Dying Days 5 (18 page)

And another vision came to her of Jeff thinking about the two knives and the gun he had hidden and in easy reach.

Darlene went back to pointing at Jeff. "Put your fucking hands up."

"I'm already sitting on the ground."

Darlene glanced at John before walking slowly forward towards Jeff. "I want you to roll over onto your belly and keep your hands where I can see them."

Jeff flipped over and started to roll but then kept going over, and when he was back on his ass, sitting, he had a gun drawn.

Fucking idiot
, Darlene thought.
Why hadn't we searched him? Why hadn't The Lich Lord?
Darlene looked at the smiling zombie-vampire-whatever the fuck. Because he knew this was going to happen.
I can read thoughts and so can he. He saw it when I saw it, yet he did nothing about it.

Darlene knew she was being manipulated.

"I'm going to stand up, dust myself off, and leave now. I promise I won't come back. How does that sound? I just need to go back to the bar and get my shit. You'll never see me again," Jeff said.

"You know I can't do that," Darlene said.

"Let him go," John said and came up beside Darlene. "It's not worth it. I know you had no intention of killing this asshole, anyway. It was all about The Lich Lord. Jeff just made it easy on you."

Darlene smiled. She knew John wasn't reading anyone's mind but he really knew her after all this time. He knew exactly what to say in this situation to get her head clear.

"You know what? You're right. I really have no problem with you, Jeff. If you promise to walk out the front gates and don't look back, you can go," Darlene said.

Jeff nodded but didn't lower the gun. "I just need to get my supplies first."

Darlene shook her head. "No deal. I can't have you wandering Main Street another second. I need you gone. I'll go through your stuff and drop it over the fence in the morning. Everything you can carry, I'll give you. Fair enough?"

Jeff looked panicked.

Darlene concentrated on his thoughts, which were suddenly filled with naked women in a frenzied lesbian orgy.

"Get out of my head, you fucking witch," Jeff said. The gun shook in his hand. "Holy shit. You're a fucking zombie, too."

"I'm not a zombie. I'm a vampire. Doesn't anyone listen anymore?" The Lich Lord said, clearly amused at the situation.

At any moment, one of them was going to fire. Darlene didn't want to go second. Jeff obviously had quite the arsenal at the bar, and probably the bulk of the compound's supplies. Who knew what else he was hiding.

"Fair enough. I will give you an hour to gather everything you can and get out," Darlene said.

Jeff nodded and visibly relaxed. "Just leave me alone for an hour. Whatever is left in the bar you can have. I need to prepare my shit so I can survive outside these walls. You'll never see me again."

Darlene started to lower the Desert Eagle. "You are right. I will never see you again."

She raised her hand slightly and pulled the trigger, shooting Jeff in the throat. Instinctively, as he went down, he pulled his own trigger and the bullet missed John by a few inches, whizzing past his neck.

"I never doubted the outcome," The Lich Lord said.

Darlene forced back her emotions because right now she wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. She aimed the empty Desert Eagle at The Lich Lord and pulled the trigger over and over again until John put his hand over it and pushed her arm down.

"We need to find our baby," John said.

The Lich Lord stared at Darlene. "The baby has been taken north. To downtown Jacksonville, where he is in danger. And there are others who are also looking for the child. My kind will seek to enslave or kill him. My offer is this: bring the baby back to this compound and he will be safe. It is obvious what we need to do. We need the child's blood for the cure."

"You're insane," John said.

"Am I, Darlene? You know I'm right. You can explain it to John on the journey north. Regardless of what you do, I won't stand in your way. In fact, I will help you when I can," The Lich Lord said.

"I don't see why you would help me," Darlene said.

"Because I genuinely want this to end. I want to see a semblance of mankind survive. It also allows me to survive, but the way this is going everyone will die in another generation or two unless we reverse this plague and turn people back into human beings or kill them trying," The Lich Lord said.

"I'm leaving," Darlene said. She took Jeff's weapon and two knives.

"Fair enough. Good luck on your journey. Feel free to take anything you find at Jeff's dwelling. You've earned it," The Lich Lord said.

Chapter Twenty Three

Vee was falling asleep, standing and then leaning against the recliner. She wanted this to end soon and then she'd sleep for a week. She had a pistol in her hand and the shotgun and a rifle a hand away.

Scotty hadn't given up, quietly trying to talk Taylor into leaving and running away. He didn't understand what Vee knew: there was nowhere to run from an evil like Jeff. You needed to fight fire with fire.

Once Jeff was gone she could relax and worry about the meaningful things like growing the community. Expanding the walls and buildings. Planting crops and creating a central warehouse for their supplies.

Scotty could take over for Jeff, or maybe Juan or Claude. Vee was sad. So many great allies and men had died because of Jeff. Mitchell was also a good guy. Jeff had a pile of bodies in his bar, and the rot of them was beginning to annoy Vee more than anything.

All four of them, as well as Lola, would get a proper burial, their names remembered with a plaque or something. They would not be forgotten, and in years to come, when this compound became a thriving city again, Vee would tell stories of their courage and dedication.

But first she needed to kill Jeff.

Shooting someone in cold blood had never felt more right, and Vee was ready to do what she had to do to survive. And it wasn't only for her, it was for all survivors. She kept talking herself into not chickening out and pulling the trigger when the door opened.

Scotty walked over to Vee and he looked scared, or worried, or both.

"Can we talk about this, please? I think you're making a big mistake," Scotty said.

"Weren't you in the military?" Vee asked.

He looked back at Taylor, who was sitting on the bar watching the door with weapon in hand. "I was in the Navy for about two weeks. Boot camp."

Vee snorted. "No wonder."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, if you had been actually in the Navy and saw combat or got to shoot at people or whatever it is you do in the Navy, you wouldn't be such a..."

"Say it," Scotty said.

"You wouldn't be such a pussy."

Taylor laughed.

"I'm still human. I still care about what's happening around me. And I think we're all going to be judged when we finally die," Scotty said and pointed at the ceiling.

"Do you believe in God?" Vee asked.

Scotty nodded. "If you'd asked me a month ago, I might've given you a funny answer or talked my way around an answer. But I do believe we are all still alive for a reason. Even Jeff. He's in our world to set the bar for cruelty. His actions dictate what is wrong, and we can adjust accordingly."

"You're getting all preachy and philosophical on me," Vee said.

"I'm trying to maintain my sanity. I don't want to end up like Jeff, putting my own needs in front of everyone else," Scotty said.

Now Vee was pissed. She felt her face flush red with anger. "You think you're better than me? Huh? You think you are so... so..." Vee was losing it but she couldn't help herself. She was tired, she'd been hurt, and she was mad at Jeff and everyone else right now and she couldn't help it. Nothing made any sense anymore except her anger.

Scotty put up his hands. "That's not what I'm saying. I just don't want you or me or Taylor to make a stupid decision we're going to regret."

Before Vee could respond they heard the door handle jiggle.

Taylor slipped off the bar and aimed her gun.

Vee shook her head. "I get the first shot. If there's anything left of him, he's all yours. Got it?"

"Got it," Taylor said quietly.

"Please don't do this," Scotty said.

"Don't get in my way because I am pulling the trigger. Jeff did really bad things to me and now it is payback," Vee said, knowing she was going to cry if she thought of his dirty hands all over her body. He'd violated her.

The door opened slowly, the faint glow of the streetlight silhouetting his body.

Scotty's voice in Vee's head...
don't do this and end up like Jeff
.

Her own voice, strong and insistent...
he'd forced himself on you. He deserved to die
.

Vee pulled the trigger and watched in slow motion as it tore into Jeff's face, blood spraying into the air.

A return shot from someone behind Jeff, striking Scotty in the neck and covering Vee with his blood.

People screaming and another shot fired.

A woman Vee recognized, hands up, was walking inside. Gun aimed at the ceiling.

Taylor running to Scotty, who was losing so much blood. So much blood.

Vee lowered her weapon and looked at Jeff, dead on the ground.

Only... it wasn't Jeff. It was another man.

"Where is Jeff?" Vee mumbled.

"I killed him," the woman said. She was walking towards Vee. "You killed my John."

Vee started to cry. "I thought it was Jeff. It was supposed to be Jeff. He was coming back to finish us off. He was coming back so I could kill him."

Taylor looked at Vee from the ground, cradling a lifeless Scotty. "He's dead because of you."

"It was an accident. It was supposed to be Jeff," Vee screamed. She lifted the gun in her hand. She was going to end her life. She'd killed innocent people. She'd murdered someone coming to rescue her. All this time Jeff was already dead, the slate cleaned. The healing could've begun if she'd only listened to Scotty.

Vee looked down at his lifeless corpse and dead eyes. She'd pulled the trigger on his death as well.

Vee got the gun at chest height when she felt the searing pain of the bullet ripping through her forehead before she felt nothing.

Epilogue

The zombie stood in the middle of the road smiling.

"I need to pass," she said.

"Where do you think you're headed?"

"North. I'm on a mission and need to find someone. You're in my way," she said.

The zombie raised his arms. "I'm afraid this is now a toll road. I will need payment before you can pass, ma'am."

"I don't have time for your games," she said and pulled out her weapon. "I'm going to count to three and then you either move or I shoot you."

"You realize you're surrounded, right?"

She shrugged. "I've been outnumbered before. It won't be the last time, either. Nothing is going to stand in my way. I am on a journey that doesn't include you. Step aside because everything is going to fall in my path."

"What are you, a poet? Poetry is stupid," the zombie said. "I'm going to count to three and
you
will put down your gun. I promise I won't let the others rip you apart. I'll kill you quickly and painlessly. Fair?"

"One," she said.

The zombie put up a hand. "No, you're not getting it. I'm going to count. One."

A horde of zombies began shambling from the tree line on either side of her. The sound of zombies coming up behind her on the road and the sight of more behind him greeted her, but she didn't flinch. There was no time for it.

"Two," she said.

The zombie laughed and held up two fingers. "Two."

She fired, the bullet punching through his right eye and dropping him.

"Three," she yelled and began taking grenades out of her backpack, pulling pins, and tossing them. She had her pockets filled with ammo and the will to kill every zombie between this spot and her destination to the north.