“You all right?” Quinn bent down to help her sit up.
“Yeah. Fine. But I’ve got a huge headache.” She blinked a few times and looked around the room. “What did I miss?”
I tried to get to my feet, but I was still weak. My knees buckled. I reached out and caught myself on the back of the couch. Quinn rushed to my side, easing me to the floor.
“You get a hold of the doctor?” he asked Abby over his shoulder.
“No. I didn’t get the chance.”
“Well, you might want to try again.”
“Where were you?” My voice squeaked out, my throat was on fire. “I could’ve used some help.”
He frowned. “I know. I’m sorry. I went over to help the bodyguard sit up, and he grabbed my pant leg. He did a great job of feigning weakness. I heard you fighting with Liet. Trust me, I would have been there if I could. Took me forever to get that man away from me.”
“What are we going to do with him?” I nodded toward the bodyguard on the floor. My voice came out as a harsh whisper. It hurt to talk. My head felt light and started to spin. I thought for sure I would pass out.
“You don’t need to worry about him. He’s not an issue.”
“You sure? I could stab him. Just to make sure.”
Quinn laughed. “I think there’s been enough death for now. Why don’t you lay down?”
I didn’t fight him. My body wouldn’t let me. He placed a pillow under my head and leaned on his shoulder next to me. He ran his fingers through my hair.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Just a few bumps and bruises. My throat’s a little sore.”
I smiled and averted my gaze. They fell on his midsection. Red soaked through his shirt.
“Quinn!” My voice screeched. “You’re bleeding!”
“Shh, shh, shh. I’m fine. Just popped some stitches.”
I wanted to protest, to lift his shirt and see how bad the damage was, but I couldn’t move. Tears ran down my temples and dripped into my ears. I tried to speak again, but nothing came out. Quinn settled in closer and nuzzled against my neck.
“The doctor will be here soon. We’ll be just fine.” He kissed me, then slowly got to his feet. He fixed his attention on Abby. “You have anyone you can call? Help you take care of these guys?”
I glanced up at Abby, who stood at my feet. Her hand was on the back of the couch for balance. She nodded.
“Get them here as fast as you can. We both need medical attention.”
“They’re on their way. And so is the doctor.”
“Why?” I whispered. “Why are you doing this?”
Abby looked down at me, her eyebrows pushed together in confusion. “Why am I doing what?”
“Helping us.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I don’t want to be trapped in Florida for the rest of my life. I’m originally from Colorado. I miss the mountains. The cool air. The snow.” She took a seat next to me.
“But you were a border guard. How did you know what was going on down here?”
“I only became a guard a couple of weeks ago. Before that, I did patrol for the high school. Pearl and I were friends, and she told me what happened with Tanya and your other friends. It wasn’t fair. It angered me. We shouldn’t be trapped down here. I asked to be transferred to the border so I could wait for you. We knew you’d come back, one way or the other.” She smiled at me. “You’re an inspiration, Krista. None of this would have happened without you.”
A loud “Hah!” sounded from the couch. It was Mrs. Johnson.
Abby stood. “You’re not really in any position to criticize,” she spoke between gritted teeth.
“You really think your little stunt is going to change anything? The Families have friends, you know. And most of the population is happy where they are. They’re safe. You won’t get them to leave the state and fight the zombie hordes.”
It was Abby’s turn to laugh. “You are so out of touch with reality. You spend all day up here in your tower, believing you are doing what’s right for the people. You’re not. People aren’t happy. Some of them are content living out their existence here, but the vast majority are scared to death. Scared to say the wrong thing, scared to breathe. They don’t want to look over their shoulder, they want to be free. They want to take back what’s rightfully ours.”
“You’ll never kill them all. You can’t. There are too many zombies out there.”
“How do you know?” Quinn’s voice was pinched with pain. “When’s the last time you were actually out there? The threat can be neutralized. And you have the tools to do it. But since you won’t, we’ll find people who will.”
The phone on the table rang, and Abby ran to answer it. She spoke quietly, so I couldn’t hear what she said. She hung up and turned back to us.
“The cavalry is here. They’ll be up in a few minutes. We’ll take care of these guys.” She gestured with her head toward the soldiers, “and we’ll get you two some help.”
I couldn’t wait. It was getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open. My body was one massive ball of pain, and I wanted nothing more than to give into the blackness. Quinn knelt next to me and took my hand in his. A soft knock sounded at the door, and Abby went to answer it. Several guards dressed in black entered the room, M4s in their hands. My heart leapt into my throat. What if they weren’t here to help? What if they were part of Mrs. Johnson’s army? I took a breath. There wasn’t much I could do if they were. At least I was able to take out Liet. If I was going to die, I was going to go happy.
Three of them hurried over to me and set a stretcher on the ground. One grabbed my feet, the other was at my shoulder, and the third stayed in the middle to balance me.
“One, two, three.”
They lifted me up. I wanted to scream as pain washed anew through me. Instead, I bit my lower lip.
“Doing all right?” Quinn asked.
“Peachy.” I reached for him. “Don’t leave me.”
“I promised I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, and I won’t.”
We wound our way down the stairs. The trip seemed to take a lot less time than it did when we went up. It was hot, so hot, and it was even harder for me to stay awake. Several times I pulled my eyes open, wondering how long I was out, but it had only been seconds. When we stepped out the front doors, the sun was so bright I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I drifted into blackness.
I reopened them to find myself in a bed connected to IVs. Quinn sat in a chair across from me.
“Déjà vu.” My throat was dry. I coughed.
Quinn sat next to me on the bed. He wore a hospital gown and pulled an IV pole behind him.
“How you feeling?”
“Terrible. Everything hurts.”
“That will go away eventually. Call the nurse. She’ll bring you some drugs.”
“So, does this mean we won?”
Quinn sighed. “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.” He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. “But there’s nothing else either of us can do now. I need some rest. I’m in the bed right next to you if you need anything.”
He shuffled across the room and crawled into his own bed.
My heart rate increased slightly, my palms began to sweat. How much danger were we in? What if the rebels lost? Would the soldiers come in and kill us? A thousand different scenarios of our demise ran through my mind.
My body tensed, and I wanted to get up and run. Then, I relaxed. I took a deep breath and focused on Quinn. He smiled at me, his eyes getting heavy. There was nothing I could do if the soldiers came after us. We tried. We did our best. No sense in worrying about it. I settled back into the bed and readied for sleep. We were together. Not much else mattered. I reminded myself Liet was dead, and that was the biggest victory ever.
CHAPTER 22
Six months after our Overthrow Florida Campaign, the residents had their first vote. They decided the fate of The Families. They attempted to give them
a regular jury trial, but they couldn’t put together a fair and impartial jury. A vote was the only solution. Surprisingly, the people were pretty lenient. I would have given them the chair, but the people of Florida recognized the good things The Families had done, and they wanted to reward those actions. Mrs. Johnson and the others would spend limited jail time before being incorporated back into the populace. Even Mrs. Johnson’s bodyguard got off lightly, and that irritated me. They couldn’t prove he actually put the zombies in the back of the semi, so they couldn’t put him on trial for it. The smile he gave me as he was escorted out of the courtroom was pompous and condescending. The only thought that ran through my head was that he better not venture too far into the West. Accidents had a tendency to happen out there.
Three months ago, they had their first interim presidential election. The campaigning was ridiculous, but it had to be done. We needed a leader. We also needed to rebuild the government. It was a slow process, and they stayed headquartered in Florida. Eventually, once the East Coast was rebuilt, they’d move back to Washington. That would probably take several years, but everyone was willing to wait. They had to. What other choice did they have?
We lost more lives in the rebellion than we anticipated, both on our side and in the soldiers’ ranks. It made me sad, but it was also expected. People were willing to give their lives for what they believed in, and someone had to make the sacrifice. If we all just sat back and waited for things to happen, we’d still be under the rule of The Families. We honored those who lost their lives, and thanked them deeply for it.
I felt guilty for not letting Lydia, Chester, and the others help in the invasion of Florida after we promised them they could, but it was out of my hands. It wasn’t my choice to have events transpire the way they did. If given the choice, I would have done things much differently. I think they understood that. Yeah, they were disappointed, but they were reunited with their families. Lydia found her husband, and Chester got to be with his grandson. The end result was the same even if they didn’t get to participate.
I had a metal plate put in for my shoulder blade. After Liet’s last tackle, he knocked so many of the pins out of place, it was the only way to save my arm. Not that they would have cut it off or anything, but I wouldn’t have been able to use it. Still, not all of the bones healed perfectly, and I had some lumps back there, along with a huge scar. I didn’t mind, it was kind of a badge of honor. I decided to decorate it. I found a tattoo artist and had a severed zombie heads inked into my skin. The scar traveled down the side of his face, the lumps formed bullet holes. It had a 3D effect. I showed it off every chance I get. It has become my trademark.
Quinn’s injury wasn’t nearly as bad. They patched him back up and he was good to go. He didn’t have to go through therapy or anything like I did. He barely has a scar. A quarter-sized discolored circle, that’s it. Well, on the front anyway. Where the bullet exited on his back is a little different. It’s larger, but he didn’t have a metal plate put in his body. He thought about putting a tattoo over it to cover it up, but decided not to. He said he wanted to leave it as is. Who was I to tell him different? It was his choice, and I honored it.
As soon as we were fit to travel, we headed back to Wyoming. Our place wasn’t in Florida. We did our part, and now it was time to get on with our lives. A few Floridians made the trip with us, ready to combat the zombie threat and take back what was ours. We never took them to Quinn’s ranch, it was still our secret. We needed some place we could disappear to, some place far away from the pressures and responsibilities of the “real” world. It was our slice of Heaven on Earth.
***
I stood in the forest, a slight breeze tousled my hair.
The smell of pine trees bombarded my nostrils, a bird chirped in the distance. Something scurried in the underbrush. I turned toward the sound and saw the fluffy tail of a squirrel. I smiled, dropping my hand from the gun at my hip. The roar of an engine cut through nature, and a Hummer wound its way over the rough road. I waved. The tires skidded to a stop, and Quinn stepped out from the driver’s side. Pam opened the passenger side door.
“Any trouble?” Quinn asked.
I shook my head. “Not a peep.”
“I still don’t understand why you insisted on coming up here alone. Don’t you know bad things happen when you venture off by yourself?” He kissed me quickly on the lips, then we turned toward the mountain face behind us. “I know you’ve seen enough horror movies to know that.”
“I needed some time to deal with this on my own, come to terms with everything that happened. You know that.”
I had a lot of mixed emotions about the cave. Fear and anger mostly, and I wanted to deal with them by myself. No one needed to see me burst into tears or punch a tree. Quinn would have supported me, for sure, but it was something I had to handle on my own. Surprisingly, when I saw the mountain, I felt nothing. No sadness, no remorse, nothing. It was refreshing.
He glanced at me briefly, his hands on his hips, then shrugged. “Like I can really tell you what to do any way.”
“And don’t ever forget that.” I stuck my tongue out at him before smiling.
The cave opening was covered with a metal door painted to look like rock. From a distance, it could fool anybody, but up close, you could tell it was a painted door. Quinn grabbed the handle and lifted, struggling just a little to get the door open. I moved to help, he shooed me away.
“I can get this,” he grunted.
I smiled. He always had to show off. Pam stood a few feet behind us, her arms folded across her chest. She knew better than to get involved. The sun filtered into the cave, barely lighting the first fifty feet. The other opening half way up the mountain illuminated the rest of the room. Gravel crunched under our feet as we stepped into the cavern. The smell of rotting flesh hit my nose like a brick wall. I gagged. Pam groaned, covering her nose with her hand. Quinn scowled, but he was tough enough to take the stench. We walked across the floor to the crates.
The zombie corpse was right where we left it, looking a little worse for the wear. Insects had taken care of the soft parts, and decomposition was taking care of the rest. Soon, he would be nothing more than a skeleton.
The pool of Quinn’s blood was also still on the floor, faded to a dark stain. I shook my head.
“Hard to believe this is where it all started,” I commented. “If we never found this place, we would have never gone to Florida.” I snorted a chuckle. “It’s strange to think how things work out.”
“We would have eventually gone to Florida.” Quinn smirked. “But it would have been under different circumstances.”
“Well, I’m just glad no one came and grabbed these weapons,” Pam interjected. “They’ll be incredibly helpful in arming everyone.”
I nodded. “They’ll definitely add to the stash. Once we raid every sporting goods store, pawn shop, and gun store in the West, we’ll have more than we could ever need.”
“It’ll be worth it.” Pam raised her eyebrows. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“Then we need to quit procrastinating.” Quinn walked over to a crate and grabbed the handle. He jerked on the side and slid the crate toward the door. He glanced at the two of us. “A little help would be greatly appreciated.”
Pam and I walked to our own crates and grabbed the handles. All three of us pulled our burdens toward the door. We stopped at the opening.
“You really should back the Hummer up to the door,” I panted. “I’m not dragging this thing over rocks and tree branches.”
“A little out of shape are we?” Pam mocked.
I scowled. “It doesn’t help that we’re at what? Ten thousand feet? The air is a bit thin up here.”
“You’ve just been living the cush life.” Pam smiled. “You need to start running again, practice your marksmanship.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Yeah, rehab is such a cush life. Trust me, I’d trade you in a heartbeat. You put the metal plate in your back. And
I was working out, just not like I should have been.”
She laughed. “You’ll get back into shape in no time. The zombie hunts will see to that.”
Yeah, the hunts were going to be a lot of work, but they were also going to be a lot of fun. We had a lot more human power, more weapons, and a lot more vehicles. I put in a special request for the Jeeps with gun turrets and some helicopters. The new politicians in Florida saw to it that I got the necessary tools. I couldn’t wait to get started.
We decided to make our base of operations in North Platte. The city was being rebuilt as a homage to those who fought against tyranny, and it was just a logical place. It was the stronghold the zombies didn’t want to cross, and it was more or less centrally located. It was the perfect location.
After we loaded two Hummers, we climbed in and headed down the mountain. Pam took the lead. I rolled down my window and stared at the trees. Dust from the road blew in, coating me and the interior in white powder. Still, I couldn’t get over the smell. It was clean, crisp, and cool. Not stifling like the air in Florida. I drew in a deep breath.
“I really do love it out here,” I told Quinn.
“You and me both, hon.” He glanced over at me and smiled. “It won’t be long now. As soon as we get the people trained, we’ll disappear to my ranch. Then, we’ll kick those families out and spend some time alone.” He raised and lowered his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
I sighed. “I can’t wait.” I averted my gaze back out the window.
We bumped and wound our way through the mountain roads. After a few hours, we made it to asphalt and a main highway. I rolled my window up and cranked up the vents. Dust swirled around the interior. I sneezed.
We rode in silence for about twenty minutes. Quinn adjusted in his seat, leaning forward over the steering wheel.
“Yeah, baby!”
He pushed the gas pedal to the floor and zoomed around Pam’s vehicle. On the horizon was a dark blob of writhing bodies. We ran through the horde at close to seventy miles an hour. Bodies slammed and bounced off the vehicle, blood coated the windshield and the side windows. The stench of death filtered through the vents. A body flipped over the hood and smacked into the windshield, his face flattened against the glass for a few seconds before his body slid off onto my side of the Hummer. His lip caught on the windshield wiper. He pawed at us, trying to get through the invisible barrier. Eventually, his skin ripped and he fell off the truck, leaving behind his top lip and part of his nose. My stomach cramped.
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