Dying To Live & Fighting To Live-Book One and Book Two (Zombie Overload Series) (24 page)

I swing my head to Jake but he's
halfway out the door, talking to someone in the hall. I look back at
Will and he nods. Once. I open my mouth to explain but he stops me.

"Don't.
I don't want to hear anything about it." He uncrosses his arms
and stands up straight. "Let's go." He takes my arm, turns
me around, and walks me back to the cot to get our things. I can't
feel any pain now. I'm too numb. Too much in shock.
He
thinks
I
was kissing
him
!
He
couldn't have known the things I had said to Jake, how angry I was.
I just stand there as the room
erupts with people and motions.

Will steps in front of me and his
mouth is moving, but I can't hear what he's saying. All I can hear is
a whooshing sound in my ears. I feel and see the room swaying. Then I
see someone push Will out of the way and arms reaching for me.

And
now I'm looking up into Jake's face and I'm half laying-half
reclining in his arms.
WAIT!
WHAT?
I
jerk away from him and frantically look for Will.
There he
is.
Crouched down with his back
against the wall. Staring at us. But not angry this time. More like
upset, sad. I reach my hand out to him. He sees me, but doesn't move.

Jake puts his arm under mine and
helps me stand. Then he walks me over to Will, where he helps me sit
down next to my husband. I look up at him and whisper thanks. He nods
and leaves the room. Leaning forward, I rest my hands on Will's
forearm.

"Will? Baby, what's wrong?"

He whispers something but I can't
hear him. He looks like he's in total anguish and it's killing me. I
tell him I couldn't hear him and ask if he would tell me again.

"I'm sorry. You were staring
at Jake even when I was talking to you. So I stood in front of you
and said some horrible things. I had no idea you were about to pass
out. Jake pushed me out of the way and grabbed you. I thought he was
about to fight me so I swung at him. I didn't mean to. I didn't know.
I swear. After, he asked me what the hell I thought I was doing and I
told him how pissed off I was that you were staring at him. Then he
told me you probably didn't even know what you were looking at."
He looks so miserable and a tear even rolls down his cheek. I’ve
probably only seen the man cry twice, and both times was when someone
he loved passed away.

I squeeze his arm, "Honey,
it's ok. It's just words said while you were upset and, honestly, I
didn’t hear a word of it. I could see your mouth move but
that's it. I never saw Jake. I noticed people and lots of movement,
but no faces except yours and that was only when you were right up in
front of me. So, since I don't even know what you said, don't tell
me. As far as I'm concerned, it never happened."

He looks at me, "but can you
forgive me for the other?"

I'm confused.
"What?
That you swung at Jake? That's between you two."

He gives me an odd look, "No!
For punching you in the face!"

Huh?
"You
did WHAT?" I look at him in shock. This man would
never
hit a woman, had
never
hit me, even though
I
would have hit me if I had been him,
at times.

I lean away from him, and bust
out in hard belly-aching laughter! He jumps in surprise. Then he
looks at me like he has no idea who the hell I am.

"Hm,
maybe I hit you harder than I thought," The look on his face as
he said that made me laugh even harder. I was in so much pain now!
But I can't stop.
My husband frikken punched me!
I
can just hear the stories I will tell now.
My husband got
mad at me and hit me so hard it knocked me out.
When I came
to, he got away with it because I never remembered it happened!
I
tell him what I had just come up with and he didn't seem to find it
very funny. And maybe it isn't, but after all I've gone through, not
to mention all those lovely pain pills I've been poppin', it's damn
sure funny to me. And that's all that matters.
So, THERE!

I pull him close to me and hug
him. I lean in to kiss him and as our lips touch, I jerk back and
shriek in pain!
Hell!
That freaking HURT!

Will gives me a cheesy grin and
says, "Did I mention I punched you in the mouth? Not so funny
now, is it?"
No.
No it isn't.
OW!

But, being the tough badass that
I am, I must suck it up and continue on.
Wait a sec while I wipe
these tears of pain away.
Will stands and helps me up. I notice
there is nothing left in our room. Must have been all the people and
motion I saw just before my husband had a good time knocking me out.
Kidding.
Kidding.

We meet Jake in the hall and he
walks behind us, ready to help if needed. I make it down about four
stairs before I start getting a little dizzy.
'A little'
translated, means WHOA, NELLY!
Jake swoops me up and Will follows
us down. Jake sets me down on the floor and he and Will hold on to me
until I get off my personal roller coaster. I see everyone else
either busy loading vehicles or, in the kids case, playing. I smile
seeing little Kaleb running after Ash. He's squealing with happiness.
Grace is in her carrier wide-eyed and checking everything out. Bo's
helping his grandparents load their van. I can't believe how grown up
he's getting!
Stop!
What the hell is that???

I shriek at Will that very
question, pointing at our oldest child, who's wearing a set of
fatigues, with a damn gun in the holster.

Will puts his arm around me and
says, "Calm down, Mom. Wouldn't you rather he have something to
protect himself?"

"What if he shoots himself?
Or one of us? Didja think about that?" I'm still shrieking.
All
you protective moms out there, like me, would be freaking, too, if
your child, your BABY, who never fired a gun in his life before the
last 24 hours, was now the proud new owner of a deadly weapon. Save
the 'but I would if zombies takeover' shit or any other excuses. You
would still freak and you know it.

Will looks to Jake for help and I
swing on him,
(well ok, so I didn't do it as gracefully as that.
More like inched around to him. But it was still loaded with
attitude!)
and ask him what the hell he has to do with it.

Jake clears his throat and gives
me a cheeky grin, "Well, I taught him how to hold it, fire it,
load it, clean it, even. I also taught him safety. Plus, the gun I
gave him
does
have a safety on it. He's a good shot, too.
He'll be ok,
Mom
."
Bite me, Jake!

I give him a "humph"!
And storm off.
Don't you like how I can say I did this or did that
and you'd never know unless I told ya? Ha Ha, yeah right. No storming
off anywhere for this broken down badass. But I promise you, I WILL
storm off again, one day soon. And with the baddest attitude you've
ever seen!
So instead, I just raised my arms for their sorry
excuse for assistance,
(still mad, can ya tell?)
, and they
help me to my Hummer. As I'm sitting sideways on the edge of the
middle row of seats, I see Greg sitting in Jake's truck. He smiles
and waves at me and I return them both. He looks better since he's
had some rest. Happy to see that. What I didn't see was Sam standing
on the other side of the truck, until he hopped up on the sidestep to
see who Greg was waving at. He gives me a wave, too, which I return.
Then I see a head pop up in front of Greg's from the back seat, and
Sara gives me a bitchy smile. I just roll my eyes and think of many
ways to hurt her. Wonder why she isn't still tied up? Probably since
she's in a vehicle full of men, they think they can handle her if she
turns.
Men can be such idiots, sometimes!

Come on, people!
We've
been here hours later than we had planned and I want my ma!
Oops.
I guess if it weren't for me, we'd have been there and gone by now.
My bad.
Will takes baby Grace to Mom and Dad's vehicle and that
kind of sucks. But I definitely can't take care of her right now. Ash
is sitting up front with Will and darn proud to be there, too. He
leans over the front seat and gives me a gentle hug and kiss on the
cheek.

"You feeling better, Mommy?"
Yes, my baby still calls me Mommy.
I love it!

"I'm getting there, Baby.
How are you doing?" I ask him.

"Awesome!"
He is
always awesome.
No matter what. You ask him how he is, how his
day is, how anything is, and it's always awesome.
"Mommy!
Did you see when Dad punched you and knocked you out?"

I burst out laughing and I hear
Will groan in the front seat.

"Uh, nope. Kinda missed it."
I tell him.

"It was AWESOME!" I
roll my eyes and laugh. "I think he meant to hit Jake but you
got your face in the way. Your face goes (he makes hilarious, yet
hideous, faces) and then you went down like, BOOM! (Hand slams down
on the front seat) but Jake catches you before you splat on the
ground. And then Dad yelled and ran to you and cried..."

"That's enough, Son. Get
your belt on so we can go." Will rushes to interrupt him. I grin
and he catches me in the rearview mirror.

"Uh, Honey?" I get his
attention.

He meets my eyes in the mirror
again and says, "Yeah, Babe?'

"I can't reach the door."

"Oh, shit! Sorry." He
gets out of the front and comes to my door. He helps me get laid down
and comfortable, then shuts my door. After a few more minutes, I
finally feel the Hummer start to move. Will had given me a couple
more pain and anti-inflammatory pills right before we started, so I
shouldn't feel too much pain from the vehicle bouncing around. That
is a hope and prayer of mine.

I guess I ended up passing out
not too long after we left, because I don't remember anything between
the garage and Darling, where my ma lives. What finally wakes me is a
loud banging, that turns into several loud bangs. I open my eyes,
ready to yell at whoever is making so much noise, and see human hands
beating on the windows. I struggle to sit up, finally make it, and
look around in astonishment. We have at least two dozen zombies on
our vehicle, alone. I am able to see my parent's truck and it looks
just as bad. I only have to assume the other vehicle is the same.

"What the hell? Will, what's
going on?"

"There are a lot of zombies
surrounding all of our trucks and they are trying to bust out the
windows."
Really?
I never would have guessed.

"Ok. I got the obvious, now
fill me in." I tell him.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Well, we
made it to Darling and we cruised down Main Street, which wasn't too
bad. We saw a few zombies but not very many. No survivors. Then Dad
turns onto the street Grandma lives on, we stop to go get her, and
then this happens. So, you are now filled in."

"Mommy?" Ash's head
pops up behind the seat and he looks terrified. Once again, the
zombies are about to find out why you don't piss off Mommy!

"Ash, climb back here and
get on the floor like you did before, ok? Will, hand me my handguns.
And don't argue with me. Either help me, or get the hell out of my
way. Ok? Oh. And I love you." Will hands me my guns, very
reluctantly, I might add. And a little (lot) pissed off.

Using the anger, adrenaline, and
a lot of help from the pain pills, I stand on my seat and open the
hatch. Somehow, I climb through the top and onto the roof. I look
around at the other vehicles and I see Dad's head pop through the top
of their truck. I look at Jake's and see that he is already on top
and just about to shoot. I also see a head with long black hair
rising from the hatch in his truck and think what great zombie bait
she would make.

I turn my attention to the beasts
below me and start shooting. Will joins me and we fight together. I
check on Ash every once in a while and he seems to be doing better.
Well, as can be expected.

As I duck my head toward the
hatch to check again on Ash, I hear what is unmistakably a bullet
zinging past my head! I drop to the roof and turn my head in the
direction it came from and I see Sara looking straight at me, giving
me one of her evil grins and then shrugs as if it was an 'accident'.
Jake is looking over at me, his body tight with anxiety until he sees
me lift my hand and wave that I'm ok. Then I watch in astonishment as
Jake backhands Sara so hard that she falls onto her back and straight
through the hatch.
Ha Ha!
Good Job, Jake!
Now, if
she had been as big as a cow, she wouldn't have fallen through, now
would she?And before you get all pissy about me being happy a man
just knocked the crap out of a woman (and it isn't
accidental
this time), need I remind you she tried to KILL me?

Will, who is on the rear part of
the roof, doesn't know about the bullet, but had seen Jake hit Sara.
Of course, he gets all upset and threatens to shoot Jake until I
finally get his attention and explain to him what happened. Now I
have to calm him down from wanting to shoot her himself.
Haha!
I love my hubby.