Day Beyond the Dead (Book 1) (13 page)

     Gerard saw no signs of Darren or the men that chased him. Minutes went by with no sign of anyone and Gerard was starting to wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

     Shots rang out in the forest behind the house. It was a string of sporadic gunfire. Darren burst through the treeline at a fast pace. He was now heading straight for Gerard and the truck. Just as Darren reached the truck a guy broke through the treeline as well and started firing at Darren and Gerard. Gerard ducked in the driver’s seat and as he did so he saw Darren trip and fall as he reached the front of the truck.

     “Hurry up Darren!”

     Darren sprang back up, opened the passenger side door and climbed inside. “Let’s go.”

     “Are you ok? I saw you fall.”

     “Yeah, I tripped on some sort of rock. I’m fine! Just go!”

     As Gerard was backing the truck up a scream was heard at the treeline. They both paused and looked in the direction. What they saw was the same guy that was firing a second ago was being taken down by a mob of undead. “Oh my God.”

     “Let’s go!” urged Damion more strenuously this time.

     Gerard backed up the truck and made his way around to the front of the house. He handed the walkie talkie to Darren, “Go! Go! Go!” Damion pulled out and headed down the road at a fast and steady pace as Gerard followed.

     “Are you okay Darren,” inquired Christa.

     “I’m fine. My side hurts like hell from all the running but otherwise I’m good.” Darren put his hand on his side to try and massage out the cramping but when he touched it he screamed in pain.

     “What?! What’s wrong??”

     “I don’t think I tripped on a rock.”

     Gerard was puzzled, “What do you mean?”

     Darren pulled up his hand and there was blood on it. “I’ve been shot on my side.”

     “Oh no Darren. Damnit!”

     “Christa, I’ve been shot. That’s the pain I was feeling on the side of my abdomen.”

     “Apply pressure to it. I know it’s going to hurt like hell but you need to apply pressure so you don’t lose a lot of blood. When we get somewhere safe I’ll see what I can do. I’m no doctor but I’ve watched enough tv to know relatively what to do. I know that doesn’t sound comforting but I promise I’ll do the best I can.”

     Darren took off his shirt and applied pressure with it. He cringed in pain as he pushed on the bullet wound. “Damnit that hurts like hell.”

     Luckily it wasn’t snowing but the ground was still fully covered in a thick blanket of the white stuff. They made it back to the interstate and continued heading south. Christa looked over at Damion, “We’ll need to stop soon so we can take care of Darren’s wound before it gets infected or he bleeds out. Preferably a hospital or a doctor’s office.”

     “I don’t know. Don’t you think a hospital would be bad? I mean it would probably be populated with the undead or at least that’s my opinion on that. In the beginning of all of this that is exactly where everyone went. The hospital. That also is where a lot of people died and turned.”

     “We are going to have to check anyhow. He might need antibiotics.”

     “Well in that case we can go to any pharmacy and get first aid stuff and medicine.”

     “I guess you’re right. We could if all else fails.”

Chapter 12

     “Guys we need to pull over sometime soon. Darren is looking a little pale.”

     “Let’s get off at the next exit,” urged Christa, “It’s a little town I think and there has to be some sort of clinic there.”

     “Sounds good to me.”

     They veered off at the next exit and took a right to head towards town. About a mile down the road they pulled into the parking lot of a doctor’s office. There was only a few walking corpses near it which they could easily handle so they decided to go in to see what they could salvage.

     It was decided that Damion and Christa would go inside to do the salvaging but Gerard would help clear the way outside. They got their weapons and got out of the trucks. There were four walkers in the front of the doctor’s office. Gerard went on the right side to deal with two which left one for Damion and one for Christa.

     Gerard quickly ran up to the first one and sunk the knife into its temple. It dropped to the ground. Damion walked up to the next one, held his hand up above his head and came down hard on the top of its head with an aluminum baseball bat. Blood spattered upon impact but just for good measure he swung once more, completely obliterating its skull. Christa made her way to the porch where she confronted the undead that was lurking on it. She took a fighting stance and held up her knife. As it approached her she drew her blade back and plunged it into its forehead, but missed and instead hit it in the eye. She took her blade out and an eyeball came with it.

     “Eww, oh my God. Gross.” She took the knife and put it up against the bottom of her shoe and slid the eyeball off.

     As Gerard finished off his second one he laughed, “He only has eyes for you.”

     Damion looked at Gerard in disbelief, “Really? That was so horrible I wanna kill you.”

     Christa laughed.

     “Everyone’s always a critic.” Gerard headed back inside the truck as Damion and Christa went inside the doctor’s office.

     “Now be careful Christa. We don’t know if there’s any in here or not.” Christa couldn’t help but notice a stroller off in the corner by itself. She couldn’t handle anymore undead children. She had seen one too many already. She started to walk off but she had to know so she turned around. She slowly walked over to the stroller. “Christa don’t.”

     Christa motioned up her index finger to Damion indicating for him to wait a moment. She got right up on the stroller and took a deep breath. She took another step and looked inside the stroller, but it was empty. She felt more at ease with that outcome and took off towards Damion. “I had to know.”

     They walked off towards the examining rooms, making sure to pay attention to each room that they passed along the way.

     “There has to be some sort of supply closet. You know, where they keep the stock they use to supply each room. They also should have medicine in here somewhere, possibly in the same place.”

     “That’s a good idea Damion. Why don’t you go looking for it and I’ll search the examining rooms?”

     “I’m not a fan of that idea. I don’t like splitting up. If you need me I want to be right here. Safety in numbers isn’t a make believe thing Christa. I think we’ve learned that much.”

     “True but if we split up we cut our time in half and less time in is less time for something bad to happen.”

     Damion smirked. He didn’t like the logic behind that but it was logical. “While that is a great idea I’m still not doing it. I’m not leaving you alone. Period.”

     “Fine. You win.”

     “And it’s about time.”

     Christa knew he was right so she didn’t fight him on this one. They searched through the examining rooms, which were empty for the most part except for tongue depressors and long Q-tips. There was a locked door in the hallway which apparently was still locked so Damion used brute force to kick the door open. “Good ol’ fashion size 11 ingenuity for ya.”

     “Wow look at that. You were right baby. This stock room is fully stocked. Let’s grab some bags and load them up. We’ll take extra just incase anything ever happens. It’s always better to be prepared.”

     They grab bags and load them with medical supplies. “Christa you won’t believe it. There is even bottled water down here. We’re not going to be able to carry all these supplies out in one trip. We’ll have to make more than one trip. I’ll carry out the water while you load up these bags, ok.” Damion took the cases of water and headed for the door. The front of the office was still clear so he made his way out there to the truck.

     Meanwhile Christa was packing bags full of supplies when she heard a noise from the room down the hallway. It sounded strange. It was so strange she couldn’t put her finger on what the sound was. Her curiosity got the better of her and she poked her head out the door in the direction of the noise.

     She pondered for a moment if she should even investigate what that noise was. She stepped out into the hallway and headed for the noise. As she walked she narrowed it down to one door. She stopped in front of it. Waited. She heard the nose again and she started to open the door.

     “Christa! Stop!” Damion yelled from behind her.

     “-but I heard a noise.”

     “I don’t care. Leave it be. Let’s get what we came for and get out of here.”

    Christa walked back over to Damion, took one last look at the door and went back into the stock room. They grabbed the bags full of supplies and went for the door. They went outside and around to the back of their truck where they loaded up the rest of the supplies.

     Christa grabbed some of the medical supplies and went to Gerard’s truck. She turned to Damion, “I’m going to take care of him really fast. If anything happens then take off. I’ll ride with them until the next stop, ok.”

     “Ok.” It was obvious Damion didn’t like that option, but knew it was a worst case scenario.

     Christa climbed up into the truck and sat next to Darren. “Show me.” He pulled up his shirt and she saw the entry would. She had him lean forward so she could see if there was an exit wound, which there was. “That’s good. So at least we know that the bullet isn’t still inside you. It went right through.”

     She took out some betadine. “I am not going to lie to you. This might sting quite a bit.” She poured some over both entry and exit wound sites. Darren gritted his teeth, moaning and groaning through it. She took some gauze and packed quite a bit on each wound. She then took a bandage and wrapped it around his torso to hold those in place.

     “Here. These are antibiotics. Take these once a day and here are painkillers. Try to take one to two tablets every four to six hours as needed. You also better stay hydrated. You’ve lost blood and the best thing to do is stay hydrated. Oh and most of all, take it easy.”

     Darren smiled, “Thanks doc. Will do.”

     Christa laughed slightly, “Seriously though, rest. You won’t heal unless you rest your body.”

     “I will. Promise. I’ll make this jerk drive, even though his driving scares me.”

     Christa smiled at Darren and glanced over at Gerard momentarily, “Oh don’t worry. You’ll get use to it.”

     “Oh thanks. I’m glad everybody is laughing at my expense.”

     Christa put her hand on Gerard’s shoulder, “Well that’s why we keep you around.”

     “I thought it was because of my boyish goodlooks.”

     “No, that’s why we keep Darren around,” Christa gives Darren a playful wink.

     “So that’s why you wanna doctor me up. I feel so cheap,” Darren laughs.

     Christa laughs and shakes her head as she climbs out of the truck and into Damion’s truck. She settles in the seat, leans back and lets out a long sigh. “I swear I could sleep forever right now.”

     “Go ahead. I’m driving.”

     “Can’t we go somewhere for the night so we can all sleep?”

     “I’m good and besides, the last time we all slept somewhere we got jumped. I’m not willing to take that chance again.”

     “Damion you have to sleep sometime.”

     “We can take shifts.”

     “Really? I don’t foresee Darren driving.”

     “Fine. Ask Gerard how he feels about it.”
     Christa picks up the walkie talkie, “Gerard, do you wanna find some place to sleep for the night or no?”

     “The last time we did that we got jumped. I just want to put as much distance between us and them as possible.”

     Christa sighed, “Ok.”

     “See, I told you. Even that jackass believes the same thing I do, which has to say something.”

     “I’m not sure what it says but I’m exhausted so I am going to sleep,” Christa yawned and blew a kiss to Damion.

     White silk, fire, and a bed that cradled your body. Christa could feel the warmth of the flames against her skin. It felt nice. Her eyes found Damion stoking the fire. He turned around and smiled as he started to walk towards her. His skin illuminated in the firelight was a beautiful sight. His caramel colored skin almost took on a glowing appearance.

     He crawled up on the bed and towards her till he was overtop of her. She took her hands and ran them over his body, which felt warm to the touch. He leans down and kisses her passionately, slowly. She can feel her breath being taken away. She loves the way his lips taste, her sweet Damion.

     His fingers intertwine with hers as he starts to kiss down her neck to her chest. Then he continues kissing her abdomen until he’s below her waist. She can feel his lips upon her as she closes her eyes in pure ecstasy. Her body tensing up as she feels sweet release is imminent. She moans and let out a sharp gasp as she climaxes. Her body tingling from her head to her toes, as she feels Damion moving his face upward to hers.

     “You taste so sweet.” There in her face was Becca’s bloody face licking her lips and smiling at her.

     “Noo! Get away from me!!”- Christa woke up from a dead sleep, breathing heavily with her arms stretched out as if to hold someone at arm’s length. “Stop it! Stop it!”

     “Christa! Christa! It was just a nightmare! Relax, relax. You’re ok. What was it? You wanna talk about it,” asked Damion.

     Christa looked around to assess where she was and around what time it was. “No, I’m fine.”
     “Christa, no you’re not. Tell me what it was about.”
     “It was our honeymoon, or at least that’s where it started out. You were stoking the fire. You smiled at me and crawled onto the bed.”

     “Well so far I’m liking where this is going.”

     “You kissed me and went down on me like on our honeymoon, but when you came up to kiss me you had Becca’s bloody face. It terrified me.”

     “I can see why. That’s one strange dream.” Damion paused momentarily and thought there was more to it than just a nightmare. “What happened Christa, up there with Becca I mean? Please tell me. I know it bothers you and it might help to just tell me about it.”

     Christa looked over at Damion, unsure if she should say anything. After thinking on it for a moment she realized if she was going to tell anyone it would be Damion and she didn’t want any secrets between them. “She raped me.”

     Damion’s face contorted to a look of befuddlement. “She did what? How exactly did she do that? Did anyone else do anything to you?” Damion’s hand were tightening on the wheel as he asked that last question. His anger was more than obvious.

     “She tied me up and went down on me. Then she used…” Christa’s pain shown through her eyes and her hesitation in her statements, “objects on me. She hurt me really bad. The whole time she was raping me I was concentrating on getting my legs and hands free. I was focusing on that to take my mind off of what was happening to me. I could only get one hand and one leg loose, no matter how hard I tried. She climbed on my face and I wasn’t going to let her do that to me Damion so I bit her as hard as I could on her upper thigh. She screamed as blood poured down my face and into my mouth. I had to shut her up before she drew attention so I took my free hand and put my fingers into her eyes. She fell back and with my one free leg I strangled her. I held her tightly between my legs until I felt her move no more and even then I kept holding on to make sure.” Christa was staring off as if she was back there again reliving it, so focused on the details. “I sat there next to her body and I lost it for a moment. I cried. Then I got so pissed Damion, so pissed that I let her do that to me and on top of everything I was crying like a bitch about it. I got so pissed I started punching her in the face as I cried. I couldn’t tell you how many times I did that. It was like I blacked out during it all, but at some point I stopped. My hands were bleeding from it and her face was bloody and unrecognizable. So I covered her up and changed my clothes. And that’s when you came. I only wish you had come sooner.” Damion felt a twinge of pain when Christa said that. “You know it is strange. I always thought girl on girl rape was different than guy on girl rape, but it’s not. It hurts just the same. It’s someone taking something from you without your consent; taking a part of you that’s not theirs to take. So I returned the favor.” Christa looked directly at Damion. “And I don’t feel sorry about it either.”

     “I love you, you know that right? I wish I were there too. I didn’t do a good job of protecting you. Some savior huh. I’m sorry.”