The Living Dead Boy (4 page)

Chapter 5

It was the voices that drew him out of his sleep.  Josh rolled over in his bed, groggily dragging his covers over his body.

“It will be okay, won’t it?”  his mother’s voice whispered.

The creak of the floorboards outside his door and the gentle thump of what was probably his dad’s suitcase being set down drew him further into the waking world.  The digital clock on his bed stand read 5:30 AM in bright blue numbers.

“It will be.  I promise.  We’re done in this town, Lynette. There are no real jobs here and this house was willed to your church.  I’m not sure why your granddaddy decided to do that, but we have to move on.”

“I know.  I just...I really want you to get this job.”

“It’ll work out, we’ll move to Austin, and the boys will have a better life.  C’mon.  Let’s go downstairs before we wake the boys.”

Their footsteps were soft on the wood floor and finally faded away as they went downstairs.  Josh stared into the darkness around his bed, trying not to think of the terrible images on TV or the zombies from his nightmares. He had to trust what his dad said was true and do as he had asked. Though it would be hard, he would take care of his younger brother and help his mom out more.  He’d do his best to take care of them until his dad got back from Austin.  Hopefully by then, whatever the terrorists had done would be over with and the sick feeling in his stomach would go away.

Chapter
6

“Your dad is so much cooler than our dad,” Roger decided as the boys trudged up the sidewalk from the cafeteria to the main school building.  “First he was a soldier and now he is going to be a policeman.”

Sucking nosily on his grape Popsicle, Troy nodded his head in agreement.  “Totally, so much cooler.  Our dad is the lame ol’ school counselor.”

“I like Austin,” Arturo decided, rummaging around in the bottom of the small chocolate chip cookie bag his mom had put in his lunch.  “It’s neat. I like to go to the UT football games with my dad there even if I have to put up with my stepbrother.”

Josh shrugged his shoulder under the straps of his backpack and tucked his hands into his jean pockets. “My dad is cool, but he makes me scared that I’m gonna let him down.”

“Just don’t beat Drake’s butt into the ground and he won’t kick yours when he gets back,”  Arturo decided with a wide grin.

“Don’t worry.  As annoying as Drake can be sometimes, I promised my dad I would help my mom and I will.  It’s just laying low on the zombie stuff that is going to be super-hard.”

“Yeah, especially with those crazy, scary people on TV,” Arturo agreed.  “My mom won’t even let me watch the news right now.”

“It’s terrorists,” Troy asserted.  “Not zombies.”

“I wish it was zombies,” Roger decided, pulling his Dallas Cowboy cap over his black hair.  “Then I wouldn’t have to do that stupid math test.”

“I hate math,” Josh agreed. “Almost as much as running zombies.”

Roger and Troy had skipped two grades and were in the 6
th
grade with Josh and Arturo.  They had been home-schooled for several years before their dad had found a job as the school counselor.  The other sixth graders avoided the boys, but Josh and Arturo liked them.  The boys were also neighbors, so it made it easier to all hang out.

“Running zombies suck,” Troy agreed.  “Let’s watch the rest of that zombie movie.”

The boys gathered around a bench, Troy still eating his Popsicle.  Arturo tossed his dessert bag away as Roger sprawled onto the bench looking bored.  Josh sat down and pulled out his iPod.  He loaded up the zombie movie they had been watching the day before and the boys gathered around to watch.

The sun was blazing overhead, but the breeze was cool. The school was an old, beige brick building surrounded by a dozen portable buildings.  The cafeteria was connected to the school by a covered walkway, but most of the kids hung out around the benches scattered between the two structures. The grass was slowly turning from brown to green as spring took hold, but there were bare patches around the benches and trees where the kids loitered, waiting for class to being again.

Kindergarten to eighth grade were stuffed into the school.  The high school kids were in another building across the street.  It was newer and nicer.  The two schools sat on the edge of town near the highway, old farmhouses and a few fields separating them from the main neighborhood and downtown area.

“What a bunch of losers,” a voice taunted them.

Josh looked up from the zombie mayhem to see Sam Pickett standing over them.  He was the sheriff’s son and the resident school outcast.  He was big, ruddy-faced, and strawberry blond.  Because of the extra weight and his big double chin, his face looked like it was tucked into a flesh-colored box.

“Loooserrrrrrrs,” Sam drawled out.

Sighing, Josh turned off the movie.  “What do you want, lame-o?”

“Looooooooooooooossssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerssssssssssss,” Sam said again, dragging the word out as long and loud as he could.

The four friends just stared at him, waiting for him to make a move.  After a year of Sam following them around and bugging them, they knew his usual routine by heart.  He would try to bully them, then beg them to be his friend.  It was pretty pathetic.

“What are you watchin’?  Huh?  Watching stupid zombie movies?  Huh?  Zombies are dumb.  They’re lame.  Jason is cooler.”

“Jason is a zombie,” Roger said, annoyed.

“And he’s a dumb zombie,” Troy continued. “Because he doesn’t eat what he kills.”

“Therefore, he is lame,” Arturo added.

Sam stared at them, processing this information. “Let me in your club.”

“No,” Josh said firmly.

“C’mon.  I’m cool.”

“No, you’re not.” Arturo shook his head.  “You are, in fact, the very definition of uncool.”

Sam frowned, deep lines forming on his huge forehead.  “My dad is the sheriff.”

“That makes you double uncool,” Josh answered.

“Let me in.  I like zombies.”

“You just said they’re not cool,” Troy reminded him.

“Uh, I was just teasing you,” Sam answered, tugging nervously on his bottom lip with his teeth.

“What is your favorite zombie movie?”  Josh asked, lifting his eyebrows and folding his arms.

“Uh, the one with the zombie that eats that guy,” Sam faltered.

“That is like every zombie movie known to man,” Arturo said with disgust.

“Uh, the one with the army guys,” Sam persisted.

“Which one?” Josh raised his brows higher.

“Uh...”

Arturo pointed at Roger.  “Favorite zombie movie with soldiers!”

“
Day of the Dead
.  The original!”

Arturo gave Sam a long, dark look.  “It’s not that hard,
turd head.”

“My dad doesn’t let me watch zombie movies! Okay!” Sam’s face was growing redder.  It looked almost like a blotchy tomato.

“Lame,” Roger decided, scrunching up his face. “Real lame.”

Sliding to his feet, Josh gazed at Sam steadily. “Look, tard-o, learn something about zombies and maybe, just maybe, we might let you hang with us.”

“We can use him as zombie bait,” Troy decided.  “He’s so fat, they’d get him first.”

Sam’s eyes were watery, either from unshed tears or the harsh wind blowing across the lawn.  “They would not!”

“Uh huh!”  Arturo decided.

“My dad has a gun! He’s the sheriff!”

Josh’s gaze was stolen away by a motorcycle drawing up the curving driveway to the school.  It was Brad Cooper and Corina was holding onto his waist for dear life as he guided the big, grumbling bike up to the sidewalk.  Dressed in blue leggings, cowboy boots, a short skirt and denim jacket, Corina was breathtakingly beautiful as always.  Her long hair was tucked into two long ponytails that hung over her shoulders and she shoved her glasses up her pert nose as the motorcycle came to a stop.  Brad, tall, blond, and good-looking, grinned at her as she slid off his bike.

“Dude, there is no way you can steal her away from that guy,” Roger declared.

“He’s got a motorcycle, muscles and is on the high school baseball team.  You’re so screwed,” Arturo agreed.

“Shut up,” Josh said automatically.  He tried not to watch as Brad kissed Corina’s cheek and clung to her hand.

Sam’s eyes slowly widened.  “You like Corina? Wow. She is like so pretty and smart and older and—”

“Shut up, Sam,” Josh said sharply.

Corina pulled her hand away and started walking toward the school.

Glancing down at his watch, Josh saw that the lunch period was almost over.  His nerves were getting the best of him again.  Not only was his dad away in Austin, the terrorists making people crazy, his math test about to happen in ten minutes, but Corina was dating an older, better looking man.

“She’s hot,” Roger decided.

“Though Josh’s mom is way hotter,” Troy added.

“Shut it, Troy,” Josh ordered.

Corina drew nearer as Brad sped off on his motorcycle, Josh felt the knot in his stomach clench tighter.  Nothing about this day felt right.  He ran his hand through his sandy hair as he looked away from Corina as she approached. Trying to look as nonchalant as possible, he turned toward Sam.

“Just don’t say anything embarrassing to her, okay?”

Sam screwed up his mouth thoughtfully.  “Let me into your club.”

“You’re gonna blackmail me?”

“Uh huh.”

“Dude, that is way lame,” Arturo decided.

“I want into the club,” Sam repeated.

Corina was drawing closer and Josh did not feel like having Sam blathering not only to her, but the whole school about his crush.  This was the last thing he needed on top of all the other crap.

“Okay, fine.  Don’t tell Corina and we’ll let you take a zombie test to get in.  But you have to watch
Night of the Living Dead
,” Josh said in an urgent tone.  “We’ll ask you questions about it and you have to answer all of them, okay?”

Sam was so excited by the prospect; he was breathing hard and could only nod his head.

“Do we have to do that?”  Troy protested.

“Yeah, do we have to do that?  C’mon everyone knows you have a crush on her.”  Roger looked sullen as he glared at Sam.

“Plus he’s a retard,” Arturo added.  “A total retard.”

“You’re not supposed to say retard,” Troy corrected. “It’s a slur.  Like the “n” word.”

“C’mon, guys.  I’m the leader, so a test.”  Josh turned back to Sam.  “Okay?”

Sam continued to nod his head as Corina strolled past them.  The boys all watched her go by, her long hair rippling in the breeze.

“Hi, Corina,” Josh managed to say.

“Hi,” she answered just before she was mobbed by her two best friends.

“Did you go to Subway with him?”

“Did he kiss you?”

“He’s so totally hot!”

“Oh, my gawd, Corina!”

The girls hurried off, giggling and talking rapidly to each other leaving Josh staring after Corina once again.  The warning bell rang. The 6
th
, 7
th
, and 8
th
graders began to trudge inside, regretfully leaving the oasis of their lunch period behind to face the horrors of math, English, and history for the rest of the day.  The younger children had already had lunch earlier and Josh saw the kitchen crews mopping the floors inside the cafeteria.  As he joined the throng outside the double doors to go inside, he glanced over at the field behind the school that gradually dipped down to the highway below.  The wind was loud as it rushed over the field and wove around the school. He could barely hear the sound of the cars rushing toward unknown destinations on the highway nearby.

“I hate math,” Arturo muttered beside him.  “I hate it.”

“Do you hear sirens?”  Josh strained, trying to hear what the wind was trying to snatch away.

“Nope.  And, I still hate math.”

The kids jostled each other as they pushed inside the building.  Josh got squished between Sam and Arturo.  He let the stream of kids carry him toward the doors, shuffling his feet to the slow pace.  Glancing over his shoulder, he hoped to see Corina, but instead caught sight of a lone figure stumbling to the top of the hill in the distance.

Zombie!

The crowd of kids poured into the hallway and Josh was swept along with them.  He tried to turn back, but some bigger kids shoved him along.  Finally, he managed to get past the largest cluster of kids that reeked of sweat and food, and rushed out the doors just before they closed.  He looked to the spot where the person had come over the top of the hill, but there was no sign of the figure now.  Now the only movement in the area was the gentle swaying of the trees in the wind.

“Get inside!  Lunch is over!  The bell is about to ring!” The big booming voice was that of the assistant principal. He was a former football player and huge. Other than Troy, he was the only black person in town. His wife and step-children were Mexican-American and sometimes people thought Troy was his.

“Mr. Johnson, I saw someone over there.  They were stumbling and stuff like a zombie.”  Josh explained.

“There was an accident on the highway.  Maybe it was someone trying to find help.  I’ll go check it out,” Mr. Johnson answered.

“Sir, seriously.  I think it may have really been a zombie,” Josh persisted.

“Josh, I know you like zombies, but they aren’t real. Now go get to class.  You’re going to be tardy.”  Mr. Johnson pushed the door open for him.

Reluctantly, Josh started inside, but then stopped. “Be careful if you go over there.  Please, Mr. Johnson.”

“I will.  Now go!”

Josh watched the heavy orange door slam shut and scuffed his sneaker against the floor with irritation. No one ever listened to him.

The hallway was nearly empty.  Only a few kids were left rushing to their classes, hall monitors shouting at them to slow down.  Josh trudged to class, his sneakers squeaking against the floor as he dragged his feet.

Corina stepped out of the girls’ restroom and glanced toward him.  He gave her an awkward smile as he passed her.

She gave him a small smile back.

His heart bursting with joy, he ducked into his class. Her smile almost forced the thought of that lonely figure standing on the edge of the school grounds from his mind.