The Amour series (Book 1): The Embers of Amour

by LaRue, Coushatta

  “To a church called Cosway.” Abby said slowly trying to make sure she was remembering right. She started to feel slightly guilty at how little she thought of the people in the group. She had not grown close to them, however there were still some nice people in it and now they were all dead. Abby frowned.

  “Well you’re lucky you got bit then.” Evan said. Then after a breath he added, “That place was a slaughterhouse.”

  “Evan!” Megan snapped loudly. Abby’s heart started to race as she looked around them with wide eyes. Evan stopped and shook his head and growled, “Not so loud, Megan.” Megan put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.

  “Cosway was taken over by the undead…” Megan started slowly and paused for a beat before saying, “Everyone died.” Abby gave her a sad smile and then looked over at Evan who now was looking inside of a small blue car. Abby felt her heart sink a little at the news. The group had been so excited to find Cosway, and it was just false hope.

  “But Haven is fine; and when we get there, we will have all the fresh food and water we could ever imagine.” Megan nudged Abby’s arm and winked. Evan turned to her and rolled his eyes. Abby could tell he did not believe in Haven. Abby wondered if she should or not. Megan seemed very excited about it; it was hard to not feel a little cheerful. Megan made a face when Evan turned back to the car to open the door, and for the first time in a long time Abby laughed. It was a very small low laugh, but it was still a laugh and it felt good. Megan grinned at her and looked back at Evan.

  Abby’s ears started to ring, and she felt her blood racing. She shook her head, and Megan gave her a strange look.

  “Are you okay?” Megan asked.

  “Yeah.” Abby answered unsurely.

  She stared around the area, at the empty cars with the dead inside, the buildings with shadows in the windows, and the empty roads that seemed to go on forever. She could hear the noise again. The heavy dragging on glass. She tried to focus on it, and she closed her eyes. It started to sound like hundreds of little insects running through foil. Abby’s throat felt very dry, and her vision started to blur. Megan stood closer to the car as Evan tried to hotwire it. Something was very wrong, and Abby was not sure what it was or how to explain it to them.

  She chewed on her lip and regretted it when she tasted blood. She stepped forward when she heard something she knew could not be real. It was another heartbeat; no it was two, three, and now four. Abby’s whole body tensed, and she felt like stone. Megan was saying something to Evan; however Abby could only hear muffled voices. The heartbeats were so loud in her ears. It sounded as if they were right behind her. Her eyes dilated; and when she tried to speak, something hard hit her in the back. She fell forward letting out a gasp.

  Her knees hit the road hard, but her hands cushioned her head. Her whole body started to shake, and she started gasping for air. Loud yelling voices entered her ears as everything turned back to normal. She tried to get up, but something was holding her down. She looked up and saw a man with an ugly old face had a rifle to her back. She looked forward to see Megan being pushed down onto her knees, crying. Evan was in a fight with a tall thick man and was winning until a short lanky woman hit him in the back with a bat. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

  The tall thick man kicked him in the stomach twice and then in the face. Blood poured from Evan’s nose. Abby felt tears burning her cheeks. She did not feel shock that this was happening, and it made her angry. She was getting so tired of life giving her something nice and then ripping it away from her. The man above her pushed his boot into Abby’s back, and she let out a scream. The fat dark man pointing a gun at Megan had one eye and many missing teeth. He was keeping Megan on her knees, and pulling her long hair backwards, with a wicked smile on his face.

  The woman who had short black hair walked around them and pulled Abby’s backpack from her and then took Megan’s and Evan’s. She laughed as she dug inside. The tall thick man hit her on her shoulder hard, and she cried out in pain.

  “Fucking wait. We can look at it later.” He said, shoving her again. Evan was still on the ground, holding his nose and cursing. The woman fell to the ground, whimpering. She scowled at the tall thick man and hissed. The man rolled his eyes at her and pointed his gun at Evan then crushed Evan’s hand before searching him. He took Evan’s gun, and it made Abby remember that Megan had one. Then she grimaced when she remembered the woman had Megan’s bag.

  “Please stop! You can have our stuff just let us go!” Megan begged. The fat man hit Megan over the head, and she fell forward smashing her head on the road. Abby heard Megan’s teeth crack and her nose break. When the fat man pulled her back up, her face was covered in blood. Evan let out a cry of dismay and tried to stand. The tall thick man cocked his gun and laughed. Abby swallowed some blood in her mouth and glanced back at the man holding her down. He was watching the tall thick man with glee. Abby looked forward, and her vision blurred, and her hearing started to slowly fade. She closed her eyes and waited for the worse.

  “Let us go please.” Evan pleaded. His voice sounded so far away to Abby. She opened her eyes and was blinded by the sun. The voices around her were echoing. It was like steam, screaming in her ear from miles away. And in that sound was that strange heavy dragging on breaking glass. She focused on it, and it started to sound louder. Her blood started to race, and she felt suddenly very hungry. Her eyes were watering, and her wound was burning and throbbing.

  She saw the fat man pushing Megan onto her back and jabbing his shoe into her gut. She let out a scream that Abby could not hear. Evan was panicking however could do nothing as long as the thick man’s gun was in his face. Abby swallowed hard and watched the woman slink behind a small car, cursing under her breath as she dug into Evan’s bag. The thick man pulled Evan up by his hair and ripped a chunk out. Megan screamed, and the fat man kicked her hard in the gut until she threw up blood. Abby could not understand what was going on. It seemed to be all in slow motion.

  “I think we can just leave them.” The man above Abby said with a shaky voice. He was looking around with a paranoid expression. The fat man let out a laugh as he teased Megan with his gun. The woman was now hidden behind a small car out of sight. Abby licked her lips and closed her eyes as the sound of the heavy dragging grew closer. She knew something was coming, and no one else seemed to notice. She knew it was not all in her head when she smelt them near.

  “Tie them up!” The thick man shouted as he kicked Evan in the face. The fat man laughed in excitement. Abby blinked and stared straight under the car ahead of her. She could see dozens of feet coming their way. She looked to her left and saw more and to her right and then looked in front of her. More dead feet were dragging their way closer. How could no one else notice? Were they all really that stupid and blind? No. She could see the horrified look in Megan’s bright eyes. She saw them too. Megan looked at Abby, and tears rolled from her bruised eyes. Megan worded out the word run. She glanced over at Evan who was now fighting with the thick man again.

  Abby tried to push herself upwards to warn him, but she was shoved back down. The man rolled her over and pointed his gun at her chest and said something that Abby could not understand. Then everything came back to her and she could hear everything around her. The woman behind the car let out a screech of fear; and then blood splashed all over Abby as the undead pulled the man above her backwards, biting his throat. She was lucky he did not pull the trigger out of shock. He just stood there, staring at her with such pain and sadness. Then he was pulled away by a herd and ripped apart by broken and shattered teeth.

  She could now hear Megan screaming as she tried to pull herself up. The fat man grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. He was using her as a shield as he backed up towards an empty street. Evan was still fighting with the thick man when an undead came from under a car and grabbed his legs. Evan fell face first but was able to get away from the undead. The thick man shot a few of the undead and turned back to Evan
. Abby sat up and stared around the area at the dozens of corpses trying to rip apart her new friends. An undead landed next to her and growled as it tried to stand back up.

  She looked at Evan as the thick man aimed his gun down at him. And then at Megan whose leg was being torn apart by a dead child that had half of its face ripped off. Abby pressed her lips together and took in a long breath.

  Abby forced herself up and tossed her body into the thick man, causing them both to land on the ground. He did not have time to scream as five undead fell on him to tear him apart. Blood and meat were being tossed everywhere. Abby tasted blood in her mouth, and her stomach twisted in knots. Her heart was pounding, but her head was very clear. She could hear everything so vividly now. Down to Evan’s rapid breathing and Megan’s heart racing.

  Abby pushed herself towards a truck and pressed her back to it. Abby then remembered the woman and looked around. She saw the woman running down an alleyway with the bags, screaming while being chased by a handful of undead.

  Evan came around the truck next to Abby and screamed as Megan was being bitten into. Abby looked, and her mouth dropped in horror. The fat man was crying and reaching for empty air as his guts were being torn from his belly. Megan was lying on the ground on her back while the dead ripped their jagged teeth into her beautiful pale skin. She was staring at Abby, reaching towards her, her eyes bright with tears. She was not screaming though. Megan looked over at Evan and mouthed, “Run.” Abby could hear Evan grunt in fury and confusion. The undead were closing in all around them; and if he did not run now, he would surely die. Finally just like that Evan ran.

  Abby sat there staring at Megan as she slowly died. Abby felt very numb inside. She crawled towards her crutch as the undead tripped over her. She felt guilty that she did not feel that scared of them now. She was nervous and felt sick. She did not look back at Megan as she waddled away.

  Chapter twelve

  Abby felt as if she had been walking for hours. She was sweating badly, and her hair felt disgusting in its messy bun. She had walked with the undead for a while before stopping and sitting on a bench to rest. She undid her bun and tried to fix it the best she could. She wiped sweat from her brow and then stared at the blood on her clothes. She felt very dirty and tired. She watched some of the undead stumble around looking for food. Sometimes they would wander by her, because they could smell the others blood on her but then turn around when they found nothing.

  Abby decided that she needed to get away from this town and needed new clothes. She was not sure where she would go or why. She just needed to get away. She could not get Megan’s eyes out of her head, and it was starting to make her sick. She felt very sad but could not cry. She was numb and had goosebumps all over her body. As Abby stood, a woman’s scream rang through the streets; and she froze. So did the undead around her. She waited, listened, and then lowered her head as the undead started to move away from her.

  She started to walk in the other direction of the undead and wished she had asked Megan where Haven was. She frowned and pressed her fingers to her temple. It was probably just a lie or if it were real the place was as dead as everything else. She placed her right hand onto her stomach and realized she was not feeling any kind of physical pain. She stopped, and a cold breeze blew across her thin cheeks.

  Suddenly she felt something hard hit her in the back, and she fell forward. Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back up, pushing her into a store’s window behind her. Her crutch flew into the street. Abby let out a cry and froze as Evan lifted her up by her shirt collar and neck. His eyes were red and glassy, and his cheeks were flushed. There was blood dripping from behind his right ear, and he had Megan’s bag around his back. His clothes were torn and dirty, and there was blood splashed across his shirt.

  “You did this, you bitch!” He growled as he dug his fingers into her throat. Abby did not say anything. She just stared at Evan with tears in her eyes. She could hear his heart racing and his blood flowing through his body. He had a hopeless look in his deep eyes, and he was sobbing. Abby stared at him with empathy.

  He kept shaking her and making grunting sounds as he mumbled puzzled words at her. Silence filled the air, and all that they could hear was the soft movement of the undead around them, coming for Evan. Evan’s grip loosened on Abby, and she fell onto the ground hard. She felt the pain, and it hurt. Tears streamed down her face as her wounds started to burn. She looked up at Evan, and he was shaking badly. He gave her one last tearful look before dashing away.

  Abby stared in front of her across the street at a small bookstore that had a handful of undead trapped inside. Their hollow eyes followed Evan as he disappeared down the street. Abby folded her arms around herself and looked down and took in a deep breath. Rot filled her nose. An undead teenager stumbled in front of her, reaching towards nothing as he waddled towards the direction Evan had run. Abby reached towards her necklace to grab it then stopped and remembered the things Aaron had said to her.

  Abby lowered her eyes and remembered how horrible she felt about Aaron’s so called friend at work. Thought about how stupid she felt when he told her she was overreacting to him being so close to one of his ex-girlfriends. How he’d rather go out and spend hours with his addiction than make love to her. How she would lay in bed crying because she felt she was losing him to things that weren’t even real. And she felt embarrassed at how easily she would fall back into his arms when he would smile and say he loved only her. She smashed her left hand onto the wall behind her and cursed. She could feel the skin on her fingers spilt as they hit the cement wall.

  Abby suddenly felt so much rage and anger. She felt stupid and foolish. She wanted to rip her necklace from her neck and throw it away. Instead she chewed her bottom lip and cursed some more as she put both hands onto her head and closed her eyes.

  “Stupid…” Abby whimpered. She felt so much love for Aaron, and she missed him so much. She put him above everything, because she had been so weak and afraid. Her heart ached, and her stomach was twisting in knots.

  “I trusted you.” she muttered as she put her hands in front of her and stared at them. They were very dirty and covered in blood. She looked at the small cuts on her fingers from hitting the wall, and her eyes widened. It felt as if her skin was crawling like ants trying to sew it back together. She watched as the small cuts closed. She looked up at the cracked window across from her and touched her necklace out of habit.

  She would figure out a way to find Haven later. Right now she needed to take care of herself first. She crawled towards her crutch. Her vision blurred for a moment. It hurt the whole way, but Abby ignored the pain and pounding in her head. She grabbed the crutch and struggled to stand up. When she finally stood, she watched an undead woman dig in the trash. The trash can fell over and a large rat ran out. Abby sneered. She wanted out of this city and to be anywhere else.

  She walked as far as the road took her until she made it to the edge of the city. She was surrounded by dozens of cars. Some cars were empty, while others had rotting corpses. She remembered when the virus had first been noticed. People did not turn into monsters. Most people just choked on it and died. Abby glanced a few times at the bodies in the cars and then decided to pretend they weren’t there. The unmoving corpses scared Abby more than the undead. Their scared, confused faces twisted in agony and haunted her at night. She thought of the burnt children in the school.

  She found herself next to a large red truck and looked in. No one was inside. The door opened with one pull, and Abby clumsily crawled inside. She placed her crutch in the passenger seat and looked for the keys. She sighed when she found nothing. She stared ahead at the open highway. She wondered where she would go. Then she realized she could go anywhere she wanted. A small smile appeared on her face, and she looked at herself in the mirror. She frowned, but she felt a strange sense of hope. She did not have to fear the undead anymore. They didn’t seem to care about her.

  The only thing she had to fear was ot
her people. Otherwise, she could go anywhere. She could go into any building and get any supplies she needed. She was badly wounded, but she was free. The undead did not see her. She looked at herself and felt sad. She was very pale and thin and had bruises and cuts and scars everywhere. Her red hair was thin now and very dry. She felt very saddened about her image. She pressed her lips together and shrugged. It could be worse.

  She looked down at the steering wheel and wished she knew how to hotwire a car. For a second she thought about playing around with the wires and see if anything happened. Then she closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep. She decided that when she woke she would find a car with keys. Even if that meant having to pull bodies out of the driver’s seat.

  Her sleep was short-lived when something banged on the truck’s window. She gasped, and her eyes shot open. She looked over and saw Evan standing there. His eyes were red and very puffy. He had dry blood from his left ear down to his neck. He stared at her for a long time before saying, “I can hotwire a car.”

  He had guilt in his eyes. Abby swallowed hard and gave him a long hard look. He had scared her before and even shot her before that. She touched her ear, and he looked, and then his eyes went downward in shame. She did not know if she could trust him.

  Her lips parted, and she looked away. She also did not want to be alone. For once it was not because she felt she needed someone, but because she actually just wanted some company. She took the chance and unlocked the door and moved over. The door opened, and at first Evan just stood there for a minute. He pulled himself in and shut the door. He put his bag between them and grabbed the steering wheel. Awkward silences filled the truck, and for a moment Abby feared he would go mad.

  Instead he glanced over quickly at her and looked back at the road ahead. She watched sweat drip from his forehead to his neck and then remembered the blood behind his left ear. Finally he spoke with a shaky voice, “I’m sorry about back there. It wasn’t right.”