Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel) (14 page)

The top section of the head slowly slid back and fell to the ground behind it. Its grip loosened from Tami’s throat and she took a deep breath. A small amount of thick black blood stained the rim of the skull that remained and some trickles ran down the neck as the body teetered, then fell to the side.

Tami turned and leaned over as she started heaving and spewing green bile on the ground at her feet. Jeff ran over to Jet and helped steady her; she rubbed her hip and took a step. Jet winced as she limped over to where Tami was still throwing up, to see if she was all right. Jeff picked up the pipe, and for a minute, was tempted to use it on Tami.

When she finished, she turned and wiped her lip. Jeff reached out to grab her by the throat, but was able to stop himself from doing so. Tami flinched and jumped back when she saw the fire in his eyes. He growled, “What the hell do you call that? Jet had to save your sorry ass and got hurt in the process. Now, how is she supposed to defend herself? I mean its one thing to need help, but to just stand there and scream like a little bitch, is bullshit!”

She looked over at Jet. Her voice cracked when she said, “Sorry.”

Jeff grabbed Tami’s hand and held it up to her face. “Do you know what these things do to people?”

Before she could stutter a response, he continued. “They eat people! They start with your fingers, biting them off, one at a time.” She looked at her hand and started sobbing. “That’s just an appetizer. Then they eat your arm; sometimes they get rough and pull it out of the socket, or rip it completely off.”

Tami pulled her hand back and folder her arms into her chest. Jet limped over and added, “Yeah, you know that has to hurt. But you want to know the worst part? If they’re still hungry, they grab your head and eat your face off!”

With a petrified look, she said with a squeak in her voice, “Really?”

Jet nodded, “Can you just imagine how it feels to have your face ripped off the bones? If you’re lucky, you will die. If not, you’ll slowly starve.”

Tami squeaked again in between sobs. “Huh? Lucky?”

“Yep, you’ll be a zombie walking around with no arms and no face. You can’t catch anything to eat because you have no arms.”

Jeff handed Tami the pipe back and said in disgust, “Take it, and next time, you better use it.”

Tami screamed and pointed toward where the tractors were. Standing there was another zombie, this one had a pair of worn out overalls and a faded blue shirt on. Jeff gestured and said, “This one’s all yours.”

Still, she just stood there trembling. Jeff put his rifle down on the bench and stepped behind her. He reached around her waist and picked her up. He said to Jet, “Screw this shit! I’m just going to feed her to the zombie now and get it over with.”

Jet screamed, “Jeff, no! That thing is going to tear her apart!”

“Good, then we’ll let it have its last meal before we kill it.”

Tami jerked and squirmed as Jeff carried her closer. She almost got free so he tightened his grip. Screaming hysterically, she begged, “Jeff, please, don’t do this. Nooooooo!”

Jeff stopped, but the zombie came closer and started to reach out. He stood and taunted it with her and said, “C’mon, zombie boy, come and get your lunch.” Jeff could feel her heart beating and swore it was about ready to pound right out of her chest.

Jet screamed, “Tami, hit it! Hit it!”

She cried out, “I can’t!”

Jeff whispered in Tami’s ear, “Just look at those teeth, its mouth is already watering for you.” He took a half step closer. The zombie grabbed at her, missing her arm buy inches. She screamed again and jerked even harder. About to lose his grip, he said, “Good-bye, Tami. Here ya go, zombie boy, enjoy your lunch.” He let go and the zombie lunged at her. She let out a blood-curdling scream so loud, it hurt his ears.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sheryl sorted through the clothes and discarded the ones that obviously weren’t going to fit anyone. She looked at a few pieces from the keep pile and a big smile came across her face. Separating a couple of pieces, she took them into the bathroom and set them on top of the hamper, then went into the bedroom to get Lisa.

She told Lisa a warm bath would make her feel better and she helped her to the tub. Lisa ran the water and added the bubble bath Dedee had brought back. When she slid into the tub, it felt so nice. Pulling the band from her hair, she let it fall and ran some of the warm bubbly water through it. She sat back and closed her eyes as she relaxed.

She started to doze off, but woke when Sheryl came back in. Sheryl told her she would return in about ten minutes and help her back to the bedroom. After Lisa had dried, she looked for her clothes, but they weren’t there. Instead, there was a nice light blue sleeveless shirt and a skirt that came to mid-thigh on the hamper. Not having much of a choice, she put them on.

When Sheryl came back in, Lisa asked her, “What happened to my clothes?”

“I’m going to wash them so I brought these in for you.”

“I really don’t care to wear dresses that much and would prefer to have some pants, just in case I have to fight.”

“Well, you’re not going to be doing much of that with your ankle like it is. Besides, blue really sets off your eyes.”

Sheryl handed her a small red bag and Lisa asked, “What’s this for?”

“That’s for your lashes and I think just a small bit will do. You won’t need anything else in there, trust me. When he sees you in that, he won’t know what hit him.”

Lisa put the band back in her hair and went through the bag. When she was done with the makeup, Sheryl made her take the band back out and she went to work on her hair. When Sheryl was done, Lisa looked at herself in the mirror; she saw her hair had a nice fluffy look. “Well, I guess that’s okay.”

Sheryl said to her, “Lisa, you look absolutely beautiful. Just watch his reaction when you go back in the room.”

Fidgeting in the dress, she said, “I sure hope you’re right. I feel really awkward in this.”

Mark heard them coming up the hallway to the door and he said, “It’s about time, I thought…” When he saw her, his jaw dropped and he stared. He watched as Sheryl helped her over to the bed. He could feel his heart pounding away in his chest and he was completely speechless. He knew she was pretty, but now without a doubt he knew she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Lisa asked him, “Is there something wrong?”

Still speechless and his mouth agape, he shook his head.

Lisa watched as Mark turned his gaze away from her briefly, and she could hear him whisper to himself, “Wow, drop dead gorgeous.”

Lisa smiled; Sheryl leaned over and whispered in her ear, “See? What did I tell you?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tami jumped back and swung the pipe wildly from left to right, and then back again. First, she hit its hand and tore off two fingers. On the next pass, she hit its forearm and it completely snapped it off at the elbow. It flew across the shed and disappeared on the other side of a tractor. On the next one, she hit its hip. There was a loud crack and it leaned to the side.

As she brought it through again, she hit the side of the head. It jerked as part of the face flew off and splattered on some wood boxes by Jet. On the last pass, she caught the side of the skull and the head spun around with a grinding crunch and it was facing backward. The zombie fell, landing on its back, and face, on the hard dirt floor.

Nearly out of breath and still hysterical, Tami turned to Jeff, “You son of a bitch! You were going to hold me while that damn thing ate my face!”

“No, I wasn’t. I was just trying to motivate you.”

She looked at Jet as she panted. Jet nodded and said, “That’s right. We kill zombies, not our friends.”

Jeff started to laugh. Tami gave him an angry look and asked, “What’s so funny about me thinking I was going to be eaten?”

He shook his head and pointed at the zombie. “No, look at what you did to it. You tore that poor bastard all up.”

She looked down at it, then back up. “I did that?”

Jeff said, “You and that pipe you have.”

She was silent, then asked, “Umm… Can I go back in the house and clean up a bit?” She turned to Jet. “Oh, I’ll need some clean underwear from the van too.”

There was the loud thundering roar from above again. They looked up and watched as the Raptors shot by, headed south.

X

The van pulled onto the road and they headed back to the house. Tami sat in the back in silence and had calmed somewhat since her ordeal. Reflecting on it, she felt a little upset at how they had gone about it, but understood their reason. Jet had a pretty nasty bruise on her left hip from having to save her because she froze. She felt a little embarrassed because everyone else was doing what had to be done, but she freaked out under the pressure. Looking at the pipe on the floorboard next to her, she hopped she could do it again the next time.

The van slowed before making a right turn and stopping in front of the house. Jeff started to get out and noticed Jet was starting at something through the dusty windshield. She asked, “What’s that?” and pointed.

Jeff looked out and saw a large black cloud rising from the ground and spreading across the horizon. “That looks like smoke, a whole lot of smoke.”

Tami heard their conversation and looked. She gasped before saying, “That fire must be huge.”

Jeff swallowed hard and asked, “Do you think those planes we saw did that?”

Jet shook her head and mumbled. “I dunno.”

They sat in the van for a while watching the cloud of smoke grow before Jet and Tami got out and took the stuff into the house. Jeff grabbed the small gas can, took it over by the pump, and filled the tank of the generator. Inside, Tami told Sheryl about seeing the planes and smoke on the horizon. After Jet talked to Dedee and Amy, she went to tell Lisa and Mark about it. Before she could open the door, she was stopped by Sheryl and told they were resting and no one was allowed in the room.

Jeff went back into the barn and took down an extra-large pair of pruning shears that hung on the wall. The wood handles were strong and in good shape. He removed the bolt that held them together and filed the blade on the end. Now, both sides of the blade were sharp and would cut, plus the heavy-duty wood handle was great for striking. Proud of his handy work, he took it in the house with him and gave it to Sheryl.

Amy had been waiting all day for Jeff to return and to have a free moment to talk. When she saw he did, she asked, “Jeff, are you going to put the cross on Todd’s grave tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I was going to do it today, but that zombie showed up and we had to flip-flop our plans around.” He noticed she was holding something in her hand.

“Okay, I’ll need the shovel too.”

He was a little curious, so he asked, “What do you need that for?”

She opened her hand and showed him an acorn. “I need to plant this.” She talked as she looked at it. “Before we left our house, we picked these up from our back yard. My dad planted a tree when I was born and another when Todd was born. This came from one of the trees. We were going to plant them wherever we ended up so we’d always have part of home with us. I want him to have one so part of home will be close and he will always have shade.” She looked back up at Jeff. “Maybe after all this is over and I’m older, I can come back and look for his tree. I know my brother will be close by and I can talk to him.”

Jeff nodded and said, “I’ll help you plant it.”

Just before dark, Sheryl took some candles to Mark and Lisa for the night. Jeff set up the watch schedule and made one last check around the house before dark. Looking to the north, he could still see the smoke and a faint glow from the fire on the horizon. When he went back inside, Jet was there ready for the first watch. Jeff lay down on the couch and Jet sat down next to him. They talked for a while before he finally went to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark was memorized by Lisa’s beauty and stared into her eyes as she talked. “I think we need to get out of here as soon as we get back on our feet.”

He nodded. “I agree. I expected to be a lot farther along than what we are now.”

Lisa bit her lip as she said, “I have to confess. I’m a little nervous right now. I mean, there were those planes, and then they saw the smoke. I wonder what that was all about.”

He stared into her eyes as she looked into his. “I don’t know, but they have to be related. Those kinds of planes aren’t used for general ground recon, let alone six of them.”

She nodded. “Well, Jeff and Amy will be going out to where Todd is buried in the morning and they shouldn’t be gone long. Sheryl said we have about three days worth of food left. Then we have these zombies appearing from pretty much thin air.”

He thought everything about her was beautiful. He even liked the way her lips moved when she talked. He said, “Yeah, I don’t like the way they’re just appearing. Something isn’t right. That one from the loft climbed up and turned while he was up there. That means he went up while we were here inside the house.”

“When I see Sheryl in the morning, I think I’ll tell her to have Dedee start packing up some of the supplies. That way, they’ll be ready to go and we can leave the morning after that.”

Mark didn’t respond. He had focused so much on watching her that he missed most of what she just said. She asked, “Mark? What do you think?”

Focused only on his feelings for her, he opened his mouth and it just came out. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Lisa gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. Mark looked at her in confusion and replayed the last few minutes over in his mind before he realized what he had said.

She stared at him in surprise and asked, “What did you just say?”

He hoped he hadn’t ruined anything. He knew from experience that girls like Lisa never went for guys like him. If all they could be was friends, then he would be happy with that, but he had just opened his mouth and blurted it out. He stammered, “Umm… oh boy.”

She moved over and sat on the edge of his bed. “Mark, please tell me you just said what I think you did.”