It was like looking at a stranger. The world had sculpted him into a new man.
For the first time, Leo was able to look at the lost version of himself without bitterness. They had been good days. He didn’t regret having lived them. Not for a second.
“I’ve been wondering about something.” Anton rode up beside him. “What were you doing there? At the field, I mean. When the Russians attacked. Practice wasn’t over. You weren’t due to arrive for at least another hour.”
“I like watching you play.” Leo briefly met his brother’s gaze. “Sometimes I came early to watch.”
“But I never saw you.”
“I know. I watched from underneath the bleachers.”
Anton’s eyes widened in surprise. Leo pedaled faster, pulling ahead. He didn’t mind confessing to Anton, but that didn’t mean he wanted to draw out the moment.
He stopped when they were fifty yards from the school. He waited for the others to catch up with him.
“You all know the plan,” Leo said. “Anton and Bruce attack from the bleachers. Jim and Tate from the cafeteria. Jennifer and I have the theater building. At two-oh-five, start throwing bombs. At two-ten, get the hell out of here. We rendezvous at the Goldschmidt apple orchard.”
He paused, remembering the times he’d spent in the Goldschmidt orchard. It had been a popular party spot back in high school. The owner lived in Colorado and only visited occasionally, leaving the land open for high school adventure and mischief.
Leo had his first taste of alcohol beneath those trees, courtesy of Jim. It was the first place he’d kissed Jennifer.
He glanced in her direction and found her looking at him. From the soft smile on her lips, he knew she was remembering their times in the orchard. They had been good times.
“We wait in the orchard until two-forty. Then we ride back to the cabin. If someone doesn’t show ...” He couldn’t finish the sentence. “We clear out and ride back to the cabin at two-forty. Dal and Lena will meet us at home. Everyone ready?” He scanned the faces of his companions, fixing their faces in his mind.
Jennifer was the first to move. “Let’s go.”
They left their bikes outside the school and dispersed, breaking into their separate teams.
Jennifer fell into step beside Leo. “How far we’ve come, Leo Cecchino,” she said. “Former high school homecoming king and queen turned guerrilla soldiers.”
He wrinkled his brow. “Sounds like a bad movie when you say it like that.”
“It is a bad movie, don’t you think?”
He tightened his grip on his rifle. “Yeah. Pretty fucking bad.”
His boot touched the blacktop of Bastopol High. The back of the science wing was in front of them. There were two dead bodies on the ground, both of them lying in pools of sticky blood.
Leo forced himself to look at the bodies. He didn’t recognize them, but no doubt Anton would know who they were.
Tonight was all about saving people. If they were successful, they could stop more senseless slaughter like this.
They crept to the edge of the science building. Beyond it was a big quad surrounded on all sides by classrooms. On the far side of the quad was the high school auditorium. That was their destination.
In the quad were at least a dozen bodies. There was also a pack of four nezhit. They huddled near the English wing around a dark lump. Dal couldn’t be certain, but it looked like they were eating a dog. At least, he hoped it was a dog and not a person.
“Do we take them out?” Jennifer whispered.
“No. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves if we can help it. Let’s try to sneak by them.”
“Okay.” Without waiting for him, Jennifer stepped out into the open.
That was Jennifer. She’d always been a girl of action.
They eased across the quad. Jennifer moved with the grace of a gymnast, walking on her tip toes. Leo might not be as graceful as she was, but he could be light-footed when he wanted to.
They stepped around a dead girl in neon stretch pants and black blouse with shoulder pads. Blood pooled around her head like a halo. It was sickening to see. Leo supposed he should be grateful she was really dead and not reanimated like the student Dal and Lena had seen in Rossi.
Across the quad, one of the zombies let up a loud yipping sound. She jumped on the nezhit next to her, the two of them squabbling over what looked like an animal leg.
It was enough to make a person gag, but it kept the attention off Leo and Jennifer. They reached the auditorium without incident and stepped around the side of the building.
“There is it,” Jennifer whispered. “Our old friend.”
She was referring to the fire access ladder bolted to the side of the wall. The bottom rung was a good ten feet off the ground.
That had never deterred Leo and Jennifer. If anything, that ten feet had been a challenge.
Side by side, they crossed to the metal garbage can that sat nearby. It was riddled with bullet holes. They each grabbed a side and hefted the can off the ground, moving it beneath the fire access ladder.
“Just like old times,” Leo said.
“Just like old times,” Jennifer agreed.
“You go first.”
Jennifer looked like she wanted to argue. She always did that whenever she thought her female independence was being threatened. Luckily, all she did was give Leo an eye roll before hopping onto the garbage can.
As soon as her feet landed, balancing on either side of the can, something unexpected happened. The trashcan gave a loud, metallic groan and tilted to the right.
Too late, Leo realized one side had been weakened from the bullet holes. The metal bent under Jennifer’s weight. Not a lot, but just enough to make noise.
The reaction of the nezhit was instantaneous. Howls went up from all over campus.
“Go!” Leo yelled.
Jennifer gave him a wide-eyed look before leaping. Her hands grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder. She pulled herself up easily, scrambling to make room for him.
“Leo!” she cried.
The four zombies from the quad came tearing around the corner of the auditorium. Their black-veined skin and red eyes filled his vision. Leo leaped onto the top of the can.
“Jump, Leo!” Jennifer screamed.
Leo jumped. He had at least fifty pounds on Jennifer, if not more. The can listed loudly, further crumpling under his weight.
Leo’s right hand completely missed the ladder. The fingers of his left hand snagging the bottom rung.
The foremost of the nezhit barreled into the trashcan, sending it flying across the blacktop. It banged against the ground as it rolled, inciting another round of howls and barks from campus.
Leo dangled from one hand, feet kicking as he fought to avoid the hands of the nezhit. His hand was sweaty, his grip on the ladder precarious. The zombies jumped up and down, swiping at him with dirty, bloody fingers.
“Give me your other hand!” Jennifer hung upside down, her legs folded over a ladder wrung like it was a gymnastics bar. Both her arms swung free, reaching for Leo.
Leo pulled with everything he had, thankful for every moment in the orchard spent hefting fifty-pound apple packs. He lifted himself just far enough to grab Jennifer’s outstretched hands. She dug her nails into his skin and pulled at him with both hands.
A zombie snagged one shoelace. For one terrifying moment, Leo thought he was a gonner. Then the lace came untied. The zombie fell back to the ground with a frustrated snarl.
With Jennifer’s help, Leo was able to grab the ladder with his right hand. He scrambled out of reach, heart pounding as his boots finally found purchase on the bottom ladder rung.
Jennifer refused to let go, twining her hands into the flannel of his shirt. She still hung upside down. Her hair was in a bun, but a few curls sprang loose around her face.
“Don’t you ever, ever scare me like that again,” she snapped. She released him, lifting her torso into an upright position
as she scaled nimbly up the ladder.
Leo let out a shaky breath, looking down one more time at the snapping nezhit. They were working themselves into a frenzy. Even worse, more had joined them. The pack had expanded to seven, with several more on their way.
Leo focused on the ladder, hurrying after Jennifer to the rooftop.
Chapter 36
Choices
“ONLY TEN ZOMBIES OVER here.” Jennifer was on the west side of the roof, assessing the number of nezhit on the ground below the ladder. “It’s ironic, don’t you think?”
“Ten zombies are ironic?” Leo stood on the north side, scanning the school with his binoculars. Anton and Bruce were already on the bleachers. Jim and Tate had just taken up their position on the cafeteria.
“No. It’s ironic you’re hell bent on protecting me, but I’m the one who keeps saving your ass.”
He lowered the binoculars and frowned at her. “Thank you for pulling me up the ladder. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“You’re welcome.” She gave him a winning smile before moving off to study the infected on the south side of the building.
Leo rolled his eyes and resumed studying the campus. Apparently, his motives had been completely transparent. Jennifer had never been one for chivalry.
Oh, well. Screw it. He wasn’t going to change or apologize just because he annoyed his ex-girlfriend. Someday, he’d meet a girl who didn’t confuse chivalry with chauvinism.
Leo scanned the narrow street between the classrooms and the football field. Just a few days ago, he’d parked his truck on this very street before going to watch Anton at practice.
There were dead bodies everywhere, some rotting wherever they’d fallen; others had turned into nezhit. Many of both variety were in football uniforms. God. This place had been a slaughterhouse.
“How much longer?” Jennifer asked.
“Eighteen minutes.”
She let out an impatient huff, prowling back and forth across the rooftop. “I hate waiting.” She peered over the edge again, this time on the street side. “There’s twelve of them down there. I should be looking forward to dropping bombs on them, but ... well, you know.”
Leo did know. It didn’t feel good to kill people—teenagers—who had been part of their community. He reminded himself they weren’t really killing them; the Russians had done that the moment they infected them with the nezhit virus.
“I’m just glad we’re not students here anymore,” Jennifer said. “At least I can’t put names to the ones down there.”
That wouldn’t be the case for Anton and Bruce. What would it be like for them? Would it put them in danger? Not that he doubted Anton. His little brother would do what needed to be done.
“Will you please say something?” Jennifer rounded on him, hands on her hips. “The silence is killing me.”
“What was his name?” The words popped out before Leo could stop them.
She stared at him. To give her credit, she didn’t play dumb. She knew exactly what he was asking.
For his part, Leo had done his best to sideline the information that Jennifer had fallen in love with another guy. But now that he found himself faced with waiting, the knowledge kept surfacing. It was like being poked in the side repeatedly with a sharp stick. It might not pierce the skin, but it was still irritating.
“His name was Brad,” Jennifer said at last.
“How did you meet him?”
“At a party.”
“What was he like?”
Jennifer looked away and resumed her pacing. “Are you sure you want to know?”
Leo wasn’t sure at all. “Yeah.”
“He was a lot like you. Serious. Nice. Committed.”
Leo could not have been more shocked if she’d said the guy—Brad—was an alien. “He was like me?” he asked, incredulous.
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Guess I attract a certain type of guy.”
“But you said he broke your heart.” Leo couldn’t imagine himself ever having done that.
“He did. But I broke his first.” Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest and looked out in the night.
This wasn’t making any sense. Leo chewed on the information, trying to decide if he wanted to know more.
Morbid curiosity got the better of him. “So you broke his heart, then he broke yours?”
“Yep.”
“So what, you dumped him and then tried to get back together with him?”
She didn’t answer. She stopped pacing and studied the nezhit massed on the ground beneath the ladder.
Seconds ticked by. Leo began to wonder if she’d heard him. It would probably be better if he dropped the subject entirely. It wasn’t his business anyway. It—
Jennifer turned around and faced him. “I got an abortion.”
He gaped at her, stupefied. “What?”
“Brad got me pregnant. When I told him, he wanted us to get married. I got an abortion without telling him and he dumped me.”
Jennifer didn’t flinch as Leo gawked at her, but he saw what the admission cost her. He’d never thought to see despair and self-loathing in Jennifer Miola’s eyes.
He didn’t know what to say. He knew for a fact that if he’d gotten her pregnant, he’d have proposed to her on the spot. It was easy for him to understand Brad’s reaction.
He tried to imagine what it must have been like for Jennifer. Barely twenty years old. Her entire life plan derailed. Without a doubt, she’d been scared. He could understand her not wanting to be a mother at twenty. Hell, they were the same age. He didn’t feel ready to be a parent, either.
“Do you think I’m a terrible person?” she asked.
“Does it matter what I think?”
She let out a long breath. “It shouldn’t, but for some reason, it does.”
Leo considered his answer. “Do you think you made the right choice?”
“I don’t know.” She hung her head.
Leo remembered what it had been like to stand at a crossroads. Finding those bills on his dad’s desk had changed him. He’d been an asshole to everyone he loved after that.
“We all make choices every day.” Leo crossed the rooftop and put an arm around her shoulders. “All we can do is live with them.”
She shuddered and slipped her arms around him. She didn’t cry, but he felt the sorrow radiating from her. He’d sensed it when she’d first arrived, but he hadn’t understood it until now. It was why she’d made the comment about their being parents if they’d stayed together after high school. Jennifer was wrestling with her own personal demon.
Leo squeezed her tight. He couldn’t fix things for her, but he could be there when she needed someone to lean on.
He wasn’t entirely surprised when she stood on her toes and softly kissed his lips. He pulled back and kissed her on the forehead, tightening his arms around her so she wouldn’t think he was rejecting her.
“I’m here for you,” he said. “As a friend.”
“Thanks.” She sighed and rested her head on his chest. “I had to try, you know? To see if we were really over.”
“I know.”
Jennifer was the girl who once drank half a bottle of tequila in an apple orchard just to find out what it felt like to black out.
Who’d have thought life would throw him so many curve balls that he’d fall out of love with Jennifer Miola? Talk about a quarterback sneak. He’d never seen it coming, yet here it was.
“Friends forever?” Jennifer asked.
“Of course,” Leo said, voice gruff. “We took each other’s virginity, after all. That counts for something.”
Jennifer’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. When she stepped out of his arms, affection swept through him. He felt closer to her than he ever had before.
Then a collective howl lit the night, echoing through the streets of Bastopol. It wasn’t just a random pack going crazy. Dozens and dozens of them were going apeshit.
Something had caught the attention
of the zombies.
Chapter 37
Hammer to Fall
“WE’RE SCREWED.” DAL and Lena hid inside the open storefront of a downtown furniture store. The windows had been shot out.
Guy’s Electronic Superstore was within eyesight, the big blue-and-yellow neon sign easy to spot.
Between them and the superstore was a street full of abandoned cars, dead bodies, and prowling nezhit. And only fifteen minutes left before Leo raised hell at the high school.
“We’re screwed,” Lena agreed.
Dal studied the street, chewing at his bottom lip. There were more infected than they’d anticipated. Dumb luck had been the only reason they’d made it into the furniture store. The side alleyway door had been left unlocked in the confusion of the invasion.
They were safe for the moment, but Dal could see no clear route to the superstore. Sure, they could try to circle around, but there wasn’t time.
“We have to make our own distraction,” he said. “It has to be enough to draw the zombies, but not enough to draw the Russians.”
Lena gave him a long look before pulling off her backpack. She unzipped it, revealing her Walkman. Nestled next to it was a small portable speaker that attached to the cassette player with a slender wire.
“I brought this as backup plan,” Lena explained. “We can turn it on and leave it to play. It will draw the infected while we slip away.”
God, he loved this girl. He wished he was a better man for her. “Good thinking.”
“Thanks.” Lena pulled the items out of her backpack. “We’re only going to have one shot at this.”
“We should put it in the alleyway where we came in,” Dal said. “As soon as the nezhit are past the front of the shop, we make a run for it.”
Lena nodded in agreement. This was their only option. He just had to hope Leo would stick to the plan and launch his attack at the designated time. Dal and Lena would need every minute to get into position at the superstore.
Zommunist Invasion | Book 1 | Red Virus Page 21