Damion takes her hand and heads towards the backdoor. After peering out the window he notices the yard is still clear. “Come on. I don’t see anything.” They step out onto the back porch and slowly walk to the side of the house. Damion peeks out from the corner to check between the houses. He quickly pulls his head back in and just stands there a moment.
“What is it? Damion? What is it??”-Christa was trying hard to keep at a whisper but the anxiety in her voice was making it even harder.
“We can’t go that way.”
“What do you mean we can’t go that way? Damion? What is it?”
Damion looks around searching for another way around. While he does that Christa walks around him to see for herself. She finds herself frozen in fear as she is faced with a herd of undead. There had to be at least 25 if not more. Damion grabs her and pulls her out of view.
“Why did you do that?! I told you we’d have to find another way.”
“I’m sorry..I..”
It was already too late. Just as she spoke those words the first one came from around the corner in which she promptly stabbed it in the forehead. Started and shell shocked Christa grabs Damion’s arm and runs for the backyard of the next house down. They continue running until they run into ten more on the opposite side of that house. Looking around Damion spots a great spot for them to climb up onto the roof of that house.
They run to the back porch and Damion helps Christa get up onto the railing and then boosts her up so she can climb onto the roof all the while the undead of closing ground. Damion gets on the railing and then tries to climb up but is having difficulties getting enough of a hold so he can pull himself up. Christa leans down and grabs him trying to pull him up as well. She notices the first corpse only a few feet away as she grows more frantic.
“Oh my God Damion hurry!!”
“I’m trying! Pull me up!”
“I am!” Christa strains even more as the first undead grabs a hold of Damion’s foot. It sinks its teeth into the sole of Damion’s shoe as Christa finally pulls him up enough that he can help himself the rest of the way.
Damion quickly sits up and takes off his shoes to check his foot. After giving it a once over he realizes that he is ok. He takes a few seconds to appreciate that fact. Damion stands up and they assess the situation on all sides of the house from their vantage point.
“Well, we are basically surrounded at this point. The only option I see is to try to jump to the other house’s roof, but that is a long jump. It looks doable but if we miss…..I don’t know. It’ll be real bad.”
Christa thought about their options. Sure they could jump but that was a huge gap; or they could just stay there and hopefully they would wander off but the herd could also grow bigger; if they waited would Darren leave them? Christa knew there was only one option and she didn’t like it one bit.
“Ok, let’s do this. How is your foot though?”
“My foot is fine. It only bit the sole not my actual foot.”
“Ok……I’ll go first.”
“Christa I rather you not.”
“If you go first I’ll be left here and I don’t want that.”
Damion sighs, “Fine. If you don’t make it though I am jumping down if you can’t make it back over to me. You hear me?”
“I hear you.” Truth is Christa wanted to go first because she didn’t want anything happening to Damion. She knew if it did she wouldn’t care if she made it back or not. Christa took some steps backward to get a good running start. She breathed heavily, trying to psyche herself up for the task at hand.
“You run like you’ve never ran before and use every muscle you have into that jump. Use every last fiber in those muscles to propel you to that roof. You can do this!” Christa nods her head as she prepares to run. She pushes off of her back foot trying to get good traction for the speed she’ll need. With one foot after another she comes to the edge of the roof where she catapults herself up into the air towards the other roof. While she is in the air she can already tell it is going to be a close call. As she nears the other side her foot hits the edge of the gutter which gives way under her weight and causes her to hit face first on the roof and then fall to her back on the ground.
“Shit shit shit!” Damion notices the hit knocked her out which puts him into action. He takes a few steps back, runs and jumps towards the other roof only he makes it just barely. He leans over the edge with his hand out towards Christa. “Christa! Christa! Wake up!! They are coming Christa! Take my hand!! Damnit Christa take it!! Please!!”
Christa starts to stir as zombies steadily approach her from both sides. She slowly opens her eyes and finds herself becoming slowly surrounded. She goes to get up and feels an extreme pain in her knee from where she hit it against the side of the house when the gutter gave way. She fights the pain to slowly get herself to her knees when she suddenly feels a hand on her back. She looks over her shoulder to find an undead right on top of her. She gets to her feet and positions herself against the wall while holding it at arm’s length. While she’s holding it at arm’s length the rest of the undead are only a few feet away.
Christa looks up at Damion, “I love you. I’m sorry.”
“NO! Don’t say that! I’m coming!”
“Damion no!!”
Just then the undead she was holding at arm’s length was ripped from her hands and thrown under the tire of Darren’s truck. “Hurry guys get in!” Christa, while in shock, ran to the door that Gerard held open and climbed up inside while Damion jumped from the roof to the top of the truck.
Damion yelled from the top of the truck, “I’m good! Go!” Darren took off plowing over the walking corpses that were scattered before him. Each thud reverberated throughout the truck while the bumpy drive over corpses took them back to the road where they headed straight down to the other truck.
“Oh my God Darren, you saved us. You really saved me. I thought for sure those were my last moments.” All Christa could do was sit there shaking as it sunk in how close to death she actually was. “Never again will I take such a risk for so little reward.”
“It’s over with now. There’s no need to dwell on it. You’re alive, be in that moment and be grateful.” Gerard had his moments and this was clearly one of them.
Darren smirked, “Ya know Gerard every once in a while something comes out of your mouth that astonishes me.”
Gerard laughed, “Yeah it astonishes me too.” The friendly banter helped take the edge off of what Christa just experienced. In that moment she was truly grateful for Gerard and Darren.
When they got back to the other truck Damion climbed down off of the roof and went to the driver’s side of Darren’s truck. “I thought you guys were going to leave.”
“Did you really think we were just going to drive off and leave you guys? Or leave without knowing what happened to you? I’ve done things in my life Damion but I’m no douchebag nor would I ever do that.”
“Well I’m just glad you didn’t. Just a few more seconds and I don’t want to think what would’ve happened.”
“Well no need to think about it because it didn’t. Let’s just get out of this place. I don’t want to be here any longer than you do, especially with that herd over at the college.”
“I hear you. Let’s roll.” Damion walked over to the driver’s door and got inside. Christa was already sitting there waiting on him. “Are you okay?”
Christa kept staring out the window, “Yes, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Christa nods.
They eventually make their way out of town and head toward the next city over, Weston, which the interstate runs through. As they get onto the highway that takes them to Weston Christa abruptly ends the silence, “No, I’m not okay. I’m not. I nearly died and on top of that you were going to jump down and possibly die with me. So no, I’m not fine. My nerves are frayed and I can’t seem to calm myself. I feel like I’m about to lose it. I held all those emotions about Bree
inside because there was no time to mourn or break down, but back there in her bedroom the bubble I had put it all in just burst. It’s like I couldn’t contain it anymore. I don’t want anything to happen to you Damion and back there it almost did and it was all my fault. I wanted to go there, not you. I wan-“
“Christa, take a deep breath in.”
“What? What are you tal-“
“Just do it. Listen to me will you. I’m not asking you I’m telling you to do this for me now. Take a deep breath in, hold it for ten seconds and then slowly let it out. Do that three times.” Christa peers over at him. “Come on, humor me please.” Christa does as he wishes. She takes a deep breath in and holds it for ten seconds and slowly lets it out. She repeats this two more times. “Better?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I jus-“
“Don’t be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. There’s not one part of this that is easy or remotely easy. Don’t put that on your shoulders. We’re alive. Period. Don’t get caught up in the rest. There’s no room for the rest when you need to have a clear mind. Just relax while you can ok.” Christa agreed with Damion. She adjusted her seat so she could lay back a bit. After a few minutes Christa drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 10
Christa opens her eyes slowly and realizes that she had been asleep for some time now. “Damn, what time is it? How long have I been asleep?”
“It’s 9pm and we haven’t even made it out of West Virginia yet. This weather is really crippling us. Luckily we have some fuel reserves on these trucks because I’m not sure where we would get gasoline from. We’ll have to stop soon though, but I at least want to make it out of this state first. I think that will make me feel like we’ve made some progress.”
They pass a sign that says Bluefield in 15 miles which let them know they were nearing the border and the first of two tunnels they would drive through. The drive from West Virginia to North Carolina consisted of traveling through two tunnels that went through two separate mountains.
“I have an idea,” said Christa.
“What?”
“The first tunnel we go through is up here. Why don’t we park in the middle of that and stay in the truck for the night. That would protect us from the elements and we wouldn’t have to waste time to find a place to squat for the night. Then tomorrow morning we head straight out.”
“That sounds good. Run that by Darren and see what he thinks.”
“Hey Darren, we’re going to see what condition the tunnel is up ahead and if it’s ok we thought about staying there for the night in the trucks and then just leaving first thing in the morning. What do you think?”
“I have fuel, I have sleeping bags, and we got some MRE’s so I am good. Sounds good. I really don’t want to go off road to find a place anyhow.”
“Well there you have it. Tunnel it is.”
As they approached the tunnel only half the lights worked and in some areas it was a strobe light effect with the short circuiting and half damaged bulbs. There were a few abandoned cars in the tunnel but they still were able to drive around them. So far there was no sign of any undead so they stopped in the middle of the tunnel, one truck in front of the other. Damion turned the heat up full blast as he got out and went to the back of the truck to get out a few sleeping bags and MREs.
He made his way back around to the driver’s side and climbed inside. “Which would you like for dinner madam?”
Christa laughed, “I’m not really sure it matters.”
Sitting there they both ate an MRE and covered up with a sleeping bag as Damion turned off the truck to preserve their gas. Darren and Gerard slept in their truck while Damion and Christa snuggled up together in theirs.
“So did you date anyone?”
Damion looks at Christa curiously, “What are you talking about?”
“You know, when we were divorced. Did you?”
“Do we have to talk about this? I mean does it really even matter now?”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“And frankly I really don’t care to even think about things like that. We’re in each other’s arms and that is all that matters. I can tell you one thing though. I’ve only ever loved one person in my life and that person is in my arms at the moment so everything else is trivial to me.” Damion places a kiss on Christa’s forehead and they drift off to sleep.
Christa wakes up with an intense, sharp pain in her jaw that came from a punch directly to her face. “Wake up bitch. Funny how the universe works isn’t it. Here you are….here I am. It’s like the karma circle is complete.” Christa grabs her jaw and tries to orient herself as she turns to find herself face-to-face with Becca. The same girl that was kissing Gerard in her bathroom. She was now sitting in the driver’s seat of the truck and Damion was nowhere to be found.
“You have got to be kidding me. Please tell me this is a nightmare.”
“Oh you’re right. It is a nightmare. You’re worst nightmare. Imagine my surprise when we rolled up on two trucks and low and behold, you’re in one of them. It’s like it’s Christmas all over again.”
“Of course it’d be you. The end of the world and here you are. I guess what they say is true. Cockroaches never die.”
“You bitch,” Becca leans over and punches Christa in the face once more. “You’d think you’d have some manners seeing as how I have your men. Leave it to you. End of the world and you remember to get your dick but funny how you forget your daughter and I see you picked up a third one. What? Was two not enough for you whore?”
Christa lunged for Becca’s throat and pinned her against the glass in the driver’s side door. Her hands squeezing tighter around her throat as she pulls her head forward and slams her head back against the glass breaking it. Just then the door behind her opens and a man climbs and puts his arm around Christa’s neck pulling her off of Becca and out the door. A different guy opens the driver’s side door to collect the barely conscious Becca. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Where is that bitch?”
“She’s over on the other side of the truck. Jason has her.”
“Jason! Bring that lil’ bitch over here.” Jason drags Christa around the truck over to Becca. “Hope you had your fun because I’m gonna make you wish you were dead when everything is said and done. It’s going to be fun to make you as miserable as I possibly can. And here I thought there was no fun to be had anymore.”
“Where is Damion? What have you done with him?”
“He’s around here somewhere. I wouldn’t worry about him. I’d be more worried about yourself. After I have my way with you I’m going to let every one of these guys have their way with you. You know how it is. The natives get restless and you gotta throw them a bone. A bone meaning you and yes the pun is quite intended. I know you like your dick so I’m going to make sure you get plenty of it. Right guys?” Various vulgar comments and whistles of approval fill the air as Christa’s stomach turns. “Put that bitch in the back with the rest and let’s head back to home base to unload this shit. I’m getting hungry.”
They tie Christa’s hands before tossing her in the back of the truck with Damion, Darren and Gerard. The trucks start up and start moving down the road. Glimpses of light come through the truck just enough to illuminate the area. Christa can tell each of them had been beat on, especially poor Gerard. His previous wounds had opened up once again.
“I am soooo sick of getting punched in the face lemme tell ya. I feel like a punching bag at this point,” Gerard’s frustration was clearly evident in his voice.
“What happened? All I know is I woke up with Becca punching me in the face! I swear I’m going to kill her.”
Damion spoke up, “Well I went to use the bathroom which is when they got me. Some dude hit me in the back of the head and next thing I know my hands are tied and I’m in the back of the truck. Are you ok? I heard what she said and there’s no way in hell I’m about to let that happen. I’d rather die preventing it than let it h
appen.”
“It won’t come to that. We’ll figure this out. She clearly hates me and that’s ok because there is no love lost between her and me. She’ll get what’s coming to her.”
“I sure hope you’re right,” said Darren, “because I find myself really hating this girl.”
Damion gave a slight laugh, “I think it is safe to say that is the general consensus in the back of the truck.”
The trucks finally come to a stop and the engines turn off. Footsteps and voices can be heard outside the truck which get louder as they near the back of the truck.
“What do you want me to do with them,” a man’s voice can be heard asking right near the back of the truck.
“Take them all and put them in the empty storage room. All except for Christa. Take her to my room and secure her,” Becca said from a distance away.
Just then the truck door opens up. “You heard her. You either get yourselves out of the truck or we help. You pick.” Christa gets up and walks over to the back of the truck and the man standing there helps her down while running his hands over her backside and squeezing.
Damion gets up and runs over to the back of the truck, “Get your damn hands off of her!”
The man holding the door open leans over and punches Damion in the stomach which causes him to fall to his knees gasping for air.
“Now you either play nice or we make you play nice. Another choice you have. Make sure you pick the right one because either way in the end we’ll get what we want it’s just your choice in determining the process in which we get it. Understand? Good.”
Damion glared at the guy and jumped down from the truck; Darren and Gerard followed suit. They started to take them to the storage room when Damion looked over at Christa. “I love you. I’ll come for you.”
“Sure you will Romeo. Sure you will.”
Christa knew by the look in his eyes he meant it and she felt one way or another that he would. She kept her eyes on him until she could see him no more. She was led down this hallway that was lined with beautiful paintings, which felt really odd to see especially in these times. She had thought she was in some warehouse but this place reminded her more of a house, a really big one. She went up a staircase and was taken to the bedroom at the very end. Upon opening of the door Christa was in awe of the sheer size of this room. She was dead sure this had to be some sort of mansion. The man took her over to the bed and tied her hands to the post which was a beautiful brass bed. She looked up and noticed these beautiful mirrors right above her head. She wondered who had lived here before everything began.
Day Beyond the Dead (Book 1) Page 10