Tosha had a clear shot across the parking lot of the stadium but she'd be vulnerable. Anyone watching from any direction would see her as she moved. She'd be exposed. A sniper with a decent gun could take her out before she knew where the shot was coming from.
"Grow some balls, bitch," she whispered and started running, her feet pounding the pavement. The sound would alert anyone around but she was done with crawling through the bushes and hiding against the wall. It was time to act.
Tosha made it across the parking lot without any trouble. She'd been glancing up at the imposing walls of the stadium as she ran, expecting to see someone aiming a gun at her or Mathyu. She saw no one as she got to the chain-link fence surrounding the area.
She was about to climb over when she looked down thirty feet and saw an actual gate with no lock. It was just... closed.
Tosha's knee-jerk reaction was to flee. This was a setup and she'd get a few feet inside before she was surrounded. No way you left a gate unlocked and didn't have sentries above.
The only way this worked was if the boss inside was a bad motherfucker who wasn't scared of shit.
It made her pause again and wonder what trouble she was walking into.
"Here I go again, on my own," Tosha sang and entered the gate, running across the pavement in case a shot rang out.
There was a secondary gate, also unlocked, and she went through. She could go up the cement walkway to the upper levels or go forward to see if she could get near the field or maybe under the stadium. She was sure, if anyone was living here, they'd be camped inside somewhere.
Since she had weapons she wasn't afraid of finding a nice spot and spying for awhile instead of plunging headfirst into danger, so she went up the ramp.
Sound echoed down but it was too faint to know what it was.
At the next level, she stopped and took a peek. The concession stands had been demolished and ripped out but there was no debris. Everything was just gone, an empty spot left. There'd been plenty of work done in the stadium.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she walked to one of the tunnels leading to the field, stopping at the end to survey the field.
At the fifty yard line was a couple of large white tents but from this angle and distance she couldn't see if they were occupied.
Tosha turned to make sure no one was above her ready to pounce. She was alone in the stands. She took her time, scanning all around the empty stadium.
It was clean and everything looked in order, as if a game would be played at some point soon. The field was ragged and piles of debris had been pushed to the corners of the field itself, but it wasn't as bad as anything on the outside.
A man walked out from a side tunnel on the field and Tosha ducked. He was heading for the tents.
Tosha crouched behind a row of seats just above the tunnel she'd come up through so no one could sneak up on her that way, still keeping everything in her sights.
She pulled all of her weapons and made sure she was ready for anything thrown at her now.
Chapter Twenty-Four
She was alive.
Bernie turned onto her side and threw up water, coughing and sputtering and unable to breathe for a second.
She felt like she'd been beaten once again.
Bernie managed to stop puking and rolled onto her back, staring at the last rays of the sun and wondering how she'd managed to get out of the water.
She remembered the fall from the bridge, awkwardly twisting in the air before breaking the surface with such force she must've been knocked out.
Bernie stood on shaky legs but nothing seemed broken. Her legs and arms worked although every inch of her body was sore.
How she'd managed to get to the shore without drowning was a mystery, but one she was happy about. She didn't know how long she'd been out but it was going to be dark soon and she needed to find somewhere safe to hide for the night.
There were no zombies in her immediate area, which was another miracle.
Bernie took a deep breath. Her ribs hurt but she'd had the wind knocked out of her and nothing more.
This day is filled with miracles, she thought.
As if to drive the point home, a woman appeared across the road, a redhead just standing and staring at Bernie.
"Hello?" Bernie reached for a weapon but she was unarmed.
The woman had no expression on her face as she stared.
"Are you hurt? Lost? A zombie messing with me?" Bernie asked. If she had to, she'd charge across the road and use her fists to survive.
Bernie didn't think she'd have to, though. The woman seemed calm and not threatening in any manner, but the fact she was standing out in the middle of nowhere with no weapons or fear was unnerving.
"I'm Bernie. I'm trying to find a place to sleep for the night. Are you with a group? Is your home nearby? I need you to speak or I'm going to be on my way. I don't have time for games."
The woman kept staring so Bernie took a step to her left.
Before she could take another step, the woman put up a hand and beckoned her to follow, turning and beginning to walk away.
"If this is a trick, I will hurt you," Bernie said. "I have a gun tucked into my jeans. I will use it. I have one bullet with your name on it." Bernie thought it was a stupid thing to say. What if she had friends? "I mean I have a full cartridge of bullets. I can take out everyone you're hanging with. Understand?"
The woman didn't respond. She just kept walking.
Bernie didn't know whether to follow or not. What if she was walking right into a trap? What if she was being setup and a group of bad people or zombies were right around the next corner?
What if... what if...
"What choice do I have?" Bernie asked herself and began to follow. At this point even an ambush would give her something to do.
Bernie didn't think the woman was a threat, though.
"Slow down," Bernie said when the woman picked up her pace, seeming to glide across the ground. She was unaffected by rocks or debris in the way and when she slipped into a weed-choked field on the other side of the highway only her head was visible.
Bernie pulled up. If she was going to get attacked, it would be in this field. You could hide fifty people and no one would know because it was so wild and dense. She hoped she'd be able to hear anyone moving around in there.
And then it hit Bernie.
The woman was moving in a straight line but the weeds, some stalks as high as five foot tall, weren't being bent. There was no actual displacement as the woman flowed through the field.
"Are you a ghost?" Bernie asked, feeling foolish. It would make more sense than her being able to walk between the stalks without making a sound.
Bernie entered the field, expecting to hear hidden foes. The wind picked up, a gentle breeze blowing the weeds. Her own feet crunched the ground underfoot.
The woman's head was out of sight and Bernie panicked as she realized she was surrounded by the weeds and whatever else was hidden in the field.
Something made a faint noise and Bernie stopped. Was it her walking or her imagination? She didn’t know. Sound echoed in the field now and the breeze picked up, enough to mask if anyone was approaching.
Don’t panic. Walk. Follow the woman’s path out of the weeds, Bernie thought.
If a zombie stepped out of the stalks right now, she’d only have her fists and feet to defend herself. As tired, scared and weak as Bernie felt right now she’d be no match.
Something was moving near her.
Bernie stopped and held her breath, turning slowly in a circle. If she could see a zombie approaching, maybe she could run from it or hide.
There was nothing noticeable but the noise was clearly heard over the rustling sound of the wind.
Bernie crouched down and balled her fists, praying this wasn’t going to be the end for her.
She was still feeling sorry for herself when the thin brown cat appeared, eyes staring at Bernie.
“Well, hell
o, little fella,” Bernie said. It was just a cat wandering around looking for food.
She put a hand out to show it she was friendly.
The cat hissed at her before jumping back and disappearing in the weeds.
Bernie could hear it moving away from her at a fast pace and she smiled.
“Stay safe, little fella. Watch out for zombies,” she whispered.
Bernie rose and moved as quickly as she could to catch up to the woman, wherever she now was. The fear she’d left or was too far ahead propelled Bernie to move, pushing through weeds and stepping over thorny bushes.
When she broke through to the other side and put her feet on cracked pavement, she sighed in relief.
Now, where was this woman?
Bernie looked around and was about to give up when she spotted her.
The woman had somehow gotten past the fence and was standing on the ramp leading to the second tier of the football stadium.
Bernie didn't bother asking how she'd managed to get so far ahead. Nothing about the woman made any sense.
All Bernie knew was she'd been led to the stadium for some reason, and she was still breathing.
At this point, she'd take it and make the most out of it.
"Don't go anywhere, I'll be right with you," Bernie said and ran to the chain-link fence and began to climb.
She was up and over in seconds. As she landed on the other side, she glanced up at the bridge and gasped. Bernie blinked a couple of times, thinking she’d finally lost her mind.
It was Darlene and she was walking calmly across the bridge.
With about a thousand zombies following her.
Bernie decided it was time to get to higher ground and hope Darlene and the zombies didn’t turn towards the stadium.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Darlene kept looking back at the zombies trailing her. She felt like the Pied Piper and shook her head. What had the world come to? What had she come to?
She stopped suddenly and echoed the thought to stop.
The zombies all stopped at the same time like a well-oiled machine. Like a trained army of undead. Darlene wondered if any other evolved zombie could do this. Could The Lich Lord? Did he even know about this power?
Any other evolved zombie.
She was doing it again.
Putting herself in the same bracket as the zombies. She hated the thought but supposed it was right. She was far more zombie than human now. She decided to embrace it and see how far it would take her.
She waved a hand over her shoulder and smiled.
"This way, boys. Let's go see what trouble we can get in," Darlene said.
Darlene didn't know what she was going to actually do once she got to the stadium. She knew that was the definite destination, though. Even though her son wasn't there, it was her next step.
More zombies came into view in the streets ahead of her and she willed them to stop and wait until the horde passed to fall in line. She didn't know how many she could control at once but she was going to find out.
Having zombies under her command had no real practical use but something told her to find out the limits and see what else she could do. Darlene hoped anyone still alive would wisely go the other way when they saw such a huge mass of undead moving in tandem.
After a few blocks of walking slowly and gathering more to the group, Darlene stopped in front of what used to be a burrito shop. She loved burritos. Who didn't?
Darlene realized she hadn't eaten in a long time. Had a sip of water. Needed actual sleep.
She wondered if eating a burrito would do anything to her. What if she couldn't taste a good burrito anymore? Not all of this zombie shit was a good thing, she supposed.
"Show of hands if you hate eating burritos," Darlene said to the zombies. None of them raised their hands. "I didn't think so."
Once she was done with whatever she needed to do at the stadium and found her son, she was going to find the ingredients to make a really good burrito and feast.
She went back to walking and let the zombies know to keep following and where they were going. Moving so slow was getting boring and she wanted to put a little room between her and the zombies anyway.
Her nose still worked, and they really stunk when the wind shifted. She hoped that was going to be the next thing to change: her sense of smell would dissolve so she didn't have to get sick with so many zombies around. What if she got a disease from all these rotting bodies? Was she impervious to a virus, too?
Darlene had to laugh, thinking about surviving a zombie bite all those months ago, only to die because she had a common flu, thanks to the zombies.
She could sense the living in the area but none of them too close. If they were stupid enough to confront her or hundreds of zombies, they deserved whatever they got.
Darlene got to the next intersection and grinned when she saw dozens of zombies, standing at attention, waiting to join in with the others.
"Join the party," Darlene said and kept walking, steering clear of a woman with her jaw missing and a red chunk of skin shaking in the breeze. She didn't want to accidentally get touched by it.
Darlene came to another intersection. Ramps went up to the highway and to the bridge crossing the river. She needed to cross to get to the stadium.
There were too many zombies already on the bridge as Darlene approached, willing them to part and wait until the horde passed to get in line as well.
Darlene wondered if she could hide their approach and figured she had nothing to lose by trying to blanket them over in her mind so the zombie at the stadium had no idea what was happening.
The zombies were too close and Darlene was getting freaked out so she asked them to make more room, but when she heard the splashes below as the overcrowding forced some over the side she stopped and just picked up her pace.
The stadium was in view and Darlene approached boldly. The zombie should already know Darlene was coming so there would be no element of surprise.
Chain-link fences surrounded the stadium but they’d be no match for the massive horde.
Darlene kept walking, picking up her pace to get ahead of the zombies and not feel crowded.
Her thoughts went to the stadium and she tried to lock onto someone still alive inside, if there was anyone, to see what was happening.
A woman… scared and worried about her daughter, came into focus. Her pain and fear were so sharp it was overriding the many others trapped inside the stadium.
She was with the zombie, too.
Darlene stepped off to the side and willed the zombies to surround the stadium but not touch the fences until she gave the command. It would take awhile for them to get into place so she had time to concentrate on what she’d be dealing with inside.
She refocused on the woman, whose name was Stephanni. Her daughter was Amber and the zombie had taken an interest in the child.
Darlene went through the woman’s mind and gathered information such as the number of survivors housed in the stadium, weapons, foodstuffs and miscellaneous items.
She needed to figure out the relative power of the zombie in charge, as well.
Darlene closed her eyes and tried to see how far she could go to enter into Stephanni.
She blinked her eyes and realized she was staring at the zombie, only a few feet away from her now. Her body felt odd and she had to really focus to maintain her composure and the link into the woman.
The zombie was staring at Stephanni.
Darlene probed quickly, using as much force as possible, getting into the zombie’s head.
Her name was Eve. She was one of the first zombies turned. She’d travelled from Canada like so many of the originals, heading south until she’d evolved.
And right now Eve knew who was really in front of her.
Eve took a step back in shock and aimed a finger at Stephanni.
“You. How did you…”
Darlene wondered if she could control Stephanni’s body. What if she could cho
ke the zombie or find a weapon? But despite being inside the head of the woman she couldn’t figure out how to control the limbs other than keeping her immobile.
“If you leave right now I won’t hunt you down and destroy you,” Darlene said through Stephanni, excited she could speak. Darlene wondered if full control would come over time and with practice.
“You cannot threaten me. I suggest you leave, Zombie Killer.”
Darlene tried to move a finger, just a digit, of Stephanni. She felt the finger tingle. She was slowly sliding into the flesh of the woman.
“Open your gates and let the survivors go. They will not be harmed. If you want to stay in the stadium, I will not bother you again unless you gather the living to do your bidding. Do we have a deal?” Darlene asked. She needed to keep the zombie talking so she could spring on her and attack.
“I will kill every last one of them before I give them up. These are my people. They are my property, too,” Eve said.
“You don’t own anything. The world is changing, as you know. The zombies are evolving but you haven’t evolved enough to be a threat to my kind. You know there are more like me out here, too. Hundreds will eventually evolve and threaten even you,” Darlene said. She had no idea if this was true but she needed to keep the zombie guessing.
Darlene moved the finger and the next one, concentrating on the hand itself.
Eve was staring at Stephanni, unable to speak.
Darlene didn’t want to lose her or let her flee before she had a chance to attempt to stop her.
“Mommy, why are you talking funny?”
It was Amber, the daughter, standing next to Eve. Too close if Darlene attacked, unless she could force Eve away from the little girl first.
“Go inside with everyone else, Amber. Mommy loves you,” Darlene said.
“I am her mother now,” Eve yelled and grabbed Stephanni by the arms.
Darlene tried to fight it but she was no match, unable to move more than three fingers now.
Eve leaned closer and grinned.
“Come inside. I’ll leave the gate open for you, Zombie Killer. I am going to enjoy ripping you apart and then doing the same to your baby and gaining all of your power,” Eve said.
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