Harper tore her gaze from Bill and focused on me. “I’m okay,” she said quietly and once again looked back toward the game of chess. “It’s just…” She shook her head, and her blonde braid slipped from her shoulder. “I’ve never had that, you know? Not that I really remember, anyway.”
At first I didn’t understand what she meant—they were only playing a game—but then I watched Bill, and even Jessica, interacting with Tiana for a moment, and it hit me what Harper was referring to. Parents.
“I don’t really remember much about my mom and dad,” she said, still watching the family interact.
“Didn’t you have someone in your group who looked out for you? Someone who filled that role?”
Harper shrugged and absentmindedly reached back for her braid, tugging on it the way she so often did. “Not one person, not really. We all kind of looked out for one another.”
A pang vibrated through me. I couldn’t imagine not having anyone to look up to. I’d had Jasper, we all had, and Emma, and I’d always known that no matter what, one of them would be there to answer my questions and teach me what I needed to know. Jasper had taken on the responsibility of making sure I had the life skills necessary to make it in this world. Surviving, teaching me a skill—making soap—that would help me earn my place in this new world, and teaching me to shoot and fish. Emma had been there to answer all the awkward questions life brought. My first period, sex, both the good and bad things men could do. My family hadn’t been conventional, but it had been clear-cut.
“That’s nice, when you think about it,” I said, trying to make Harper feel better. “It means you had more than one dad, more than one mom. You had more than a lot of people.”
She shrugged, but nodded, too. “I did, I know, but when I see that, I remember what I’m missing.” Harper tore her gaze from Bill and focused on me. “Do you remember your parents?”
I swallowed when a lump formed in my throat. “Yes and no. I sometimes wonder if the memories I have of them are real or if they’re something I saw on TV. Like when I think about a day we spent at the lake. I know it happened, but it’s so fuzzy now I have to wonder if the images in my head were from my life or from something else.”
“Exactly,” Harper said. “I can remember things, mostly just images. My bedroom. A big clock at my grandma’s house that chimed every hour. A dog I think was mine at some point. But none of it feels real, and there’s always this grain of doubt in my mind, like I’m not sure if any of it really existed. I can’t imagine a world before this one where you could walk down the street and not be afraid for your life. It doesn’t seem like it ever existed.”
“It did,” I assured her. “What’s more, you had parents who loved you. I know you did.”
“Yeah,” she said, looking back toward Bill, but she didn’t sound convinced.
16
Throughout the day, zombies continued to find their way to us, and that evening, as the sun was moving toward the horizon, nearly twenty had gathered outside the fence. It was something we couldn’t ignore, not with how rusty the metal had gotten over the last nine years or the way it bowed under their weight, threatening to give, and not when there would no doubt be more by morning.
So, we gathered in the industrial hallway, ready to go out and take care of the horde doing their best to break down the fence. Kellan and me, Bill, Ernie, James, Cade, Blake, Scott, and Emma. Nine of us against twenty zombies. Whether the odds were good depended on how old the creatures were. If they’d been around for a few years, they would be more decayed and slower, but if Andrew had just created them or they were infected with one of the newer strains of the virus, it could be rough. Only time would tell.
Behind us, another group waited with weapons, ready to provide backup if Andrew decided now was the time to make his move. The woman who lived with Scott, Ellie, the man Ernie lived with whose name I hadn’t yet learned, Diane, Jessica, Christine, seventeen-year-old Thomas, and sixteen-year-old Mason. Everyone looked tense and unsure about what we were facing, but they were here, and they were armed, and it was all we could ask for as we headed up the stairs.
“Stick close to me,” Kellan said when we reached the surface.
For the first time, I was able to roll my eyes when faced with his overprotectiveness. “I’m immune.” I waved to the bandage covering the still throbbing bite. “If anyone should be worrying about anyone, it’s me about you.”
Kellan, who had flipped that internal switch of his, only shook his head in response.
Outside, the Oklahoma air was stifling even though the sun was now half hidden by the horizon. The sky, painted in oranges and pinks and purples, would be black soon, but there was more than enough daylight left for us to take care of the current crisis.
The zombies went crazy at the sight of us, and we started out the way we usually did. At the fence, careful to keep our distance from the fingers, and even a few hands, that managed to make it through the chain link, poking long blades into the eye sockets of the dead through the holes. It was the safest way to take care of them and something Kellan and I had learned from watching episodes of The Walking Dead back before the virus. At the time, it had been for entertainment, but more than a few tricks the pretend survivors had used to stay alive ended up helping us over the years.
The dead dropped one by one as the nine of us went to work. Flies buzzed around the bodies and my face, and more than once I had to swat them away when they tried to land on my eye or cheek. The stench of decay was overpowering, and the handkerchief I’d tied over my nose and mouth did nothing to block it out. My eyes watered and my stomach convulsed. Nine years, and I still hadn’t gotten used to it. I hoped to God I never did.
There were five zombies left standing when a dead man slammed against the fence, shaking the whole thing. He was right in front of me, his mouth open as he chomped, revealing brown teeth and gray gums, and a dry tongue that had turned black. He shoved his hand through a hole, cutting away layers of decaying flesh in the process, and black blood oozed from the torn skin, dripping down the chain link fence. A moan broke out of him, and he pressed himself against the fence harder, his mouth right in front of a hole, and the metal cut into his face in a way that reminded me of the Play-Doh factory I’d had as a kid. I imagined the zombie forcing his way through the fence the same way I’d forced the Play-Doh through tiny holes in the toy, creating spaghetti-like tendrils that would fall to the ground at my feet in a rotten heap.
I swallowed at the repulsive image and slammed my knife into the zombie’s eye. His hand was still reaching for me, and as he dropped, it ripped free and fell to the ground. I jumped back like I thought it would still be able to grab me.
“Looks like the rest aren’t interested in taking the bait,” Kellan said, drawing my attention from the motionless hand to the zombies still standing.
There were only five, but he was right. They were keeping a distance, their milky gazes more calculating and focused than the ones we’d already managed to kill. This always happened. Somehow, there were always a few zombies that had managed to hold onto more of their mental faculties, forcing us to leave the safety of the fence if we wanted to take them out.
“Let’s get this done, then,” Ernie said.
No one else uttered a word, but a few of the others nodded in agreement.
While Kellan worked to get the gate open, I switched my knife to my other hand and flexed my fingers, trying to ease some of the tension in my joints. Before switching back, I wiped my moist palm on my pants.
“Here we go,” Cade said, nodding to the dead.
Kellan was the first to step out, and the second he did, the zombies were on the move. This was always the most unnerving part, seeing them respond exactly how people would, biding their time and waiting until we were vulnerable. They shouldn’t have been able to do it. They were dead. They weren’t people, and they shouldn’t still have the ability to reason like this. Yet, they did.
Kellan had one of them d
own before I’d even made it out, sending his blade deep into the zombie’s brain and letting out a grunt when the impact vibrated up his arm. The thing dropped, pulling his knife free, and he spun to face the next zombie.
Cade went up against another one while Bill and Scott each took one as well. Ernie headed for the final zombie, grabbing it around its throat, his fingers sinking into the decaying flesh as he worked to keep it at a safe distance. The zombie snapped its teeth, biting at the air, and Ernie’s face grew red from exertion while his glasses slowly slid down his nose, barely clinging to the tip, but he made very little progress.
I went to his aid, jumping over a couple bodies, almost tripping over an arm, and ducking around the zombie when I got close so I could pop up behind him. Ernie’s hand was now covered in black blood, his fingers deep in the zombie’s throat, and his grunts were all but drowned out by moans and growls coming from the dead man.
I grabbed the zombie’s shirt to hold him still and slammed my knife into his skull. Four inches sank in before coming to a stop, my blade lodged in his brain, and the zombie went down, taking Ernie with him.
The man landed on top of the zombie, his hand still on the creature’s neck, but he released the thing and scrambled back, panting.
“What the hell was that?” he growled when he looked up.
The violent way he shoved his glasses back into place made me blink. I’d been expecting a thank you, not the anger flashing in his brown eyes.
“You looked like you were having some trouble, so I helped.”
“I was fine.” Ernie dragged himself up off the ground, shaking his hand as he did and sending bits of rotten flesh and black blood flying through the air. “I’ve killed plenty of zombies. I could handle it.”
“Are you serious?” I snapped. “You should be thanking me!”
“I was fine,” he said again, this time through clenched teeth.
He didn’t like having a girl save his ass. Nice.
“Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes and turning away.
The other zombies were all down, and Bill had already headed off to get the truck, and only five feet away, Kellan stood staring at me, an amused expression on his face.
I rolled my eyes again, which earned me a wink.
Bill pulled the truck through the open gate and put it in park, and we worked together to load the dead into the back, Ernie glaring at me the whole time. It wasn’t as easy as it had been with our old truck thanks to the huge tires, and a couple guys had to climb into the back while the rest of us hoisted the dead above our heads, handing the bodies off to be dragged in.
When the last zombie had been loaded, people headed back, hurrying for the safety of the fence, but Ernie didn’t follow. He still looked like he wanted to strangle me, but I decided ignoring him was the best solution. If I didn’t, I was liable to kick the sexist asshole in the balls.
Cade had hung back, too, and when Ernie talked, he addressed him, not Kellan. “Where do you usually dump the bodies?”
“There’s a spot not too far from here. There’s nothing really special about it. We just make sure to drive them far enough away that they don’t stink up the place,” Kellan responded, earning him a glare that was nearly as hot as the one Ernie had given me when I saved his ass.
Bill slammed the tailgate shut. “You can show me.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kellan responded.
Ernie frowned and looked between the two but said nothing. I got the impression he was waiting for an invitation to tag along, but since the cab only fit three people, I had no intention of letting him get the last spot.
“I want to go.”
I expected resistance, but all Kellan did was sigh. “I thought you might.”
“We’ll secure the gate until you get back.” Cade nodded to Ernie, whose frown deepened.
“We won’t be long,” Bill said as he headed for the driver’s side.
Kellan and I stayed where we were, watching as Ernie followed Cade back toward the fence. The older man still didn’t look happy about the situation, but he hadn’t argued, which was something.
“Come on,” Kellan said when they’d gotten the gate shut.
I followed him to the passenger side, where he opened the door and motioned for me to get in.
“No argument?” I asked as I hauled myself into the high cab.
He looked up, giving me a half smile. “Is there a point?”
“Nope.”
I scooted over until I was next to Bill, and Kellan climbed in behind me. Inside the fence, Ernie and Cade were heading for the shelter.
“What’s Ernie’s deal?” I asked as Bill started the engine.
He threw the truck in gear and said, “I noticed he wasn’t too thrilled with you.”
“I helped him,” I snapped. “Plus, I wasn’t just talking about that. He doesn’t seem to like Kellan very much.”
Bill turned the wheel and headed away from the shelter. “He’s a bit of a control freak. That’s all. I know it comes across poorly sometimes, but he’s a good guy. Been helpful over the years.”
“Well, he could work on being grateful,” I grumbled.
Bill only chuckled in response.
At my side, Kellan was silent, his gaze focused on the Oklahoma landscape as we drove, searching for any sign of Andrew and his men. There was nothing, though.
The sun had disappeared completely, and above us the sky was well on its way to turning black. When that happened, any nearby lights would be clearly visible. If Andrew was around and decided to turn on his headlights, we’d spot him from a mile—or more—away.
Bill drove for about five minutes before stopping. It was far enough away from the shelter that we were safe dumping the bodies, but not too far that we had a long drive back in case we did run into trouble. Kellan, who liked to be able to keep an eye out, climbed into the truck and hauled the bodies out while Bill and I worked together on the ground, darkness descending a little more with each passing second. Insects came out in force, singing to one another, and the howl of a coyote sounded in the distance, but otherwise, the world was silent.
“Looks pretty deserted,” I said. “If he’s out there, he’s laying low.”
“Yeah.” Kellan tossed a body down and paused to look around. “He’s smart. He won’t show his hand until he’s sure he knows what he’s up against.”
Bill dragged the body away from the truck, grunting at the effort, and tossed it aside, where it landed on top of the others. “We’ll have to make sure we’re smarter.”
“That’s the plan,” Kellan mumbled, moving deeper into the truck so he could grab another body.
“While I have the two of you alone,” Bill began, and right away I knew what he was going to say, “I feel like I need to bring up the subject of my daughter and your friend, Blake.”
Kellan froze with a body hanging half off the tailgate. “What about them?”
Bill, to my surprise, chuckled. “Nothing major, just wanting some reassurance that he’s a good guy. Christine is an adult, and living the way we are, I imagine things can get pretty lonely. For a while I thought she and James might hit it off, but I’m pretty sure he’s gay.” Bill grabbed the body from Kellan and tossed it aside with a groan. “She seems to like your friend, though, and I’m happy for her. We all deserve to have the chance at a real life. If you tell me he’s a good guy, I’ll take your word for it and not worry too much. Although, she is my oldest child, so I can’t stop worrying completely.”
Kellan, reassured by Bill’s words, went back to lugging bodies from the truck.
“Blake is the best,” I said. “He and Emma were together for seven years, so you know he’s committed.”
“Huh,” Bill said thoughtfully. “Why’d they split up?”
“They fought a lot and decided that even though they loved each other, they weren’t good together. So, they’re just friends now.”
Kellan hopped down, pulling the final body with him, and dragged
it off toward the others.
“And she’s with Cade,” Bill said to himself. “Couldn’t be an easy thing to watch. It’s to Blake’s credit that he stuck around.” He nodded a few times and, seeing that the back of the truck was now empty, slammed the tailgate shut. “Okay, then, I’m sold.”
I didn’t tell him that Blake had left for a while because I didn’t think it was important. He was a good guy, and once Bill got to know him, he’d see that for himself.
17
Bill and his people eased into our group over the next few days, and before long, the added noise no longer startled me and it began to feel like they’d always been here. The shock at discovering how much we had started to wear off as well and was soon replaced by gratitude at the newfound luxury of living in the shelter.
The extra people helped ease our workload. Even though we couldn’t go out to hunt or fish right now, once the danger passed and we were able to, Bill and Ernie, as well as a few others, would be here to help. In the meantime, there were plenty of jobs inside the shelter. Everyone ages eighteen and up took turns in the control room, and the sisters, Becky and Tracy, were learning how to make soap, while Jessica and some of the others took over the garden, and the kids spent their days in the movie theater, devouring a form of entertainment many of them had never had the chance to enjoy.
School was on the horizon. Jessica, it turned out, had been a third grade teacher before the apocalypse and she enthusiastically threw herself—with the help of Christine and Diane—into planning a curriculum. She’d taught the kids in the hangar, using books she’d managed to gather from the elementary school on base, but the existence of an actual classroom seemed to thrill her, and even the kids a little, much to my surprise.
A week went by with more and more zombies finding their way to our fence, and every day the same group of us had to go out to take care of them. Still, there was no sign of Andrew. Not while we were outside the fence killing the dead, and not when we drove away from the shelter to dump the bodies.
The Oklahoma Wastelands Series Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 44