that was your belly. Jeeze,” said Allie.
“That’s because I’m starving. Let’s just grab one of those containers of food and then leave. We might not find anything else for a long time. The stuff in the cafeteria is ready to go.”
“Fine,” said Justice, “but keep your eye open for that wacko.”
Zombie Games (Book 4): Road Kill Page 4