The Zombie Chronicles - Book 2 (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (9 page)

As I ran at him to throw a fist, the idiot smacked me in the jaw. My head jerked back, but I managed to get my footing, then eyeballed him, putting him off guard. I put my whole body into it, threw another punch, and missed, giving him the chance to drop a right-hander against my left cheek. Boy, did it burn and throb! Before I knew what hit me, he came at me with a southpaw, followed by the left seconds later.
How the heck did he learn that?
I wondered. But he didn’t stop there. Next, he popped me in the nose, and then, in the fraction of a second, he hit me in the gut.

“
You see that?” Nick said. “An untrained opponent knows nothing about breathing right when taking a hit.”

I doubled over, unable to reply.

“
So…one shot to the stomach could be more effective than a shot to the face,” he continued.

“
C’mon, Dean!” said Lucas. “I’ve taught you better than that.”

“
Also, never forget about the hand that’s not doing the punching,” Nick said. “Beginners tend to forget that. One hand is supposed to be guarding while the other is punching, especially while throwing the jab with the left hand. You have to make a conscious effort to keep your hands up where they’re supposed to be.”

I threw another punch and missed—again.
Crap!
It was so humiliating. Red-faced, I set my teeth and aimed again, but my fist just shot into thin air, and I slipped on my butt.

“
Don’t throw all your energy into one punch. It’s all about jabs.”

My face was burning hot, not so much from the impact of my brother’s hard blows, but from the humiliation of him winning. On top of that, the thought of those zombies biting our sister made my blood boil. I was mad at Nick, mad at everything. Then, a growl escaped from deep within my chest, like that of a wild animal. I let my hand fly with a sharp jab to the side of Nick’s head. I enjoyed it and hit him again, first with the left, then right paw. It felt exhilarating. I didn’t know I had it in me, but bad tempers must have run in our family. It was in our DNA.

Crap! Am I having a break down? Is all the stress of missing my old home and friends taking a toll on me? Or am I just in some do-or-die state of mind, not quite myself?
I knew the cure that would save our sister’s life was in Tahoe’s possession, and we had to get out of there and get it for her. That made me even more anxious, and I had an urge to show Nick who was boss around there. We needed to get something done, not hide there like scared little mice.

As Nick scrambled to his feet from my last knockout blow, I shot him a cocky smile. He came at me, and I bashed him again with a bomb even Mike Tyson would have been proud of. Nick fell backward, down for the count, but I was relentless. I squatted down next to him and banged the palm of my hand on the floor and started counting: “One…two…three…four…

five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten!” He didn’t get up, so I leapt up, punching the air. “I’m the winner. Now, let’s get out of here and see if those zombies left yet!”

Nick opened his eyes and stared at me. “Wh-what happened?”

I pulled him up and patted his back. “You lost, champ,” I said. “Now
I
give the orders, and I say we’re outta here.”

Nick rubbed his forehead. “What are you going on about? Did you knock me out?”

Lucas clapped my shoulder.
“That was awesome!”

Claire reached out her hand and helped Nick up.

Jackie handed me a white towel
, and I wiped the sweat off my face. “You showed your brother who was boss. I like that,” she whispered in my ear.

I grinned. It was a big moment between me and my brother; my chance to show him that I wasn’t a baby anymore. Our nerves were on edge, but we had more important things to worry about. “Come on,” I said. “We’re leaving.”

“
I know you’re anxious to see if the herd is gone, but I assure you it probably isn’t,” Lucas said. “Listen, I’ll go take a drive and assess the situation. If they’re still there, we’ll have to hole up here for the night.”

“
Okay,” I said. I didn’t like the idea, but we didn’t really have a choice. Sending Lucas out to check was a safer alternative than all of us rushing out into a hungry horde of brain-slurpers.

Chapter 11

Since nobody could sleep, we trained some more—only this time,
I
did some of the teaching. Still, I have to admit that my brother and Lucas showed me and the girls some great moves. The girls wanted to know how to defend themselves, and I knew that was definitely a step in the right direction. While everyone else practiced and sparred, Val slept without making a peep.

Lucas drove back to the zombie crossing and returned to report that it was still overrun, so we had no choice but to bed down for the night.

We found sleeping bags piled up in the office and decided to put them to good use. We laid them in the boxing ring to make a bed, then all passed out.

A while later, moans jolted me awake. Moonlight streamed in through the windows, and I peered around for a zombie, my heart racing. I reached for my gun. Just as I was getting ready to wake everyone, I noticed Jackie tossing and turning in her sleep; that was when I realized that the moaning noises were coming from her. I walked over and softly touched her arm.

She sat up, gasping. “Wh-what? Dean?” Her long hair tumbled around her face.

“
Sorry to wake you. You were, uh…moaning.”

“
I was having a horrible nightmare.”

I held my arms out. “Come here, babe.”

She nuzzled into my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm around her. I held her for a few minutes before she said, “I miss everyone I lost. How can you
explain the pain to anyone? I always thought life was a struggle, but out here, it’s about survival. You just survive. You live. You exist. You’re there, but really you’re not. There are no words to describe it.”

“
I know,” I consoled.

“
I know I have to live with the scars, but I wonder if the pain will ever go away. It just hurts so bad, Dean!”

“
Like they say, time heals all wounds
.”

“
Yeah, maybe, but bear in mind they said that
before
the zombie apocalypse.”

“
Right,” I agreed, knowing she had a point.

“
Anyway, how are
you
doing?” she asked.

“
I’m worried about Val. What if we can’t catch up to Tahoe?”

“
We will. Tahoe is staying in one place for the night. His signal is still, and we’re right behind him,” she said. “I’m sorry if I’m kind of being a drag. I mean, the last few days have been a whirlwind for me,” she said softly, so as not to wake the others.

“
I understand the whirlwind thing,” I said. “I was living a normal life pretty much, and now…well, all of this.”

“
Yeah, me too. Our lives were stable and then—
bing, bang, boom
!—all of this!” She let out a long sigh. “We have a lot in common, you and me.”

“
That we do.” Cupping her face, I could see every detail in the moonlight. She was absolutely stunning with her petal-smooth skin, long eyelashes, and big, brown eyes.

She touched my hand that was resting on her face. “In the last three days, I’ve escaped death way too many times. What does that mean?”

I swept a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. “That you’re destined for something great.”

She smiled and gazed into my eyes. “You’re so positive. I love that about you, Dean.”

“
Even with all the gloom around us, I choose to be happy every day—or I least try.”

“
You’re amazing.”

“
Takes one to know one,” I said, meaning it. I realized at that very moment how deeply I cared about her.

Jackie ran a hand through her hair, still contemplating something deeply, but she’d clammed up.

“
You know you can tell me anything, right, Jackie?” I coaxed.

“
Well, it’s just…I can’t understand why Claire and I were the only ones to escape in our group. One second we were laughing and telling jokes, and the next I was fighting for my life. It’s just consuming me—survivor guilt, I think the shrinks call it. They deserved to live just as much as I did. Why did I survive?
Is it fair that I lived and they didn’t? Who decides that stuff anyway…and why?
”

“
You chose a way out that the others didn’t.”

“
I should have gone back and tried to save them.”

“
If you had, you’d be dead right now,” I said, wiping a tear from her face.

“
Deep down I know that, but it’s still hard to accept the loss. Though time passes and memories fade, I’ll never forget them.”

“
That’s okay. You don’t have to,” I said. “In a way, you remembering them honors them.”

“
Maybe, but still, none of it makes sense. And then we escaped death yet again. If you had left us back at the glass house, we’d be dead. What were the chances we’d run into you?”

“
Fate,” I whispered.

“
And what about the motorcycle and the beach? We barely escaped.”

“
Hey, it’s not every day a guy gets to ride down the alley on a Harley with a hot babe.”

She playfully slapped me. “C’mon. Be serious.”

“
I’m tired of serious. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to laugh.”

“
You have a wonderful laugh. That’s all you did when you drank all that beer at the airport tower. It was…contagious.”

“
The beer or the laughing?”

She laughed right back at me. “Heh. Both, I guess,” she said, her eyes lighting up with the fond memory.

I smiled. “We did have a good time, didn’t we?”

“
It was magical. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a long time. I wish I could dream about that, but instead I keep dreaming about walking across that board from the house to the barn, except in my nightmare, I fall off and—”

I squeezed her hand tightly, stopping her from recounting the horror. “I’m here for you, Jackie.”

“
Thanks,” she said, looking down at the floor.

“
What is it?” I asked. “Something else is bothering you.”

“
It may seem stupid to you, but it kinda freaks me out that I used a gun. My dad would flip. He’s so against guns and all that. It’s all so much to take in. And I swear I keep freaking out every time I hear a noise. I keep thinking a whole herd of those things out there is going to break into the gym, like that scene at the end of
Night of the Living Dead
, when they started coming in the house.”

“
That’s only normal,” I whispered, “after everything we’ve been through.”

“
My hands keep shaking, and I can’t stop thinking about my family back in New York. Do you think they’re okay? I wonder if they even know I’m alive.”

“
We just have to keep fighting and live another day. Tomorrow isn’t promised. None of this is easy. I don’t know if my parents are alive either, or whether Val will live another day.” My voice wavered as I cupped her face again. “All we can do now, in this moment, is stay strong and lean on each other.”

“
I’m not gonna give up—not ever,” she swore, softly touching my wrist. “How’s that cut healing?”