Territory of the Dead (Book 2): Phase Two: Evaluate

by Rose Wynters

  It would have been impossible to guess how deep it was. Picking up a broken piece of pavement, I tossed it in and listened carefully. As quiet as it was, I would have been able to hear it hit the bottom. Several seconds passed by, but I never heard a sound. Bottomless or not, falling into something like that would only mean death.

  Kellan walked back to me, his long legs quickly eating up the distance. He grabbed my arm, hauling me several feet back. “Are you insane?” he hissed angrily, his face lowered into mine. “Or are you just so eager to die that you greet each opportunity with open arms?”

  I yanked my arm from his hand, my own temper flaring. He'd been an ass all morning. I was just a step away from despising him. “I don't need a keeper, Kellan. It's not like I was on the edge, fixing to dive in. What's your deal, anyhow? You've been acting like a first-class pr...”

  “Zombies,” Jayden yelled from where he was standing, right outside of the passenger door. “Hurry, they are coming in fast.”

  Kellan and I took off at a run. Jayden hadn't been exaggerating. The sheer multitude cresting the hill was staggering, but it was the faster ones that concerned me the most. Several of them were almost to the Suburban, their red eyes glowing with anticipation.

  Stepping to the side of the door, Jayden extended his arms and fired with his pistol. He was a good shot, but he wasn't hitting all of them. The ones he did hit, though, fell to the ground, their bodies unmoving. He was holding his own, but it didn't last. The pistol clicked repeatedly, the empty sound exaggerated in my panic. Jayden had run out of bullets.

  As he reached into the passenger seat to switch out his gun, the fastest zombie reached him. His body was large, tall, and solid. Dead or not, he was a formidable opponent. Judging from his appearance, he hadn't been dead long. Despite the deep gashes in his flesh, the rest of his skin still looked much like ours. In other words, he hadn't started to rot.

  Jayden spun around, but he wasn't prepared for the zombie's strength. Reacting out of instinct, he shoved him backward, but the zombie held on. His mouth opened, constantly biting the air in Jayden's direction. With his hands, Jayden pressed against the zombie's chest as he struggled to push him back.

  The zombie was fighting with everything he had, determined to sink his teeth into Jayden. From the looks of his dirty face, he wouldn't have been his first victim. Dried blood covered his cheeks and chin, mixed in with other stuff I didn't want to think about. As big as he was, it would have been easy for him to overpower his victims. They wouldn't have stood a chance.

  Finally, Jayden was able to shove him back past the passenger door. We were almost to the Suburban, with Kellan in the lead. I'd never been much of a runner, which made me a liability, more than anything. All I could think of was getting to Jayden before it was too late.

  All of a sudden, Kellan stopped. He raised his hand, the sun glistening off the pistol he held in it. Without any hesitation he fired, the bullet hitting the zombie right in the side of his head.

  It all happened so fast. I hadn't even known he was holding it in his hand. We didn't have time for me to think about it, though. The other zombies were closing in fast.

  Kellan ran to the backseat, yanking the door open for me. I scrambled in, his big hands urging me to move even faster. Slamming it behind me, he sprinted to the driver's side and jumped in. Jayden was already inside, his face pale and bloody but his eyes calm. I didn't see how he could hold it together so well, but then again, maybe he was getting used to it.

  Half of the zombie's head had exploded when Kellan's bullet made contact with it. Blood and brains oozed down the glass on the passenger side door, and the bad thing was, it was inside rather than outside. Kellan threw the Suburban into drive, moving forward instead of backward.

  My heart stopped. “What are you doing?” I gasped out in fear. With him, anything was possible, and it wasn't a good thing. “You're going in the wrong direction.”

  “Really?” Kellan retorted, his voice sarcastic. “I'm so glad you pointed that out.”

  At the sign, he made a hard right. To my relief, we were on a gravel road. I hadn't seen it before, but the area we were in was heavily forested. The trees had blocked it from my sight.

  His face was grim in the rear view mirror as he added, “Surely, you didn't think I would do something so dumb as drive off of a cliff, right?” He shook his head, easily handling the vehicle despite the thick gravel. “Seriously, we're going to have to work on these trust issues you have.”

  I snorted. Ignoring him, I laid my hand on Jayden's shoulder. “Are you okay?” I didn't think the zombie had bitten him, he was much too quiet for that. Still, it would have been a scary moment.

  “Yeah, I'm okay,” he muttered, turning to look back at me. “It's incredible how fast they are, though. Honestly, I thought I was a goner.”

  “They are fast,” I agreed, thinking back. “But I was surprised to see some slow ones, too. I mean, the night it all happened they were all fast.” Mulling over it, I continued, “Maybe they slow down with age? Their bodies have to be decaying, all dead things do, but it would take a long time for their bones to disintegrate.” Would they keep moving, even then? It was a morbid thought, but we were in morbid circumstances.

  Both men were silent as they thought about my words. “It's something to think about,” Kellan agreed. “We'll just have to wait and see what happens, though. None of us really know for sure.”

  He turned to glance at Jayden before nodding at the bloody glass. “I hope you know, you're cleaning that up.”

  Jayden chuckled, the sound strained. “Somehow, I figured that.” He sighed, looking back at Kellan with a serious expression. Bloody and weary, he had the face of a survivor. “That was one hell of a shot you made back there. I don't know how you did it, but thank you. You saved my life.”

  Kellan shot him a droll look. “I didn't see the point in letting a perfectly good body turn into a buffet for zombies.”

  I rolled my eyes. It was another typical Kellan response. In other words, he was pleased with Jayden's gratitude.

  “Prepare yourself,” Kellan warned Jayden. “Tabitha is about to bombard us with another round of questions.”

  My lips tightened in annoyance, but he was right. The road we were on was extremely rural, I hadn't seen a house anywhere. We were surrounded by a lot of trees, the ground on each side of the road marshy in places. It was likely to lead to nothing more than a dead-end, and that was the last thing I wanted. “Where are we going?”

  Kellan released a long-suffering sigh before exchanging a look with Jayden. “We are going to try to find another road and detour from the mob of zombies headed in our direction.”

  “On this road?” I asked doubtfully, staring at the back of his head in disbelief. We passed by an alligator as he scurried into a cluster of thick foliage. Were they even safe from the zombies? Probably not, and the thought made me sad.

  Could the alligator sense the danger it was in? If spotted, the zombies would follow it until it couldn't run anymore. Once they had it ran down, they would fall on it and eat it alive. The alligator might get a few good bites in, but there was no way he could escape the swarm. That was what the zombies did. They swarmed their victims, overtaking them from their strength in numbers. It was a horrible way for anyone to die, be it animal, reptile, or human.

  I wanted to cry, but I couldn't, not in front of Kellan and Jayden. Instead, I held it inside as I blinked back the tears. The strength of my pain made my throat ache. “What happens if we don't find a way out?”

  “Then we better hope we find a safe shelter,” Kellan informed me. “We'll have to wait it out. Until they are gone, there's no way in hell I'm going back the way we came. Sure, we have the Suburban, but it can only do so much. There are too many of them for us to make it through.”

  Once again, I was faced with my own mortality. I'm sure the others had to be experiencing something similar. I stopped to correct myself. Jayden would be, but I couldn't speak for Kel
lan. With him, who knew?

  There was only one thing worse than dying, and it was dying in the terrible manner I'd seen the others die. “If something should happen, and you know I can't be saved, I want you to shoot me.” I said softly, breaking the silence of the vehicle.

  “Tabitha,” Jayden hissed out, turning to look at me in surprise. “Nothing is going to...”

  He stopped when I held up my hand. “Jayden, we all know it could happen. To me, or to you.” I didn't mention Kellan. “Please, just reassure me you won't let me suffer. If I'm bit, I'm a goner. We all know that. The only thing that can be controlled is how long I have to suffer... So please, if you can, don't let it last long.”

  Jayden looked away, but not before I saw his watery eyes. All of us had grown close, it was hard not to in the circumstances we were in. Agreeing to shoot someone you cared for was an unbelievably horrible decision to make, but I hoped he would see the necessity of it. Finally, he gave me a stiff nod, but he didn't speak. He didn't need to, though. His agreement was enough.

  Jayden didn't ask me to do the same for him, and to be honest, I was relieved. Beyond the obvious fact that I was a terrible shot, I didn't know if I had what it took to do it. I'd made an awful request of him. Maybe one day, he could forgive me for it.

  Kellan continued down the road. Surprisingly, we didn't see any zombies, but we were in a rather remote area. They preferred more populated areas. It increased their likelihood of locating a meal.

  It was all about to change, though. Somewhere behind us, a large army of zombies was following. Already dead, they would never tire. There was nothing to stop them, unless some hapless victim happened to stray in their way. And I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

  My earlier suspicions proved correct. The gravel road narrowed as it turned into a driveway. Kellan followed it around a gentle curve, pulling to a stop when we couldn't go any further.

  As far as shelters went, this had to be the poorest excuse, ever. The cabin was little more than a shack, built with worn planks of wood and topped with an old-fashioned tin roof. Just past it sat the bayou, the water still and quiet in the hot heat of the day.

  Most places in Louisiana, especially those close to water, were elevated off of the ground. Not this one, though. I wondered how long it had been here. From its appearance, I would guess at least seventy years, but likely longer. It was old enough to have an outhouse, the wooden door hanging halfway open.

  The sides of the shack were heavily forested, the limbs growing right into the tin roof. With the thick underbrush against the walls, hopefully it would help to deter the zombies. There were only two ways in. The front or the back.

  “We need to get busy,” Kellan muttered, shutting the Suburban off and opening the door. “Help me get the gear out of the trunk. I don't know how long we have until they find us. We need to be ready.”

  Jayden and I got out and rushed to the back. Between the three of us, we'd be able to get everything in one trip. Closing the back door, I was bemused to see Kellan lock it. The zombies were pretty smart, though. Maybe they could manage to fumble around enough to eventually make it in.

  “What's your plan?” Jayden asked, carrying a cooler with one hand and his pistol in the other. We hadn't seen any zombies, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Especially, when it came to a house.

  Kellan walked ahead of us. He had a satchel thrown across his back with the other cooler in his left hand. Like Jayden, he carried his gun in his right hand. He stopped at the base of the steps, his muscular body prepared for anything.

  He waited until we joined him before replying, “We're going to go in and clear the shack, if needed. Hopefully, it's abandoned, though. A gunshot will echo for miles, especially with how quiet it is. I'm sure the zombies are already headed this way. We don't want to encourage them anymore than we already have.”

  He set the cooler down on the ground, next to the rickety wooden steps. “While we're doing that, Tabitha, I want you to look and see if you can find a root cellar. I doubt you will, because of the water, but it doesn't hurt to look.”

  “Okay, ” I replied, my voice quiet. As much as I hated the thought, it made sense. Underground, it would be a lot harder for the zombies to sense us. I wasn't sure if they had some kind of built-in radar, or if they simply smelled us, but they seemed to be amazingly good at locating those still alive.

  Kellan walked up the steps. Crossing the small porch, he stopped at the door. With his pistol held up, he twisted the doorknob. A second later, he was in.

  Jayden and I followed him into the small interior. Although old and worn, I was willing to bet that someone lived here, or they had before the apocalypse. It was hot inside, the tin roof heating the little shack like an oven.

  The smell of rotted food overwhelmed me. I slapped a hand over my mouth, struggling to hold back my nausea. Jayden frowned and shook his head at the smell, but it didn't deter him from following Kellan. Both of them handled it a lot better than I was able to.

  Grabbing the neckline of my t-shirt, I pulled it over my nose and mouth. Tentatively, I inhaled. It didn't help much, but it would be bearable if I remembered to breath through my mouth.

  Scanning the floor, I looked for any indication of a cellar. Kellan and Jayden quickly checked the rooms, but they were zombie-free. For once, luck was on our side.

  “I don't see a cellar,” I told Kellan, my shirt still over my nose. He pointedly looked at it, but he didn't make a comment.

  “We'll just have to make do,” he responded, turning to walk to the other door. It was closed and locked. He quickly inspected it before turning the knob. It held tight. “See if you can find a hammer and nails. I'd like to put some boards over the door and window back here.”

  Jayden and I opened every drawer we could find. There were only three rooms in the shack, the living room area, the bedroom, and the kitchen. Jayden finally found a toolbox underneath the bed. Pulling it out, he located the tools Kellan needed.

  While we'd been searching, Kellan had brought both coolers in. Through the doorway, I watched him grab the small, rectangular table and walk to the back door with it. We followed him. “Jayden, hold this in place while I hammer. Tabitha, go outside and look for some wood that we can use for the window but don't go very far. If you see anything out of place, get back in here.”

  “I will.” I wasn't sure they heard me, though. Both men were focused on securing the back.

  I hurried outside, starting my search with the porch. Some of the planks were completely loose. If I couldn't find anything else, we'd have to use those. I hoped I could find something larger, though.

  Walking down the steps, I stopped to watch and listen. Even the animals and insects were completely silent. It was a warning, of that I had no doubt. They sensed death was near.

  Staring at the outhouse, I realized the door was broke at the hinges. The wood looked solid enough, though. Running over to it, I grasped it tightly with both hands and carried it back to the house. It would have to do.

  “Will this work?” I asked the men, huffing as I pulled it inside. Kellan quickly walked over to take it from me, carrying it with one hand. I envied his greater height and strength.

  “It'll work,” he muttered, holding it up against the window. Looking at Jayden, he said, “Grab the hammer.”

  While they finished up, I stood at the front of the house and watched. With the door wide open, the smell was abating. It was too bad we didn't have enough time to get rid of whatever was causing the problem to begin with. Who knew how long we'd be trapped here? I didn't want to spend the entire time vomiting.

  It didn't take Kellan and Jayden long to get the window boarded. Walking back into the living room, Kellan looked past me at the driveway. “Listen up,” he told us, wiping his hands on his jeans. “We need to go outside and relieve ourselves now, while we still have the chance.”

  He stopped when I groaned, my face flaming in embarrassment. I didn't know if I'd be able to go, knowing the
y were close enough to hear it. It was an uncomfortable situation for me, one I hadn't found myself in before.

  Kellan frowned, accurately reading the expression on my face. “Now isn't the time to be embarrassed, Tabitha. We'll take turns using the outhouse. Jayden and I will keep watch when your turn is up.”

  I sighed. It wasn't the best situation, but none of us had any choice. “Fine.”

  He turned to stare out at the bayou. “There's something else we need to do. It's not going to be pleasant, but I'm hoping it will keep us alive. That alone makes it worth doing.”

  I turned to look in the same direction, but I didn't see anything but trees and murky water. Near the grass, the water was stagnant and shallow. I shuddered. Although I'd lived in Louisiana all my life, I wasn't a huge fan of the swamps and bayous. Snakes, alligators, and all kinds of scary reptiles could be found in their dark depths. They weren't anything to mess with.

  “We need to cover ourselves with mud,” Kellan continued, turning to look back at the two of us. He wore a determined expression on his chiseled face. “I believe it will help to cover up our scents. If we're lucky, that's the only way the zombies are able to locate people. Otherwise, we are screwed.”