Zombie Playlist: A Rock Zombie Romance

by Kirsty Dallas

  The clouds had all but disappeared, the rain leaving behind a stifling humidity that had sweat dripping everywhere. Bathing with a wet rag had got real old real fast, and now I daydreamed about a shower. I thought of diving into the San Antonio river that snaked through my grandparents farm and lying on my back in the water, watching the clouds drift by like lazy puffs of smoke. My mind wandered toward the idea of a hot meal, roast, with beans and gravy. Before long I was thinking of Tequila, weed, and ultimately the cigarettes buried in the bottom of my backpack. It was fast becoming a torturous cycle. Shower, food, smoke, shower, food, smoke. My mood consequently plummeted, and by the time we reached the outskirts of town, I was dying for a motherfucking infected to come at me just so I could blow off some steam. Instead, we found that unnerving silence that Lawson hated. Industrial style buildings greeted us along the main road, chain fences locked up tight. There was the familiar scent of death in the air, but it wasn’t too strong. A little further up the road we reached an intersection, the lights no longer working, the road in each direction seemingly disserted. The air had grown thicker with the smell of rot, and I held my gun a little tighter. Taking a few steps forward, I paused when I realized Noah and Lawson were still stopped back at the intersection. Following their line of vision, I found what had snagged their attention. A deceased Red Rage victim hung from a flagpole alongside a concrete building.

  “That’s something you don’t see every day,” I murmured.

  The body was badly decomposed, the blackened blood lying in the dirt below it causing bile to rise in my throat. The stench was so thick it burned my nostrils, and Noah and I were quick to pull our standard, dirty bandana’s up over our noses to try and block the offensive smell. Lawson’s face scrunched up, but otherwise he remained stoic as ever. The rifle that hung from his shoulder came down into his hands though, positioned in front of his body. Obviously the infected wouldn’t have climbed up there and hung himself, which begged the question, what the actual fuck?

  As our boots crunched over dirt and asphalt, we continued to wander the empty streets. Birds twittered and somewhere in the distance a dog barked, which caused Noah to come to a quick stop.

  “S’okay, Boo. It was quite far away.”

  She scurried right up to Lawson’s side, which made me grin. She trusted him, but more importantly, I trusted him. Lawson caught my smile and winked, before returning to scrutinizing our surroundings. Eventually we came to a two-story motel complex with two cars parked out front.

  “You think someone’s in there?” I wondered, trying to see through the top windows of the motel. All the bottom ones were boarded up. There was no movement from inside, but that didn’t mean there weren’t people in there. My gaze returned to the cars, and the brand new black Audi SUV. Oh yeah, air conditioning and cruise control, come to mama, baby. As I took a step toward the slick Audi, Lawson headed towards the other car, an old Volvo wagon.

  “Hey, where are you going?”

  Lawson turned to face me and signed something before seeming to stop himself with a frustrated shake of the head.

  “Keep talking with your hands soldier, it turns me on…and I want to learn.”

  His brows shot up, as did Noah’s.

  “What? Why is that such a surprise?”

  “His hands turn you on?” Noah asked.

  “Sure,” I said with a shrug. “They’re big, and strong…”

  Lawson’s grin was wicked, but before I could say anything else, the breeze blew towards us carrying the overpowering stench of death, accompanied by a shrill scream from somewhere way too close. With the playful moment gone, Lawson grabbed Noah by the elbow, and they began jogging towards the Volvo. Obviously outvoted, I followed.

  The sound of pounding footsteps came from behind us, and my heart lurched painfully in my chest. Chancing a glance over my shoulder, I barely withheld the scream. At least half a dozen infected were closing in, and fast. Where the hell did they come from?

  “Lawson, we won’t have time to fuck around with the car, keep moving.”

  From the opposite side of the car park, a larger pack of zombies staggered over the curb, their bloodshot eyes finding us, and their feet moving swiftly in our direction as soon as they discovered a human snack bar open.

  “Fuck,” I spat out.

  Lawson raised his gun and took four shots, each bullet hitting its mark. It seemed to make no dent in their numbers though. With the pack closing in, I changed my direction and headed for the large building before us. Lawson and Noah were somewhere close behind as I approached the glass doors. I noticed they too had been boarded up from the inside. Reaching the building, I pounded frantically on the glass. There had to be someone in there, otherwise how did they put up the boards on the other side of the glass

  “Hello, is anyone in there? Please let us in, we’re healthy.”

  My fists banged on the door, and Noah joined me at my side, also thumping away while Lawson shot bullets at the zombie horde behind us.

  “No strangers, move on,” shouted a voice from inside.

  Knowing someone was in there gave me some measure of comfort, however their curt dismal inflamed my panic.

  “Let us the fuck in, we aren’t infected.”

  “Move along or we’ll shoot you through the door,” came another voice, this one strong and unwavering.

  “Please, it’s just the three of us, my sister can’t outrun them,” I begged.

  A loud bang, too close for comfort, exploded from inside the building, piercing the timber and glass window immediately to our left. They’d shot at us.

  “Mother fucker, I hope you burn in fucking hell,” I screeched, grabbing Noah’s hand.

  Spinning around, I realized we were being closed in from all sides. Lawson pointed to the left, where the opening between the infected and the building was widest. Pointing my gun, I fired at the two closest infected and took them down, then ran like I’d never done before, dragging Noah along behind me. Lawson brought up the rear, protecting our backs. Sliding on the loose asphalt, we rounded the corner of the building only to be greeted with a dead end. A large garbage disposal bin was pushed up against the far wall. Not having any other choice, I ran toward the bin and once there, laced my fingers together and bent forward to give Noah a lift up.

  “Put your foot in my hands and push up Noah.”

  “I can’t,” she shouted, tears pouring down her face.

  “You can and you will, now get the fuck up,” I demanded, my tone far harsher than I had ever used on her before.

  Noah only hesitated a moment before placing her booted foot in my hands and reached for the lid of the bin. As her weight settled in my palms, I lifted her. As she scrambled on top, Lawson took a knee beside me and without thinking I used him to boost myself up, my arms burning as I pulled my weight up on top of the lid. Spinning around, I began firing at the zombies who had rounded the corner behind us.

  “Get moving, soldier.”

  With a jump, Lawson grabbed the edge and rather effortlessly pulled himself up out of harm’s way just as the first infected ran right into the side of the bin, throwing his body manically at the obstacle stopping him from reaching us. Frantic, bloodied hands were clumsy as they tried to reach us, giving Lawson and me a moment to get our breath back as we fired off a few more rounds.

  “Shiloh!”

  Noah’s scream drowned out the feral sounds of the infected, and my world was reduced to a numb state of silence as I turned and discovered Noah was no longer with us. Slipping on something slick and oily, my ankle twisted awkwardly to one side, sending a shot of agonizing pain up my leg. It didn’t matter though, the pain a distant annoyance as I stumbled across the bin and peered over the wall. Noah had climbed down the other side and onto a forty-gallon drum. From there she had either jumped to the ground, or been hauled off by the infected who currently had her hair in a tight grip, dragging her towards its salivating mouth. Afraid I’d hit her wi
th a bullet from this distance, I scrambled over the edge. There was no thought about what I would do, I simply acted. The infected was a woman, her body emaciated, the webbing through her skin a deep purple, eyes such a dark red they were almost black. Her skin had begun to take on a rotten look and when I wrapped a hand around her thin wrist which held Noah’s arm, I resisted the urge to pull away from the sticky flesh. Instead I bent her hand back as far as it would go until I heard a clear crack. Snapping her mouth like a rabid dog, the infected still had Noah’s hair in a tight fist, dragging her closer and closer.

  “No you fucking don’t,” I growled.

  Pressing the barrel of my gun against the side of the zombie’s head, I pulled the trigger. Noah screamed, the infected let out a garbled noise as blood and splatter exploded from her head, her body lurching to one side from the power of the bullet. Noah went down to the filthy asphalt, the infected on top of her.

  “Get off her you bitch,” I screamed through my bandana, trying to tug the body off Noah who sobbed hysterically.

  It felt like hours had passed since my world had shrunk to Noah being dragged toward the mouth of a zombie, but it was more likely only seconds. Lawson was already beside me, easily pulling the bloodied body aside as I dropped to my knees and pulled Noah into my arms.

  “S’okay Boo, I got you, it’s okay.”

  I was panting hard, my body trembling with fear and adrenaline, only the feeling of Noah’s shaking body kept me from breaking down into a sobbing mess. She was alive, she was okay. The sound of more gunfire pulled me from the shock. We weren’t out of trouble yet. Dragging Noah to her feet, I began to jog along behind Lawson who cleared the few stray infected from in front of us. My ankle throbbed like a son of a bitch, and it was making me feel sick. We ran around the back of the motel where we were greeted with a dark blue Jeep. Not wasting any time, Lawson threw open the door and used a screwdriver that he pulled from one of the many pockets in his cargos to remove the casing on the steering column. Within seconds he had the wires free and did his hotwiring magic. The rumble of the vehicle coming to life was music to my ears, literally. More gunfire split the air, but this time it wasn’t coming from us, but from a window on the second floor of the motel.

  “Leave the fucking Jeep,” someone shouted.

  Filled with spit and fire, I pushed Noah into the back seat and encouraged her to keep her head down while I climbed into the front seat. With my fingers still wrapped tightly around my weapon, I pointed at the window and fired.

  “Eat shit asshole!”

  Lawson pressed his foot on the accelerator before my door was shut, and the Jeep bounced as he crossed a vacant yard and hit the asphalt.

  “Son of a bitch,” I spat out, trying to prevent myself from flying out the open door. When Lawson turned another corner, it helped me right myself and pull the door closed.

  Too close, it had been too fucking close. Shaking out my hands, I took a few deep breaths, trying to wrestle back control of my wild emotions. Fear was still running thick through my veins and in my mind I kept seeing Noah being dragged toward the zombies mouth. Lawson’s large hand settled over my thigh, and I quickly laced my fingers with his.

  “That sucked balls.”

  My voice was shaky and I desperately wanted to cry. Deep breath in, then out, over and over again, I gradually wrestled back control. We had to get back to the car, swap our gear over and get to motherfucking Elmendorf before anything else went wrong. After a few more deep breaths, the adrenaline began to crash and my hand settled subconsciously over my stomach. Thoughts of the possible baby growing within assaulted me. Protecting Noah challenged my sanity, the thought of protecting my own child scared me spitless. As we sped out of Caldsbad, back toward our broken car, I glanced over my shoulder and silently wished the place a good fucking riddance. My gaze caught on Noah who was curled up on the back seat, shaking. She was covered in sticky blood, the stink of death coming from her causing my already rolling stomach to lurch.

  “Pull over,” I mumbled.

  The are-you-crazy look Lawson gave me would have been funny if I weren’t about to vomit in our newly acquired Jeep. Clamping a hand over my mouth was obviously the universal sign for “gonna throw chunks” and Lawson was quick to bring the Jeep to a skidding stop alongside the highway. Stumbling out of the door, I threw up in the dirt. It wasn’t a pretty moment, but hell if my life hadn’t turned into one ugly, smelly rollercoaster. Once finished Lawson was quick to hand me his water canister, and I rinsed my mouth out. Climbing into the back seat of the Jeep, I placed a palm over Noah’s head as Lawson got us going again.

  “I got you, Boo.”

  Track Thirty: Gary Jules, Mad World

  CHAPTER 30

  Unable to stand seeing Noah covered in blood and muck, I pulled my filthy shirt off and began to wipe down her arms and legs. From the front mirror Lawson watched us carefully, the concern clear in his pinched brow and gentle eyes.

  “She’s okay,” I murmured.

  While cleaning the nasty shit from her beautiful skin, I began to hum Cranberries’ Zombie, and soon was singing it soft and slow. Gradually my ministrations and music brought Noah out of the comatose state she’d been sent too, and eventually she sat up. Her glasses were gone, and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach when I noticed the blood on her face. With frantic movements I tried to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth and eyes.

  “Lawson,” I breathed.

  Even though his name had left my lips on barely more than a whisper, he heard me. Slowing the Jeep once again, he brought us to a stop and jumped out of the driver’s seat. Flinging open the passenger door closest to Noah, he grabbed the water canister from me and held it up over Noah’s face, nodding to her and mimicking what he was about to do.

  “He’s gonna wash your face, Boo.”

  “‘Kay,” Noah murmured, exhaustion in her voice.

  Lawson tipped the water over her, carefully and efficiently washing the blood away.

  “Did it get in your mouth, Boo?” When she didn’t answer right away, I snapped my question again.

  “I don’t know.”

  “It was in her lashes, it could have got in her eyes, can you catch it like that?” Panic was bleeding into every scant inch of my heart. Lawson gave me a quick look, and his grave expression gave me my answer.

  “It might not have gone inside her eyes, they were probably closed. I shot my gun at close range, the sound would have made her close her eyes.”

  The nod he gave me wasn’t confident, and the nauseous feeling I’d purged only moments ago was back. Returning to the driver’s seat, Lawson revved the engine and got us back to the crappy ol’ Toyota in record time. The sun was dipping behind the horizon and even though I wanted to keep moving, we were all exhausted as hell. After moving everything to the Jeep, including a very happy to see us Justin, we drove onwards for another twenty minutes before finding a barely existent dirt road that led off the asphalt. Lawson took us far enough from the highway that it would make it difficult for us to be seen, and parked beside an outcrop of rocks and scrubby greenery. Noah was already asleep, and I couldn’t take my eyes from her. Was she getting sick? Was the virus slowly leeching into her body, attacking her gentle heart? Had I sentenced my sister to death by trying to save her? A tug on my hair got my attention, and Lawson handed me an energy bar. My stomach growled for food, but I couldn’t eat. Obviously realizing how I was feeling, Lawson gave me a water bottle and forced me to drink all of it. Then he climbed out onto the hood of the car to take first shift.

  “You’ll be okay,” I whispered to a still sleeping Noah. She had to be, I would accept no other outcome. Curling up awkwardly beside her, I wrapped an arm around her waist and tucked my head into her oily hair. “I need you to be okay.”

  Then, I did something I’d never done in my entire fucking life. I prayed.

  ***

  “Here, eat it.”

  The ener
gy bar I’d refused to eat the night before was thrust into Noah’s hand. She took one look at it, scrunched up her nose, and passed it back.

  “Eat it,” I ordered her, shoving it back into her lap.

  “I don’t want it,” she stubbornly argued, this time throwing the bar in my direction which hit my shoulder and bounced to the floor.

  “Fine.”

  Searching through the bag at my feet, I pulled out a can of baked beans. There were ramen noodles in there, but nowhere to heat them right now so baked beans was the next best thing. As I began looking for a can opener, Noah sighed loudly from beside me.

  “Shy, I’m not hungry.”

  “You didn’t eat dinner last night or breakfast this morning, you’re starving.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Noah, you have to eat.”

  “Shy,” she snapped.

  Taking a deep breath for patience, I forced away my irritation. If she wasn’t hungry she wasn’t hungry. I couldn’t force her to eat.

  “Sorry Boo, you know me.”

  At that, she smiled.

  “Yeah Shy, I know you.”

  “You sure you won’t eat a little something.”

  “Maybe later,” she mumbled. “I’m tired, and my throat’s sore.”

  The restlessness that was restrained panic remained in my limbs as I watched her lean against the car window. Long after her eye lids had closed, I still couldn’t tear my gaze away as my booted foot beat out a haphazard beat on the floor of the car. I watched her carefully for the slightest change. She looked fine, other than the tired bruises resting under her eyes, which were completely justified. There was no webbing on her skin. She was just tired, with a sore throat. Not really sick. Yet each time she scratched at a spot on her arm or leg, I remembered watching Cullen fall ill. I remembered the itching, the sniffling, the fast decline as the virus attacked his body from the inside out. I knew Lawson was casting regular worried glances in the mirror, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Noah long enough to placate him with a smile. I had no smiles in me. All I had was sickening fear. Fear that I would lose Noah, fear that I had failed her.