Laura could see why. A horde of zombies had made their way up the road, drawn to the noise. They’d flood the intersection at any moment, and anyone trapped inside would be a goner. It was a nightmare.
“Come on, Harold,” Laura said, adding her voice to the woman’s.
He sped up a little while squeezing between two cars, then a lot when he saw the zombies coming toward him. His face turned as pale as butter cream before it flushed with blood again. His hair was plastered to his skull by the rain, or was it sweat?
Harold reached the truck just as the first zombies flowed through the stranded cars like water. He huffed and puffed to the passenger side before hauling himself inside. The minute his door was shut, Laura was off.
Five minutes later, they’d left the intersection behind, though it would be harder to leave the memories of it behind. The screams, the cries, the wails...it was all imprinted on Laura’s mind with brutal clarity.
The woman had calmed herself and the kids and now leaned forward. “Thanks for saving us.”
“Yeah, sure. It was nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. You’re very brave.” The woman squeezed her shoulder. “I’m Marge, by the way, and this is Lynn and Evie.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Laura.” She cleared her throat and looked at Harold. “So where are you going?”
He stared at her. “What do you mean where are we going? We’re leaving town, aren’t we? You’re leaving town, aren’t you?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m heading for the shopping center up on fifth. My family’s there, and I have to rescue them.”
“What?” His eyes bulged. “You can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”
“Not if we get there before the zombies do.”
“Zombies?” he said.
“That’s what they are,” Laura replied.
“It can’t be zombies. Those people are sick. It’s probably rabies or something,” he protested. “Ebola, maybe.”
“No, I’ve seen these things rise from the dead,” Laura said. “It’s zombies, all right.”
“Either way, we have to get out of here,” he insisted. “Now.”
“No,” Laura said, her lips compressing into a narrow line. “I’m getting my family first.”
“You’re crazy!” he burst out.
“Harold,” Marge admonished. “Don’t speak to her like that. She saved our lives.”
“And now she’s putting them back in danger. We have the kids to think of.”
“It won’t take long,” Laura said. “You can even wait in the car.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that,” Harold said.
“What?”
“I can’t allow that. My family comes first,” he said, producing a gun from his pocket in a sudden move that nobody saw coming.
The kids screamed, and Marge gasped, “Harold, no!”
Harold ignored them all and fixed his pale blue eyes on Laura. “Stop the car.”
The business end of the steel barrel pointed at her face, cold and uncompromising, and a shiver worked its way down her spine. “What are you doing?”
“What I have to,” he said. “Now stop the car.”
“Okay. Relax.” Laura obeyed, dread settling in her stomach. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Couldn’t believe it was happening to her, of all people. First the zombie apocalypse, and now this? Who’d have thought. Me. Shy little Laura. The introvert. The artist.
A giggle burst from her lips as hysteria threatened to overtake her, but she stifled it at the calculating look in Harold’s eyes. The man meant business. He was a coward, and there was nothing more dangerous than a coward in fear of his life.
“Harold, please. Stop this,” Marge pleaded.
His eyes flickered to her. “Stay out of this, Marge. I won’t allow her to put us...you and the kids in danger. She has to go.”
“No,” Marge said. “She’s just a child.”
Harold shook his head. “She can look after herself. She’s young and strong.”
“Please,” Laura said, fear worming its way into her stomach. She didn’t want to get out of the truck. It was the only measure of safety she had. The thought of being abandoned outside, alone and vulnerable, was a horrifying one. “I don’t want to die.”
Harold hesitated. “You can stay if you agree to leave town. Now. Forget your family.”
“I…” Laura was at a loss for words, faced by a choice too awful to contemplate. Abandon her loved ones and live. Or get out of the truck and most likely die.
Marge fixed tearful eyes on Laura’s face. “Please, don’t go. Stay. He means what he says. I can’t stop him.”
Sudden revulsion and anger filled Laura as she faced the cowardly couple. One too scared to risk his neck for even a second, the other too scared to face down her own husband. Laura lifted her chin. I’m not afraid. Not like them. Not if it means losing everything that’s important to me.
“No. I won’t stay. I, at least, have a backbone which is more than I can say for either of you,” she said in firm tones.
Marge lowered her head in shame, but said nothing to stop Harold when he motioned with the gun. “Then get out, girl, and remember, this was your choice.”
Laura shook her head. “No. It was yours. One you must live with for the rest of your life. Good luck with that.”
She gripped her father’s golf club in one hand before checking the coast was clear. The area was free of zombies for the moment though she could see a few in the distance. I have to hurry.
As she got out, Harold shifted his bulk over to the driver’s side. With his attention fixed elsewhere, she had a brief opportunity. Before anyone could stop her, she snatched the keys from the ignition.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Harold cried, struggling to get his gun to bear.
For a second, Laura considered grabbing the keys and running. That would leave the couple stranded with zombies closing in. She could always circle around and come back for the truck later. Then her eyes fell on the two children in the back, and she knew she couldn’t do it. No matter how much their parents deserved it, the kids didn’t.
She threw him a nasty look and dangled the keys in front of his face. “If you’re leaving me to die, you can at least let me have my stuff. If you don’t, I’m tossing this into the bushes. Have fun finding them in time.”
He puffed up like a bullfrog, but had no real choice in the matter. “Fine. take your things, but hurry. They’re coming.”
Laura opened the back door of the truck and reached down for the backpack that contained the flashlight and binoculars, all while holding the keys out of reach. She went back in for the other pack containing the food, water, and medicine before grabbing the third filled with clothes.
Marge and the kids made no move to stop her, simply watching with wide eyes. As she staggered away from the truck, loaded with the heavy packs, Marge nodded and said, “Good luck, Laura.”
“Thanks,” Laura said, her throat as dry as sand. “You too.”
Afraid that Harold would try something, she tossed the keys down on the ground and darted off the road and into the bushes. Wet leaves slapped her in the face as she pushed through undergrowth and bushes, anything to get away from Harold and his gun. Only when she was sure she was safe, did she slow to a standstill.
All was quiet, except for the patter of raindrops on the tree canopy above her head. The downpour had lessened to a drizzle, and birds sang as they flitted from branch to branch.
The roar of an engine told her that Harold had found the keys, and even as she listened, he drove off. Now she was truly alone. Alone, out in the open, and surrounded by zombies. A mixture of despair and desperation settled into her bones. I’d better get away from the road before they find me.
Chapter 5
Laura pushed her way through the thick foliage, heading away from the road and deeper into the forest. It was tough going. The underbrush was tangled and heavy, the tree branches low and w
et with rain. Every step she made echoed loudly, too much so for her sense of comfort or safety.
The backpacks, fully loaded and heavy, dragged at her slender frame until she thought she would collapse. “Just a little further. Get away from the road first. Then you can stop.”
With this thought in mind, she forged ahead. A stabbing pain soon formed in her side, and her cheeks flushed with hot blood as her muscles worked overtime to push her ahead.
This was a tropical area. A thick belt of wooded growth that ran along the Southern Coast of South Africa. Rainfall was common as were floods and landslides. Humidity played a huge role in the climate, and the province was the main supplier of citrus and tropical fruits in the country.
None of this was a comfort to Laura, however, as each step she took was a battle. Her eyes swiveled about as she traveled, keeping a look-out for not only zombies, but snakes too. Mambas, Cobras, Puff-adders...they were all common here, and all were deadly.
“Oh, man. If a snake gets me, I’m a goner. Zombie food, I guess.” She heaved in a lungful of oxygen. “Maybe I’m lucky and all this noise I’m making will scare them away.”
As Laura walked, her thoughts turned back to Harold and Marge. Her lips curled into a sneer. What a bunch of cowards. Thieves too. “I saved their lives, and in return, they rob me and leave me to die.”
She could believe it of Harold. He had a thick streak of yellow running through him, and his near brush with death at the intersection had almost cost him his life. It was no surprise he’d balked when called upon to show a little courage.
Marge, though, that was a surprise. Laura shook her head. She’d been taught a bitter lesson by the couple’s perfidy. One she wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Trust no one. That was the takeaway from all this.
Laura pushed through a bunch of banana leaves in front of her face and emerged into a small clearing. She looked around. The ground was open, though soggy with mud and fallen leaves, and the canopy overhead had thinned to allow in a little bit more light.
She dumped her bags in the middle of the area and set about sorting her load. It wasn’t possible to drag all the stuff around with her. She’d have to take only what she needed and leave the rest, loathe though she was to do it.
“Needs must,” she muttered as she unzipped the clothes bag first.
After setting aside two extra pairs of socks and underwear, she stripped off her hoodie and t-shirt. She slipped into a sleeveless vest, instead, followed by a long sleeved shirt with a collar. The hoodie she tied around her waist. Even though it was raining, her exertions had made her hot, and sweat trickled down her back and forehead.
She rolled the socks and underwear into a thick jacket and jammed the lot into the bottom of the biggest backpack out of the three. On top of that she threw in her mom’s first-aid kit, food, water, and a few toiletries. The flashlight, binoculars, and batteries rounded off the new load which she slipped onto her shoulders.
She couldn’t take everything and decided to have lunch right there and then. After wolfing down a bottle of fruit juice, an apple, and two bran muffins, she set off again. Her tread was lighter this time with the more manageable weight on her back. Armed with the golf club and butcher’s knife in her belt, she felt a lot more prepared to face whatever might come.
“Let’s go then,” she said aloud, needing the comfort of hearing a voice even if it was her own.
Laura pushed on throughout the afternoon, heading in what she hoped was the right direction. It was hard to tell as there were no landmarks or anything to navigate by. Still, she kept going, placing one foot after the other with dogged determination.
Hours passed while she walked. Hours during which she could do nothing but hope she’d made the right decisions that day. Yet, doubts plagued her. What if her family was gone already, turned into zombies? Or what if they’d gone home looking for her? Should she have stayed with Harold and his family? Or should she have waited at the flat? There was no way to tell.
By the time the sun was setting toward the horizon, she was forced to admit the truth. She was lost.
Laura turned in a circle, eyeing the encroaching shadows. Darkness was falling, and she had nowhere to go. The thought of spending the night out in the open with zombies around was a frightening one. What about snakes? Spiders?
“What do I do now? Where do I go?” she asked. Tears burned her eyelids, and despair weighed on her shoulders. After everything she’d been through already, it seemed like a cruel joke to die out here.
“Do you need help?” a rough voice asked from behind her.
Laura spun around with a cry, her heart bouncing in her throat. She brandished the golf club like a cricket bat, ready to take a swing at anything that moved. “Who’s there?”
A shadow detached itself from a tree. It was a man, his face weatherworn and sunburned. He raised both hands palms out. “Relax. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
“Yeah?” Laura asked, eyeing out his threadbare clothes, bare feet, and dirty dreadlocks. “Who are you? What are you?”
The man shrugged. “That depends on who you ask.”
“Just answer me,” she said, her voice rising an octave or two until she nearly sang the words.
“My name’s Zee. That’s if you ask my friends.”
“Zee?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Short for Zain,” he answered. “If you ask my mother.”
Laura blinked.
“As for what I am, I’m a bum.”
“A bum?” Laura frowned. “What do you mean?”
“A hobo. A homeless person. A vagrant. A migrant. A―”
“Okay, okay. I get it,” Laura said, sorry she’d ever asked.
“Do you?” he said.
Laura bit her lip, unsure how to answer. Zee seemed like a strange fellow, and she wondered if she could trust him. Her last run-in with people hadn’t turned out so well.
“I’ll ask again. Do you need help?” he repeated.
“I...I’m lost,” Laura admitted.
“Ah, I see. Where are you headed?”
“To the shopping centre on fifth.”
“You’re way off course, miss. It’s at least three hours walk from here,” Zee replied.
“Three hours?” Laura’s heart sank. “I’ll never make it.”
“Not before sundown, you won’t,” he agreed. “I could show you the way, or…”
“Or?”
“Or you can spend the night with me, and I’ll take you there in the morning.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you,” Laura admitted.
“I won’t hurt you as I’ve said already. Besides, spending the night out here with the dead ones might be worse than taking your chances with me.”
“Dead ones?”
He nodded. “The zombies. I’ve known they were coming for years. Either them or the aliens. It’s why I live out here, away from people.”
“Aliens?” More and more, Zee sounded like a total nutcase to her, and without trying to be too obvious about it, Laura shifted a step back.
He noticed, however, and smiled a gap-toothed grin. “Nobody believed me then. Not even my mother even though I warned her. I warned them all. The apocalypse is coming, I said. Be prepared.”
Laura stared at him.
“Even you don’t believe me now, even after you’ve seen them. The dead.” He gestured around them. “They’re everywhere.”
Laura frowned. “I’ve seen them, so I guess you’re right. Not around here though. They’re all in town still.”
“Not all. I’ve been following you for a while now.”
“Following me?”
“You make a lot of noise.”
Laura sighed. “I tried to be quiet.”
“You must try harder. I’ve killed two of them so far. They were on your trail. They would’ve caught you if it wasn’t for me.”
She gasped. “Two?”
“They came from the sea. From the ships.”
Laura�
�s mind spun as she remembered the woman zombie who’d attacked her that morning. She’d come from the ocean, her skin water-logged and blue. Her stomach and lungs bloated with fluid.
“I guess I owe you one.”
“Have you got food?” he asked.
“A little,” she said, taken aback by the sudden change of subject.
“You can spend the night with me. It’s safe, and in the morning I’ll take you where ever you want to go. In exchange for your food.”
“All of it?”
“You can get supplies where you’re going,” he said. “I need it more out here than you do.”
Laura thought it over. She still didn’t know if she could trust Zee or not, but it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. Besides, she was lost, and she needed his help.
“Fine. It’s a deal,” she said.
Zee smiled and spat on his palm before sticking out his hand. “Shake on it?”
Laura shuddered as she shook his grimy hand, surreptitiously rubbing hers on her jeans afterward. As she followed him into the brush, she wondered if she hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of her life.
Chapter 6
Spending the night with Zee, turned out to be one of the strangest things Laura had ever done in her entire life. It ranked right up there with the zombie apocalypse and a possible alien invasion.
His home was a tree house, built ten feet off the ground in a bunch of old trees intertwined together in one giant knot. Their spreading branches provided the perfect platform, and over the years, Zee had made himself quite comfortable there.
It comprised of two rooms, one where he slept, ate, and lived, another where he stored excess supplies. She’d told him where to find the stuff she’d dumped earlier that day, and he’d promised to go back for it. It’s not like she was going to.
That night, they huddled around a tiny fire burning in an empty coffee tin, sipping tea from battered mugs and eating warmed up beans and peas from the cans with their fingers.
It smelled inside the tree house. So did Zee. He wasn’t big on bathing. Nor did he bother to wash his clothes or bedding, which was why Laura had politely declined his offer of a blanket and used her hoodie and jacket to keep warm instead.
Death's Children (Book 6): Laura's Bane Page 3