“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” he asked me in a worried tone.
“Yes. I’m… I’ll be fine, Leland. Thank you,” I paused, trying to find the right words to say. “I’m so sorry I ran away from you just now, there’s so much on my mind that I feel like if I let you in that you’ll drown in my thoughts and sorrows with me. I don’t want that for you. It’s just… I’m still so heartbroken from what Luke did to me and I realized that I’ll never see him again. We were together for over two years and I can’t just forget about him, even though he did hurt me. I miss him terribly and it’s not right falling into your arms with thoughts of him on my mind. I’m sorry. I really like you, Leland. I just need some time…” Feeling such a relief to get that off my chest, I finally started to relax in his hands. I hugged him, giving a small peck on the cheek.
He returned the hug and sighed, “I know you’re having a rough time right now. I’m sorry for making you feel like you were being pushed into letting me in. I really care about you and I can give you all the time you need. It seems we’re going to have plenty of time on our hands for a while, so you take as long as you need. Meanwhile, I’ll be here for you if you need someone to talk to or a shoulder to lean on.” He kissed me the top of my head and gently pulled back. “Now let’s go bash some zombie brains and get our stuff,” he said, cracking his million dollar smile at me. I couldn’t help but giggle at him, with a smile like his, you weren’t human if you could resist it.
Chapter 19
Mom and Andrew met us in front, our axes ready in hands while they opened the doors for us. “Autumn, I wish you wouldn’t go back out there, sweetie. Let Drew go with Leland,” Mom said to me in a worried voice. She called Uncle Andrew, Drew, for as long as I’ve been alive. She came to me and put her hand on my face, “I just got you back, I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she whispered to me.
“Mom, I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me so much. I handled myself pretty well at the Inn when this disaster struck. I think I can deal with one of those monsters and going fifteen feet to the car,” I told her with a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “You guys watch our backs from inside.” She nodded and hugged me tight. Her hair smelled like lavender and calmed my jittery nerves. I breathed in deep, the scent of her, and stepped back.
“Okay, we’ll open the doors on three. Ready?” Andrew asked. Leland and I readied our axes and planted our feet. The two zombies were about three feet from the entrance and walking back and forth aimlessly in front of the doors. I nodded to Andrew and we started forward as he counted down. “One….two….three.” He and Mom swung both doors open at the same time and we quickly stepped through them. I felt the whoosh of air behind me as they closed them back.
Leland used his axe to pushed the zombie on his side back a few more feet so he could make room for a full swing. I followed suit with my zombie, pushing the top of the blade into the chest of Paul the mechanic, or what was once him, and shoved him back until he was a good five feet from me. He stumbled backwards, almost falling, then regained his balance. I lifted the axe high above my head and, with a grunt, swung down with all my might to bury it deep into his skull. He stood there for a minute, twitching, and then crumbled onto the sidewalk. The axe stuck in his head, blood and other unusual fluids seeping out slowly. I glanced at Leland to see he had swung his axe sideways and took off the top half of his zombie’s head, clean cut through the brain and skull. “These blades must be pretty damn sharp,” I determined, looking at his zombie lying in a heap beside mine. I put my foot on Paul’s shoulder and wiggled my axe back out of his head.
“I guess so. Let’s hurry and get our stuff before more of them spot us,” Leland said as he clicked a button on his keyring. The lights came on in the car and his trunk popped open. I scurried to the trunk and gathered everything my small arms could carry. As we started back for the shop, I heard a scream that sent chills down my spine. It came from around the corner of the building in the alleyway.
Leland and I locked eyes, “What the hell was that? Can you see anything?” he asked me. We stood on the sidewalk a few feet from the doors. A dense fog floated low to the ground, rendering us blind to see anything past twenty feet around us, even with the street lights glowing.
“I don’t know, but it sounds like someone needs help. Let’s drop this stuff inside the store and go check it out,” I replied, going for the now opened glass doors. Mom and Drew were on each side of the entrance with serious looks on their faces. I dropped my stuff and turned to go back outside, to find Leland left his stuff on the sidewalk and disappeared into the darkness.
“Shit, Leland!” I shouted, pulling my gun from where I kept it tucked in my jeans. Mom was calling for me to come back as I turned the corner of the building into the alleyway. The street lights dimmed yellow and illuminated small spots only about ten feet wide, the rest fell in deep shadows. Leland lay underneath someone on the ground struggling to get his axe between the attacker and his chest. He used it to keep distance from the person above him. I ran closer to him, aiming my gun at the body on top then called out, “Hey, get off of him or I’ll shoot.” The attacker looked up to meet my eyes, the faint light showing me just enough of him to make my stomach sink to the ground. My feet were completely frozen in their tracks. It was Luke… or what used to be Luke. He growled as his teeth snapped at me like a vicious junk yard dog. Discolored liquid oozed from his mouth, and his eyes looked as black as obsidian. His once silky, curly brown hair now matted against his head with only God knows what in it. He still wore the same clothes from when I left just a few days ago. A pair of khaki pants; that are unrecognizable now with all the dirt, blood and rips in them. A long sleeved red dress shirt, I bought him last Christmas and looked great on him, now hung in tatters and stained a dark brown. I thought I would never see him again, and now I wished that were true. Looking at who was once my love, my happiness, my reason for living… I now felt nothing but a heart shattering loss. He was just a monster now, nothing left of the man I had spent the last two years with.
“Shoot him, Autumn! Help me!” Leland screamed at me in a strained voice. He held Luke back with all his strength and still Luke was gaining on him. He snapped at his face with those putrid teeth. Knowing I had to do something, I walked over and kicked Luke in the side of his head, just enough to get him off of Leland. He fell over sideways and Leland scooted away from him and got to his feet. “Shoot him. What are you waiting for?”
I looked at him with tears in my eyes, “I can’t shoot him… that’s Luke.”
He looked at me with shock and pity in his eyes, which made the tears overflow down my face. “Oh no, I’m sorry, Autumn. But he’s not Luke anymore. You know that,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Give me the...” he started to say to me, and then I went down, the gun flying out of my hands.
Luke had crawled over to us and grabbed my ankle, somehow without us even realizing it. I hit the ground hard with the back of my head and lay stunned for a moment. Luke pulled me down and crawled on top of me, only inches from my face now. I looked up into his once beautiful blue eyes, to find only darkness so black it was like staring into a chasm. Leland kicked and punched him from behind, as I struggled to keep him far enough away that he couldn’t sink his teeth into me. “Luke, it’s me! It’s Autumn! Please stop!” I screamed into his rotten face. His breath smelled just like it did in my nightmare, rancid and dead. I gazed into his black eyes. There remained nobody left in them, only a monster that wanted to find out what I tasted like. “Oh, Luke… I’m so sorry this happened to you,” I whispered to him with fresh tears rolling down my cheeks.
I gathered all my strength, pulling my legs up between us, and shoved with arms and legs at the same time I heard the gunshot. Leland found my gun and pulled the trigger as I pushed Luke away from my body, he obviously waited for a clear shot so I wouldn’t get hit by the bullet. He shot Luke in the neck and blood gushed out all over my feet where he landed on his side. He groaned
loudly and rolled over to get to his feet again. Before he could stand, Leland walked over and swiftly put two bullets in his brain.
All I could do is sit there, in shock. Everything around me was muffled and moving slowly. My blood rushed in my ears, heart pumping faster than ever, and something trickled down the back of my head. I stared at the body at my feet. The man I loved was gone, dead. Really dead this time. So many emotions hit me all at once. Grief, sorrow, anger, relief, confusion, hopelessness, despair. It all rushed at me so fast, my frazzled brain couldn’t keep up. I slowly began to lose consciousness, falling onto my back, the last thing I saw was a young girl coming out from behind a nearby dumpster, and then everything went black.
Chapter 20
“Autumn? Can you hear me?” a distant voice said, but I couldn’t quite place who it was. I tried to see but all I could make out were blurry light and dark spots. My eyes blinked and I finally focused in on the voice. My mom stood over me, holding a cold rag to my head and saying my name. “Are you alright, sweetie? Oh thank God you’re awake. How do you feel?” I tried to sit up, but she pushed me back down. “Oh no you don’t, you lay right back down, young lady. You’ve hit your head hard and I’m pretty sure you have a concussion.”
My head? Oh yeah, I remember hitting my head on the pavement in the alley, and then everything that happened started rushing back in. My head roared and I thought I’d pass out again from the pain. “Oh my God, my head. It hurts like hell. Mom, please get me something for it,” I cried to her, closing my eyes and pulling the cold rag over them to keep the light out. She jumped up and began rustling around in something, then came back with some aspirin and water. I swallowed the pills and chugged the water down quickly then laid my head back down. Something pulled my hair like tape on the back of my head. A gauze bandage was taped on. “Am I bleeding?” I asked her.
“Not anymore, I think. You hit your head pretty hard outside and opened a nice sized gash on your scalp. I bandaged it the best I could with you passed out. I’m not as good at this stuff as you are.” She looked at me with compassionate eyes. “Leland told us what happened. That it was Luke that did this. I’m so sorry you had to see him like that, sweetie, I wish you would’ve stayed in here and let Drew go.”
I thought about Luke, how awful and decayed he looked. The disgusting smell that radiated from him. How he tried to hurt us with no remorse. He had to die. “Oh, Mom... I never thought I would see him again. That wasn’t Luke out there though, just like it wasn’t him that hit me and kicked Daisy a few days ago. This infection… this virus, is taking away everything that makes us who we are. He had to die just like the rest of them do. If we get infected, then we have to die. I hope that if I become infected that you guys are strong enough to kill me. I don’t… I can’t turn into a monster like that and go around hurting people. I know Luke would have wanted us to take care of it and make sure he wasn’t out there hurting people also. I just wish we got to him sooner, who knows all the people he turned into those things. Wait, I remember seeing a girl, out there in the alley with us. Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine. Leland and Drew brought you and her to safety quickly after you passed out. Poor thing was hiding in the alleyway from those things, when Luke happened to spot her. She luckily got away from him before he could bite her though. We’ve checked her over just to be sure,” Mom said in a low voice, trying not to make my head hurt worse.
“Good. Is Leland around? Can I talk to him?” I asked her, squinting because of the lights in the background. She nodded and stood to go find him. My head throbbed and the gash on the back of my head was sore, so I rolled over to one side to relieve the pressure of laying directly on it, facing out into the store. I opened my eyes a little more to see Leland sauntering towards me, with Daisy following closely behind. “Looks like you’ve stolen my dog away, yet again,” I told him sarcastically. He wore a fresh pair of blue jeans and gray t-shirt. I couldn’t help but get distracted by his beauty as he came closer. His glistening black hair had that sexy, tousled look that only very few men can pull off without looking lazy or homeless. He was definitely one of those men. I could picture him posing in a magazine with those amazing bedroom eyes and messy hair, making every woman dream of sleeping with him.
His eyes looked tired and a little haunted as he got closer, he grinned at me though and ruffled Daisy’s ears as he took a seat beside me. “I could never steal her away from you. She is truly loyal to her master. You didn’t know it but she guarded you the whole time you’ve been out. I finally pulled her away with some treats and a walk around the store,” he claimed, looking at me with concern in his eyes, pushing a stray lock of hair behind his ear. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. My head is killing me,” I said, laying the cold rag on my forehead and staring at his gorgeous eyes. “How long have I been out?”
“Umm… about five hours. The sun is coming up now,” he replied.
“Holy crap. I can’t believe I’ve been out this long,” I exclaimed, shaking my head then wincing as the tape pulled at my hair. I reached back and yanked the bandage off, hissing at the shooting pain it caused. “This damn thing is driving me crazy, pulling my hair every time I move.” Tossing it on the bed beside me, I noticed the big patch of blood on it. But the gash had already scabbed over, no more blood seeping through. That’s the hardest spot to bandage on a body, especially if you have long thick hair like mine.
“Easy now, Autumn. We all know you’re a badass, no need to hurt yourself again to prove it,” he said, cracking a joke. “You hungry? I can get you one of those delicious freeze dried meals we have so much of.”
“Ugh, no. I’m not up for eating right this moment, thank you though.” I grabbed his hand in mine, and gave him serious eyes. “I just wanted to say thank you. For saving me and taking Luke out when I didn’t have the strength to do it myself. If you weren’t there, I would’ve let him kill me. So thank you for being there.” I told him, raising up to softly kiss his cheek. He gave me guilty eyes.
“I’m sorry I had to do that, Autumn. I feel awful that you saw me kill him. But if it came down to it, I’d do the same thing again. I’ll protect you no matter what. Your life is more important to me than the pain of watching you grieve. I’ll always be sorry that I took his life, but never sorry I saved you in the process,” he assured, and wrapped his arms around me, hugging tightly. I winced but didn’t say anything. Other parts of my body must have been bruised because it hurt just to move, let alone be tightly hugged by someone.
“No need to be sorry, Leland. We’re going to have to do a lot of things we don’t want to, or will regret, until this plague ends. I’m grateful to have someone like you by my side in this horrible time.” I squeezed him then pulled away, keeping his hand in mine. “How is the little girl you found?”
“She’s fine. Her name is Victoria, but likes to be called Vicki. She’s thirteen and lost both of her parents to the virus. They tried to attack her and ran her out their house. She went looking for shelter and food when Luke spotted her in the alley and tried to get her. That’s when we come in,” he added, “You want to go meet her? Can you stand up?”
“Yes, I want to meet her. I think I can stand.” I slowly put my feet on the floor, someone had taken my shoes off but my socks were still on. I could feel the coldness of the cement floor through them. My knees felt wobbly as I stood then almost fell the first try.
Leland said, “Oh screw it,”, and gently picked me up and strolled with me cradled in his arms like a baby. I laughed and told him to put me down, but he just kept walking until we got to everyone else. They sat at the table we ate at the night before. Leland gently sat me down in one of the chairs and kissed my hand. “My lady,” he said and scooted a chair up beside mine.
“Well, isn’t he just a gentleman,” Mom noted, grinning at me and Leland like she just learned a new secret.
“Yes, Mom, he’s been nothing but a gentleman since we met,” I declared, reaching over
and squeezing his hand. I noticed Victoria, Vicki for short, and smiled at her. “Hi, Vicki, is it? I’m Autumn. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
She smiled back at me sheepishly, “Hey, Autumn. Are you feeling better now?”
“Yes, I am. Thank you for asking. So how do you like it here? Have they been nice while I’ve been unconscious or acting like crazy people?”
She giggled, “Everyone is nice. I love your dog Daisy, she’s so sweet and pretty… like you.”
I laughed at her, “Oh, honey, if you think I look pretty right now then you must need your eyes checked. Plus, I don’t think I could compare to you. You are very pretty yourself.” I winked at her and smiled. She giggled and said “thank you” in a sweet singsong voice.
She seemed short for her age, about chest height to me, very thin and had long brown hair to her waist. Her chocolate brown eyes were framed in long beautiful lashes like black lace tracing them. A cute little pixie nose and thin pink lips completed her adorable character. She appeared shy at first but after talking to her for a bit, she started to open up. We learned her mom was a teacher at the middle school Leland and I passed by on our way here, the one with the burning bus. She said she got home from school before her mom did and after about three hours began to worry so she called her dad. He came home from work at the same credit union Luke had been working so hard to get into, to wait with Vicki for her mom to come home. The mom came in shortly after, in the same shape as Luke when he returned home that night. She was in a rage and bit the father on the neck and then went for Vicki, who ran into her room and locked the door. She stayed there all night and cried. Both of her parents turned and tried their best to get to her. She gathered some stuff in her backpack and snuck out of her window to find a safe place. Wandering through town the past couple of days, finding little to eat and harsh places to take cover, she was so happy to find a place like our shop. She gobbled up some beef stew from her foil package, like it was dinner at a four star restaurant.
Autumn's Calling (Book 1): The Outbreak Page 9