DEAD Series [Books 1-12]

by Brown, TW

  “Oh yeah,” Cary nodded and smiled. “He got his ass bailed out of the fire by little Heather here, and it’s got him just a bit sucked up.”

  There was a moment of silence. Then, first a slight chuckle out of Cary. Kevin soon followed with a little burst between his lips and a quick snort. Heather looked back and forth between the two, not hiding the disapproving expression growing like the thunder clouds they could see out the window to the north building in the warm summer sky.

  “I don’t see what’s so funny,” Heather said crossing her arms and sinking down in her chair.

  “Heather,” Kevin quickly composed himself and reached over, taking one of her hands and pulling it towards him, “we aren’t laughing at you, you did awesome. We’re laughing at Mike because he’s embarrassed that he got saved by a girl.”

  Cary wanted to reach over and slap him. Did he have no clue at all? He glanced over at Heather; the look on her face couldn’t be any clearer. He’d taken her hand, complimented her, and then called her a girl. And he didn’t even have the slightest inkling.

  Heather jerked her hand away and shoved back from the table. Her footfalls on the stairs didn’t mask the sounds of weeping.

  “Idiot,” Cary hissed. He dropped his spoon on the table and took off in pursuit of the heartbroken teenager.

  Kevin sat in silence, at an utter loss. What in the hell just happened? he thought. He’d just done his best to make the girl feel better. He’d complimented her! Well, he wasn’t gonna let his bowl of soup go to waste. He ate. Alone. And he didn’t hate the silence.

  ***

  Kevin stared outside at the darkness. Heavy rain pelted the window with ferocity as periodic flashes of lightning lit up the sky. Even though he knew it to be nothing more than an old wives’ tale, he slowly counted. One…two…three…four…

  BOOM.

  “Four miles,” he mumbled. He was a big fan of weather. He loved to watch it snow, but his favorite was when lightning and thunder joined the meteorological symphony. It was soothing. He’d never been frightened of thunder as a child. It was thrilling.

  He remembered sitting on the porch at his house in Hampton Roads when he was growing up. He could watch storms roll through and out to sea. Once, he’d seen lightning hit a tree just a half a block away. Kevin smiled at the memory and turned to leave the bathroom he’d been staring out the window of. He could see the road they’d been out on today putting things in place for his big plan.

  Heather was standing in the doorway. Her head hanging, allowing her hair to cascade down over her face. It was dark, so all he could really make out was her silhouette. She shifted slightly from one foot to the other, making Kevin a touch uneasy.

  “Heather?” he whispered.

  Nothing.

  “Heather,” a bit more forcefully. The girl’s head popped up, surprising Kevin in its suddenness and causing him to stumble back. The backs of his legs caught the toilet and he fell hard against the wall, hitting his head.

  “Kevin!” Heather squealed, dashing into the bathroom. She leaned down to help him to his feet and her eyes locked onto the dark splotch on the wall. A single drip was running down from the circular splatter stain.

  “Heath…Heather?” Kevin blinked his eyes trying to clear his vision.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Umm…what…where…?” Kevin’s voice slurred.

  “Can you stand?”

  “What the hell is going on?” Cary stormed into the tiny and already crowded bathroom, flashlight in hand. “I heard a noise!”

  “I accidentally scared Kevin.” Heather stepped back and to the side to allow the other man in.

  “Is that—?”

  “Blood,” Heather said.

  “Cary?” Kevin seemed to just register the man’s arrival.

  “Hey, buddy.” Cary moved in and knelt in front of his friend. He brought up his flashlight, setting it on the toilet seat.

  “Is Heather okay?” Kevin’s eyes seemed to drift slowly from side to side like he was searching for something.

  “She’s fine, Kev.” Cary didn’t have to see her face to know the girl would be smiling.

  “She looked—” Kevin shivered and then closed his eyes.

  “He must’ve thought…” Heather’s hands came to her mouth.

  “That you’d turned,” Cary finished. “Poor bastard.”

  “Is he gonna be okay?” Heather glanced nervously at the blood stain sending a solitary drip down the wall.

  “Probably have a nasty headache,” Cary shrugged. “If he has a head injury like a concussion, I think you’re not supposed to let them sleep for more than an hour or so for the first day.”

  “How come?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  Kevin moaned softly. Instinctively, Heather rushed in beside him, edging Cary aside. Cary scooped up his flashlight, flicked it off, and slid it in his back pocket.

  “Let’s get him to his feet.” Cary straddled the toilet, bent down and slung one of Kevin’s arms over his shoulder. Heather had to stand with one leg in the bathtub, but she got in position on the other side. “C’mon, buddy,” Cary coaxed as he nodded to Heather, indicating he was ready to help their groggy companion to his feet.

  “Where to?” Heather asked as they turned sideways to exit the bathroom.

  “I say we go for one of the kid’s rooms,” Cary suggested and turned right. A flash of lightning followed almost instantly by thunder made Heather squeal.

  “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “Nothin’ to be ‘fraid of, Ruth,” Kevin mumbled.

  “Who’s Ruth?” Heather asked, immediately wishing she hadn’t. Did she really want to know the answer to that question?

  “I think it’s one of the Bergmans,” Cary said. Maybe it was time to wean this girl of her Kevin infatuation. “They were the ones that Kevin and Darrin and Mike saved that got abducted by those jerks that keep raiding Heath. The ones Kevin is trying to rescue.”

  “Oh,” Heather said with a nod.

  Hmm, Cary thought, she took that well. He pushed open the door that led to one of the children’s rooms.

  Together, they laid Kevin out on the bed. Heather fussed around him, putting a towel under his head and covering him up to the neck. After, Heather insisted she take first watch. Cary felt something tug in his mind, trying to express why that was a bad idea, but after the day they’d had, he was just too tired. He looked back through the door one last time and watched Heather as she wandered over to the window. Lightning flashed again and he saw her face in the electric-blue light. Heather was smiling.

  ***

  Cary woke to a dull thud a few feet away from his head. He rubbed his eyes, struggling to wake. It was still dark, but eerily silent.

  Thud.

  There it was again. Cary realized he didn’t hear the steady thrum of pouring rain, or the thunder. The storm must’ve passed. Yet, it was still dark so he hadn’t been asleep too long. His eyes scanned the darkness for the source of the noise.

  Thud.

  There it was again. Off to his right, even with his head, but down on the floor. Rolling onto his side, Cary peeked over the edge of the bed. Too dark. Grabbing his flashlight from the nightstand where it sat beside the gun that was the identical match to the one under his pillow, Cary flicked it on and shone it to the floor.

  “Fuck!” he screamed and rolled away to the other side of the bed. Reaching under his pillow, Cary forced himself to climb off the bed and ignore the voice in his head that warned of the monsters that had taken residence there in his youth.

  A pale hand reached up from the other side and came down, clutching at the wadded-up sheets and blankets. Another hand joined the first. Then, a head rose slowly. For some strange reason, Cary was reminded of the scene from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown when Snoopy’s shadow rose up and caused Linus to faint.

  Trying his best to keep his hands steady, Cary saw Mike’s slack, emotionless face in the dull, red b
eam of his flashlight. The eyes had that telltale film of white, shot with the blackness of undeath.

  “Oh, Mike,” Cary whispered. Suddenly, he felt Kevin’s pain, reluctance, and sadness.

  The creature that had once been Mike opened its mouth and moaned. It began to rise, unsteadily gaining its feet. It reached for Cary and its legs bumped into the bed causing it to stagger. The Mike-zombie looked down at the bed, cocking its head to the side, then, it turned, in slow halting steps and began to shamble alongside the obstacle. A commotion at the door caused it to stop, its head jerked up and to the right at the dark shadow that filled the doorway.

  ***

  It’d been a couple hours now. Heather walked over to the bed where Kevin lay snoring softly. She brushed one lock of hair away from his forehead. He’d been sleeping peacefully since Cary left. Twice she went to the bed and knelt, laying her head on the pillow inches away from his. Once, she worked up the nerve to kiss him gently on the lips. Kevin had mumbled something in his sleep, but she hadn’t been able to tell what it was.

  The time had come to wake him for a minute. Cary hadn’t been able to tell her why, but he made it sound important. Sitting beside him, she took one of his hands in hers and patted it gently.

  “Kevin,” she whispered, “you need to wake up for a minute.”

  He stirred slightly and she repeated herself. She felt his hand close on hers. He muttered something unintelligible again. She leaned down by his face and whispered his name once more.

  “Ruth?” he breathed.

  That name again, Heather fumed. Who the hell was this person? She became aware that Kevin was pulling her hand trying to bring her close. She looked closely. He wasn’t awake, but he wasn’t technically asleep. Glancing over her shoulder towards the door like she expected Cary or Mike to burst in at any moment and ruin everything, Heather felt her heart start racing.

  She felt Kevin’s other arm move weakly, reaching for her. She moved in to his embrace and softly brushed his lips with hers. His mouth opened slightly and she coaxed his tongue to hers. Nestling close, she could feel him kiss her back, second by precious second becoming more assertive. She also felt him begin to stir…against the inside of her thigh. She began to shift her hips slightly.

  “Fuck!” a voice yelled from down the hall towards the room they normally all shared. It sounded like Cary.

  Heather had started at the sudden sound. Her eyes opened, and even in the dim light, she could see Kevin’s eyes open, not quite focused. He looked confused, then shocked. Dammit, Heather thought just before she felt Kevin’s hands tighten on her arms. For a brief second, she thought he might finally give in. She could feel him against her and knew he was excited. Then, unexpectedly, he pushed her away. Heather landed on the floor in an unceremonious heap.

  A noise like a strangled cry sounded from down the hall.

  In a flash, Heather was on her feet. She didn’t know what was wrong in the other bedroom, but she did know she needed to get away from Kevin right this very second. She dashed out the door, hearing her name called, hearing Kevin’s confusion and distress. Still, she had to get away from him. She reached the doorway and halted.

  The smell.

  It hit her like a wall. The stench of death was in that room, filling it to overflowing and rolling out into the hall through the open door she stood in. Stumbling in her direction, but looking across the bed was what, at least by the shadow’s outline, was Mike. She heard, and then felt Kevin come up behind her, still unsteady on his feet as he collided with her back, causing her to trip forward a step. The figure stopped and turned towards her and Kevin. It was Mike…only…not.

  “Stay back!” Cary warned.

  “What happened?” Heather fought back the urge to cry.

  “He must’ve been bitten and not told us,” Cary answered.

  The zombie stopped moving, its head bobbing and going slowly back and forth between the two. It opened its mouth and made a gurgling, mewling noise that sounded nothing like Mike.

  “How is this possible?” Kevin slurred, shaking his head and trying desperately to clear it.

  The Mike-zombie’s head focused on Kevin, apparently looking over Heather. It began to stumble towards the doorway. Its arms came up, reaching for its intended prey. The two backed out of the entry and into the dark hallway. A pale glow was just starting to paint the room in shades of gray as the sun was struggling to burn through the lingering clouds from the previous night’s storm as it rose.

  “Heather,” Kevin eased the girl to his left and guided her back so he could put himself between her and the hideous caricature of his long-time friend, “give me one of your blades.”

  “Huh?” she breathed, unable to take her eyes off somebody she’d been talking to a few hours ago.

  “A blade,” Kevin insisted.

  “Oh…yeah,” she said as her hand went to her hip. She drew a large, black-handled, stainless steel blade from its leather sheath and handed it to Kevin.

  He tested the weight in his hand and looked into the terrible, unblinking eyes of somebody he’d known for as long as he could really remember. In the blink of an eye, the entire scene with Cary back at the truck stop replayed in his mind. This time, he thought, it’s different. He’s very clearly one of the walking dead.

  “Rest in peace, Mike,” Kevin said as the thing stepped into the hallway. He brought the heavy blade up, driving it through the bottom of it chin, punching through the roof of the mouth, and up into the skull.

  The creature dropped, Kevin let go of the knife handle as the zombie collapsed at his feet. Cary stepped into the doorway just as the body landed with a thud.

  “How could he not tell us?” Cary spat.

  “He never got bit.” Heather knelt beside Mike’s body.

  “Of course he did,” Kevin insisted.

  “I was right beside him the whole time.”

  “Then he got scratched,” Cary offered.

  “Nope,” Heather shook her head. “He had all his gear on. None of those things got to him.”

  “Well he didn’t just turn for no reason,” Kevin insisted.

  The trio sat in silence as the sun continued to make headway in its battle to burn through the clouds. A pale, pinkish-yellow glow began to fill the room. Without a word, Cary knelt beside Mike and began removing his clothes. Kevin removed the shoes, then the socks. In moments, Mike’s nude, greyish-blue corpse lay stretched out before them. Heather walked to a nearby window and stared out at what was promising to be a beautiful morning, weather-wise at least. Her mind rewound to yesterday, trying to see events as they occurred. Behind her, the two men were going over every inch of skin.

  “Nothing,” Cary conceded.

  “It doesn’t make sense.” Kevin pushed himself away after draping a shirt over Mike’s exposed middle. “He couldn’t have turned for no reason…without some sort of...of…of catalyst.”

  “That piece of the zombie that fell on his face!” Heather spun, the image crystal clear in her head. She could see the greyish piece of insides that had landed on Mike’s forehead. She could even see the dark juices that trickled from it. And when Mike had slapped it away and finally gotten back to his feet, there’d been that dark, greasy smear on his face, all down one side of his nose.

  As best she could, she related all she’d seen to Cary and Kevin. The two listened, nodding on occasion as she described what she could remember.

  “Well,” Cary said after a brief silence following Heather’s recount, “this is a rather unsettling revelation.”

  9

  “I love you…”

  “Steve?” Jack Williams climbed up on the hood of the Hummer and un-shouldered his rifle. Jack, Sunshine, and Chloe Weeks—the cute, blonde, deaf girl with the supposed crush on me—had decided to join our group. Jack seems sorta eager to earn his place. He’s always helping somebody, like he’s afraid the moment he isn’t useful, we’ll dump him. He’d been in college on a basketball scholarship with no delusions of
going pro. His love, before it became completely irrelevant, was economics.

  “There’s a three-truck military convoy down there on that highway. Looks like they stopped to help deal with that multi-car wreck.” I pointed down the slope. You could just make out the olive-drab vehicles in the pre-dawn glow. “I say we go down and see if there’s anything worth taking.”

  “You don’t think it’s been stripped already?” Jack brought up his binoculars.

  “I’m as certain as I can get.” I tried not to smile.

  “Why’s that?”

  “That Crystal Springs truck is still loaded full of five-gallon water bottles for one.” I reached over and steered his binoculars to the right a few degrees.

  “There’s a trail leading down about thirty yards that way,” Aaron announced as he jogged up, Jamie lagging a few yards behind him.

  “Everybody listen up,” I spoke loud enough to be heard without actually raising my voice. Heads turned my way and all the quiet chatter died down. “Jack, Jamie, and Aaron are coming with me down to that highway below. There are a trio of military trucks, not to mention a truck loaded with water, we’re gonna see what we can find. I want everybody else to double back to that Ranger station we passed about two miles back. Ensure the building is clear.”

  “We staying put for a while?” Randi asked.

  “That building sits on a hill in a nice clearing. I think it was a campground or something. Whatever, we have plenty of open space while still being out in the sticks. There is a creek down in that ravine a few hundred yards away. I think the place has some potential.”

  I noticed some heads nodding. Good, everybody else is just as tired of running as I am. We’d been on the move the past week since leaving that fire-watch tower. It had been hairy a few times when we’d been forced to find fuel.

  Jack had made one of his first big contributions in that area. He came up with the surprisingly obvious way of getting gas from the abundance of abandoned vehicles. We drive up and two people move fast to the target car or truck with a spike, a three-pound sledge, and a couple of our gas cans. One person punches a hole in the gas tank and the other moves the can in position, swapping them as need be. Still, every time we’d had to pull off an operation like that, we put our asses on the line more than normal.