Deadly Night: Jenni and Katie's Untold Tale: A Short Story From the As The World Dies Universe (As The World Dies Untold Tales Book 4) (7 page)

The zombies wandering across the road were the slow kind. The elements had destroyed most of their human features, and to Jenni, they looked like bad Halloween decorations. As the truck roared past them, the undead pivoted about to follow. As usual, the dead always formed a parade behind the living. Jenni fought the impulse to do a beauty queen wave to a cluster they passed. She was feeling wild and untethered again, which was not a good thing. Reaching out, she rested her hand over Katie’s on the steering wheel.

As always, Katie seemed to understand and gave her fingers an encouraging squeeze.

Focusing on their surroundings, Jenni looked for any sign of a living person. There weren’t any huddles of feasting zombies, so that was a good sign. The world looked so different now that most of humanity was dead. She never quite got used to how empty it looked. The windows of the empty buildings reflected the headlights. If someone was hiding, they should be able to see the truck. The fort lights glowed above the buildings, so Julie’s comrades had to know that survivors were nearby. Maybe they were on their way to the fort, but what street would they use?

The gas station loomed out of the murky night, the front doors open. The shelves had been stripped bare when the proprietors had joined the fort. The men seeking medicine wouldn’t have found anything inside.

Jenni sat up straighter, withdrawing her hand from Katie’s. Chewing on the inside of her bottom lip, she scanned the area, twisting around in her seat to make sure she missed nothing. Katie drove as slow as she dared while circling the block.

“I’m only seeing dead things,” Jenni mumbled.

“Me, too.” Katie hesitated, then added, “They might be dead, Jenni.”

“I know,” Jenni reluctantly admitted. “But I can’t give up yet. Those kids need their daddy. He was willing to risk himself to save them.” The stab through her gut was almost unbearable. She swallowed, trying to kill the knot that formed in her throat.

After seeing Lloyd eating Benji, she’d run down the stairs with Mikey at her heels and...

“Jenni,” Katie said, once more pulling her back and anchoring her from the abyss.

Blinking away the wetness in her eyes, Jenni concentrated on the buildings and empty lots drifting past the window. Then she saw something.

“There! Katie!”

There was a snarl of zombies clawing at a utility pole while gazing upward. The zombies on the street had been drawn to the spot, so the rest of the road was relatively clear. The pole was partially obscured by a tall pecan tree, so Jenni wasn’t able to see what or who had attracted the dead. It wasn’t likely to be a squirrel or cat. Zombies ignored animals. 

“That has to be them,” Katie decided and dimmed the lights as the pickup slowed to a crawl.

The growling zombies were so intent on their possible prey above their heads, they didn’t even turn about to look at the approaching vehicle. The undead had a tendency to hyper-focus on prey, which could be either good or bad. The heft of the crowbar in Jenni’s hand was reassuring, and the need to kill boiled in her gut.

“Melee weapons, not guns,” Katie suggested. “Unless necessary.”

“Same as before,” Jenni agreed.

Drawing her machete, Katie brought the vehicle to a stop. “Leave the doors open.”

“Okay.”

Jenni’s door creaked as she propped her foot against it to keep it ajar. Glancing at Katie, she was comforted by the determined look on the other woman’s face. In silence, they joined hands for a few seconds. Katie gave Jenni a small, encouraging smile.

“Let’s go kill zombies, Jenni.”

Together, they burst out of the truck.

Chapter 9

Arms aching, muscles in her back burning, Katie raised the machete over her shoulder and slammed it into the head of one of the zombies clustered at the base of the utility pole. There were less than a dozen of the shambling creatures, but the women would have to move fast to kill them while they were still distracted. Once the zombies focused on the two women, it would be harder to kill them. Plus, every second risked more arriving.

Jerking the blade free, Katie swung and sliced off the head of another shriveled zombie. A taller, burlier one started to shuffle about to face her, but Katie brought her weapon down on its head, cleaving it in two.

Close by, Jenni was stabbing zombies viciously, then kicking their falling bodies to the side. The remaining four continued to paw at the pole. Jenni punched the end of the crowbar through the back of the skull of what may have once been a teenage boy, but it was hard to tell. Katie dispatched another zombie, then shoved another onto the growing pile of bodies. Planting a foot on its back, she hacked at its head.

The disturbing meaty noise of Jenni’s crowbar perforating the heads of the zombies announced the death of the last of the undead. To make sure all were dead, Katie delivered a few more whacks to each of the bodies surrounding her while Jenni did the same.

At last, it was over.

The women lifted their heads at the same time to see what had drawn the attention of the zombies.

“Crap.”

A zombie was near the top of the pole, partially tangled in one of the lower lines. Its arms dangled at its sides, and it took Katie several seconds to realize it was dead. Studying the sidewalk, she saw a red puddle had formed from the steady fall of droplets.

“Hello?” Jenni called out cautiously.

The tree branches creaked and moaned overhead.

“Is anyone there?” Katie thought she saw someone in the upper boughs.

Silence.

“I can see you. Hello!” Katie waved, but there was still no answer.

“Are you sure you see someone? Maybe the zombies were dumb and after one of their own,” Jenni whispered.

The more Katie studied an area close to the trunk, the more she was convinced someone was there. Glancing at Jenni, she nodded her head. “Yeah. I’m sure someone is up there.”

“Then why aren’t they answering?”

Remembering Julie’s paranoia and her story about losing a child to marauders, Katie decided on a different approach. “We know you’re up there. We’re here to save you. Julie sent us.”

There was a rustle in the branches, almost as if someone started in surprise.

Jenni widened her eyes. “Well, that seems like an answer...”

“Keep an eye out for zombs,” Katie whispered to Jenni.

Jenni answered with a slight bob of her head before directing her focus to their surroundings.

Lifting her head again, Katie waved up at the shadow in the tree. “Julie and the kids are back at the fort. It’s the fort lights you see above the buildings. We’re fortified. We have a wall, shelter, food. The mayor of Ashley Oaks and his city manager are in charge, but we also have law enforcement officials. It’s a safe place.”

“You’re not lying?” a low, weakened male voice asked. “My kids are safe? Julie is safe?”

“No, I’m not lying. I swear. We rescued Julie and the kids.”

“I heard gunshots,” the man mumbled.

“That was us. A zombie herd came into town when they heard the baby crying. Alice is her name, right? Are you Rob or Alan?”

“Rob’s stuck on the pole. I had to kill him. I’m Alan.”

“Alan, we need to get you down and back to the fort.”

A long, weary sound issued forth from the figure in the tree. “I can’t go with you.”

A sick feeling settled into Katie’s gut. “Why not?”

“I’m bitten. Rob bit me. We were attacked and barely escaped by climbing up the pole. I didn’t realize he was infected. He bled out. I tried to get to the tree and...You get the picture.” Alan sounded shattered and a bit angry.

“I’m sorry,” Katie said, not sure what else to say.

“No,” Jenni hissed. “This can’t be! It’s not fair.”

“Jenni, calm down,” Katie whispered.

Tears were in the other woman’s eyes. “But we found him, and he should be reunited with his family. He can’t be bitten! It’s not fair!”

“This isn’t about you or what’s fair.” Katie gave Jenni her fiercest look.

“You don’t understand,” Jenni groused.

“Yes, I do.”

With a furious look on her face, Jenni stalked off to stand nearby, glowering at the world.

Jenni’s need to save the father of the two kids at the fort made perfect sense to Katie, whether her best friend believed that or not. Jenni and her stepson were the only survivors of their family. The compulsion to save other families made perfect sense. Katie had her own driving need because of how Lydia had died. That need was to allow the man a chance to say goodbye and give him final peace.

“Alan, I can deliver a message to Julie and the kids. I can also...” Katie pulled the firearm she’d taken from Travis and held it up for him to see. Killing the zombies was one thing, but killing a human was not easy. The first time, she’d done it out of fear. Now, she was going to do it out of mercy. “I can…you know…”

“Yeah.” The word was barely a sigh on the wind.

The branches of the tree trembled, and the wood creaked as the man made his way to the ground at a very slow pace. When he finally dropped down the last length, he grunted with pain. Bathed in the shadows looming under the cedar tree, he hesitated. Katie waited, her hand with the pistol dangling at her side.

“This is all so damn hard,” Alan mumbled, then timidly stepped into the light. His beard and hair were shaggy from months of neglect and gave him the appearance of a wild man, but his sorrowful eyes were kind. Battered, bruised, and bleeding from several bites on his arm, he stared at the two women. “We were so close to rescue, but we didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault,” Katie said reassuringly. If only the fort hadn’t been blacked out on purpose, Alan, his kids, and his friends may have reached safety together.

Jenni was silent, but Katie sensed she was fuming. Not at Alan, but the universe.

Drawing a battered wallet out of his jeans, Alan held it out to Katie. “It has photos of me, the kids...their mother. When this all went to shit, I wrote them a letter and put it inside, too. I knew that if I was dead, they probably would be too, but I wanted to tell them how much I love them.”

“I understand.” Katie slid the wallet into her back pocket.

“Please tell Julie that she’s been one of the best friends a man could ever have. She’s been like a sister to me in the bad times, and I know she’ll take good care of my kids.” Tears streamed down Alan’s face. “She’s good people. Please make sure she’s treated right.”

“You have my promise,” Katie replied.

In the dimmed lights of the pickup, Alan looked pale, sickly, and almost like a zombie already. Katie flashed back to Lydia and the moment Katie had fled instead of killing the thing her wife had become. Regret was a heavy, ugly leech on her soul.

“Anything else?” Katie asked.

Alan shook his head. “No, just that you make it qui-”

Katie lifted the gun and fired.

“It’s not fair,” Jenni muttered angrily.

“No,” Katie agreed, “it’s not.”

Chapter 10

It was anti-climactic returning to the fort. Jenni sat in the passenger seat scowling at the zombies staggering toward the fort lights while Katie drove in silence. When they reached the wall, it was apparent that the runners were all dead and only the sluggish zombies remained in greatly diminished numbers. Several construction workers were using long poles to push the zombies away from the wall to keep them from piling up.

It was easier than Jenni expected to get back inside. Katie parked far from the gated entrance to avoid several pockets of the undead. One of the sentries lowered a ladder, and it only took seconds for the two women to scramble over.

That Juan and Travis were waiting with Nerit for them wasn’t a surprise. Their disapproving looks were also not unexpected. Jenni knew she was in trouble, but didn’t care. Once it had been revealed that her mission to save the father of the children was a failure, Jenni had fallen into a deep funk. The earlier rush of adrenaline was gone, leaving her feeling tired.

“Did you find them?” Nerit asked.

“Yes,” Katie answered. “One was dead. We took care of the other one. He was bitten.”

“Shit,” Juan uttered under his breath.

“Sorry to hear it,” Travis said, his eyes on Katie.

Jenni sensed something was forming between the two, but it confused her. Maybe Katie didn’t just like girls but maybe liked men, too. Jenni hoped that was the case since all the other women in the fort were straight. She didn’t like the idea of Katie being alone forever.

“How’s Julie and the kids?” Katie stood with her hands on her hips, clearly weary and saddened from the night’s events.

“Clear. No bites. Just the flu.” Nerit sighed. “I guess that’s the one good thing, huh?”

“I’m going to go see her then. I have a message for her,” Katie said, dragging the man’s wallet out of her pocket and slapping it lightly against her palm. “I might as well get this over with.”