Live (NOLA Zombie Book 3) (20 page)

It was awkward to put him in, I had to turn him around and his squish his legs up to his chest. He coughed blood onto me and I watch as the life faded from his eyes. I wanted him turned. I wanted him to be a dead surprise in the closet. When his eyes shot back open, I slammed the door hard. It took a heavy push, but I got it closed. One zombie Senior coming right up! I giggled just thinking about one of the dumb shits opening up the door and getting a bite-load of their leader.
 

Now it was time to wait. I sat down on the bed and faced the door. I pointed the gun and stayed on alert until my arm shook from the tension. Just as I was about to go insane from being inside my head, the lights dimmed and I knew it was almost time.

The din from outside the office grew to a minimum and I peeked out from behind the tarp to confirm that everyone had made their way to their personal domains. Most of the men grabbed a woman, fucked her for a few minutes and then sent her back to the store room as they passed out. It was the same tonight. I was just glad Romeo hadn’t come back and ruined my plan. It was obvious his intention had been to clock me and now they were formulating a plan, probably a smash and grab, probably tonight.
 

Wouldn’t they be surprised when I got myself out of this mess? They should know better, I was never one to wait around for a knight in shining armor. Fuck the saving, just show up after the fact and give me the happily-ever-after kiss. I’ll take that.
 

I glanced out from behind the tarp one more time. Melinda was on the move.
 
I watched as one of the girls, I couldn’t make out who it was, walked up to the night guard with Melinda trailing behind her. They both walked seductively up to the biker, their hips swinging, their stride accentuated.
Were men this stupid?
 
Obviously
.
 

It didn’t take much convincing. The guard followed obediently and Melinda slowed down her pace. She fell behind, allowing him to walk ahead of her, making sure he followed the other girl. We had discussed this as we formulated the plan. She had to surprise him. She wasn’t skilled enough to take him down one on one.
 
She picked up a piece of metal shelving and slammed it into the back of his head as if she was taking aim at a baseball. It was a great hit.
 

The guard stumbled but didn’t go down.

Oh, fuck.
 

I was out of the door and moving fast but silent on my bare feet before my brain had time to react. There were only about 30 feet in between the guard and myself. He had turned, stumbled, and moved to grab Melinda, intent on taking her down. She looked scared out of her mind. She only had the one trick up her sleeve.

He was so intent on Melinda, he didn’t see me coming. I jumped on his back and plunged the knife, still wet with Senior’s blood, into his neck. He fell forward, bringing me with him. I managed to jump off of him as his big frame hit the floor hard.

I reached down and yanked the knife out of his neck and checked his pulse. His pulse was weak and stuttering. He would be dead soon. Just the way I liked him.

I looked up and met Melinda’s grim stare. There was no judgment, just a look of amazement.
 
Her hands still gripped the metal frame. I looked over at the other girl and realized with sickening disappointment that the second girl Melinda had recruited was Clara.
The girl was like a bad venereal disease you just couldn’t shake.
 

There was no stopping and reevaluating her choice of recruitment now though. If we didn’t move quickly, we would be found out. There were only a few sheets of plastic tarp separating us from the sadistic bikers. We needed to get moving. I guess I had to rescue Clara’s ass, again.
 

I slapped the bloody knife in Clara’s hand and took sick pleasure in her gasp of fear when she took in my full appearance. I reached in my pocket and pulled out the handgun, checked the chamber and clicked the safety off.
 
I handed it to Melinda. I trusted her with a gun, not Clara.

I unharnessed both the guns at my sides and got them locked and loaded. I was the first to the door. Glaring at Clara when her shoes clacked on the linoleum, I was so tempted to just leave her, but I knew she would probably throw up a fuss and ruin our escape. Both girls were still dressed in slut attire, with clacking shoes. I motioned for them to remove them and they both did. We didn’t need the noise or the possibility of a sprained ankle. If I was going barefoot, so were they.
 

The Southern Clan hadn’t done any enhancements to the security of the door, which was stupid on their part, but great for us. The only lock they had on it was the one that the grocery store had in place. It was easy to disengage from the inside. I pushed at the sliding glass doors, they were once electric, automatic and opened when they detected motion, but were now useless. They easily slid open, meant to be manual if the power ever went out. The freezing outside air blew in to greet me and I took a deep breath. I hadn’t breathed in air this good and fresh in a long time.
 

“Cross the street to the school, fast and low,” I hissed. If the boys were running surveillance on the gang, the school was a logical choice. It was three stories with plenty of windows. It was a little close for comfort as far as tactical usage, they could also be at the Marina Complex, which was almost twenty stories and close enough for surveillance, but the flood gates were closed and they would have had to climb over the walls without being seen. I was betting on the school. And I was betting with our lives.

BLAKE

I paced the floor. I hadn’t slept in days, but there was no way I was going to sleep with every little emotion plaguing me. I could sleep when we had Alexis back. I just had to make sure I didn’t let it affect my concentration. Pace. Scope the camp across the street. Twenty push-ups. Repeat. On the fifth rep, add something different to the mix to shake things up.
 

Zach was in the same pattern in the other room, except he couldn’t see the camp across the street. Baby and Murphey were asleep in the hallway, trying to get as much downtime as they could before we raided. Romeo and Alphonso were scouting for a second vehicle.
 

I went to the window on my next circuit across the room and froze in my tracks. I fumbled for the NVGs and brought them up to my face. There was movement at the back door, a figure came running out, baggy clothes, another one followed…shit…
is that?

“We have movement, I can’t confirm, but it looks like Lex just broke out of the base, need a pick-up now!” I called into the com. Romeo confirmed over the com and Zach came barreling into the room, waking up the girls in the hall, who came running in behind him.

He grabbed the NVGs out of my hand and began cursing.

“She couldn’t even sit tight and let us save her,” he growled. “Lock and load, looks like we’ve got to go and get our girl.”

ALEXIS

I grimaced as my bare feet found every sharp rock and piece of glass in between the store and the school, but it was nothing in comparison to my back which still burned and seeped blood from Senior’s torture.
 

There was a shout behind us, just as we crossed Robert E. Lee and made it to the parking lot of the school. They had realized we were gone. They were coming for us.
 

“It’s them!” Clara sobbed, looking to me as if I was going to go back there and take them all out for her.
 

I pushed forward, we couldn’t stop now. Our only chance was the school and the hope that Romeo and his mystery man were there…and maybe…
maybe
…

I turned and sighted two bikers running fast behind us. I fired in quick succession. I only had a few shots and no extra clips. It was almost impossible to hit a moving target, especially if you couldn’t stop and take aim.
 
The shots weren’t meant to hit them. They did the trick, causing them to instinctively fall to the ground to avoid the bullets. It gave us a little more time to make it across the street.

Melinda slammed into the glass door of the front office and I watched in horror as she yanked on it, but it didn’t budge.
It had better be open! It had to be open!
 

One more pull and the door swung open. I breathed a sigh of relief when she disappeared into the dark office. Clara was not that far behind her. I turned, spread my legs and took aim. I fired off four more shots, one hit its intended target and the biker fell, he didn’t get up. The second biker kept coming.
 

I fired off once more, but it missed and the gun clicked, I was empty. I had only two shots left in the second gun. Before I could freak out, I heard the scream of an engine tearing toward me.
 

Friend or foe?

A black truck tore around the corner and slammed into the approaching biker, throwing him ten feet into the air. A man dressed in all black fatigues, his face covered in combat goggles and a SWAT hood came racing from the school just as the truck went into reverse and pulled in front of me.
 

The man from the school walked casually over to the fallen man. He pressed a silence equipped handgun to the fallen man’s head and fired one round.
 

Dead. There was no coming back from that.

Four dead. Four humans dead. No zombies.

The man turned to me, and his movements registered. I knew that walk.

He yanked off the goggles just as another man dressed in full combat gear exited the school and was by my side in an instant.

Zach.

Blake.

They stood over me, around me, their covered faces unreadable. They were both tense, like they didn't know what to do, didn't know what to do with me. I couldn't imagine what I looked like...covered in blood, hair matted, and I realized I was panting, almost hyperventilating.

“It’s about fucking time, boys.”

ZACH

“Lex.” I reached my hand out to her. She was covered in blood from head to foot. It was splashed across her face and matted in her hair. She was wearing men’s clothing that was too big for her and looked very dirty.
 

Her face was slimmer. She had lost weight and even in the dim light of the headlights I could tell there were dark circles under her eyes.
 

Her eyes were wide and she was glancing around her, panic in her gaze. I wanted to take her in my arms, but she gripped the gun in her hand tightly. I had seen too many soldiers with that same look. If I tried to show her some comfort she might freak and turn on me.
 

She couldn’t help it, she was in attack mode. I needed to get her back to the compound. We couldn’t stick around and play soldier anymore. Lex needed help and she needed to get home.
 

ALEXIS

"We have to get the fuck out of here, now!" My voice was high-pitched and shaky even to my own ears.
 

"Incoming!" A smaller figure pushed out of the school with an M4 raised and at the ready. I recognized Baby's voice immediately. There was another woman with her dressed in combat gear and they both had their guns raised, trained on two figures ahead of them. Melinda and Clara. They must have encountered them in the office.
 

"Friendly," I cried out. "But we need to get the fuck out of here now!"

Clara and Melinda ran for the truck, but they were intercepted by Zach. He pushed himself in front of Clara, his tall frame towering over her.
 

"Ain't gonna happen." He raised his gun and pointed it directly at her head.
Uh oh.
I should have seen this coming. Part of me wanted to leave her, let Zach force her away…but some little bit of me knew this was wrong.

"Zach, what the fuck?" Baby hissed. "We don't have time for this shit."

"She's not coming back with us. I should put a fucking bullet in her head right now."

"I deserve it," Clara said in a soft whisper and damn, if the little part of me that wanted Zach to pull the trigger got overruled by my logical, moralistic sensibilities.
Fuck
. My muddy brain, overrun by pain and panic, suddenly kicked into gear. I knew this wasn’t going to be good. We had to get out of here. I was surprised we weren’t being overrun by the bikers yet.
 

"Don't, Zach, please don't do this." Blake raised his hands in supplication. "She's unarmed. We'll figure it out when we get back to the compound. Put the gun down."
 

I had to make a decision. It was probably one I would regret later, but I couldn't let this continue. I walked up to Zach and pulled on his arm, pulling the gun away from Clara's head.
 

"C'mon, baby, let's go home. Can you take me home?" Zach's arm dropped to his side and his eyes met mine.
 

In a flurry of movement, Baby rushed up behind Clara and pulled her to the front of the truck.
 
She pushed her into the passenger side and then ran around to the driver's side, hissing at us to get moving. Blake helped Melinda get into the bed of the truck and Zach did the same with me. Before we were settled, Baby had slammed the truck into gear and was moving.