Time of Death Book 2: Asylum (A Zombie Novel) (29 page)

I felt Jake shudder next to me at the mention
of bedbugs. We'd had a not-so-pleasant run in with them a few years
back in our guest room. The very thought of them made his skin
crawl, and even though we'd spent an absurd amount of money to rid
the room of the disgusting little blood-suckers, he hadn't stepped
foot in the room since.

"Dinner should be ready soon," Mark said
while looking at the time on his watch. "We eat promptly at five
pm. Breakfast is at eight am and lunch at noon. The grandfather
clock serves as our dinner bell. Get settled in, and we'll see you
downstairs when the clock strikes four."

The couple left us alone in the room,
standing in the center of the space holding our worldly belongings
and the dog. Apart from the various colored comforters covering the
beds, the room felt old. It smelled old, too. Kind of the musty
smell of an attic filled with antiques, which, I guess, this was
pretty close in comparison. I opened the closet door and aired out
the space before dropping Daphne onto the bed and falling down
beside her, staring up at the brass chandelier.

"This is ridiculous," I laughed.

"What is?" Jake asked me, leaning against the
door frame.

"There's a chandelier in the closet." He
looked up and his face contorted into a baffled grin. "Rich
people," he said, as if that answered everything.

"At least we've got a gorgeous ocean view,"
said Meg, taking her eyes off the window long enough to look back
at us.

"What's your take on this place?" I propped
myself up on my elbows and looked at Jake.

"The jury's still out," he decided. The scowl
had returned to his face upon responding.

"You're thinking about Mack, aren't you?"

"Politically, I hate that man. He sent a lot
of good soldiers to their death. But I have to hand it to him, he's
got quite the operation going here. From what I can tell, besides
the houseboat anchored in the middle of the ocean, this is the
safest place we've been in months."

"True," I agreed. "Though, my feathers are
pretty ruffled at the sexism, not to mention discrimination, going
on downstairs."

"Seriously!" said Meg, who appeared in the
doorway a moment later. "Nineteen-fifty called. They want their
idiotic values back."

I smiled at the quip and laid my head back on
the bed, sighing with contentment at the comfortable moment of
quiet relaxation. Daphne, however, sidled right up to my face and
stared at me.

"What?" I asked her, earning a whine. "Go lay
down." Her ears perked and she lowered her head in a crouch that
made her ass stick up in the air.

She let out a sneeze, not a real one, but one
of those attention seeking sneezes, and misted my face with snot.
"Pfft, blech," I blurted, and wiped my face with the bottom of my
shirt. Before I could attack her with kisses, I heard the chime of
the big clock. "Saved by the bell," I told her.

Chapter 18: Hail to the
Chief

The first thing I realized was that the trip down was
much easier than it had been going up. The second thing was that I
would need to keep laser beam focus on Daphne inside the mansion's
vast space. With the stress placed on keeping our new home clean, I
didn't think residents would take kindly to her leaving secreted
piles of crap for them to find. I was, of course, under no illusion
that she wouldn't make all attempts to dispense her own cruel
injustice whenever possible.

Following the herd of people heading down
provided me the opportunity to take in the others; what they wore,
how they acted, and how they grouped into cliques.

Meg leaned over and whispered in my ear.
"Feels like high school all over again."

I chuckled at her spot-on reference.

"Mmm," moaned Jake, popping his head into the
narrow space between me and Meg. "That actually smells really
good."

"No cuttsies, bubba!" joked Meg, poking him
in the belly.

We took our place at the end of a buffet
table and each grabbed a plate. I had to perform advanced formulaic
algebra to figure out how I was going to make the process work.
Looking down at my two available arms, one had a dog tucked under
it and the other held my plate. Daphne licked her lips in
anticipation of her trip through the buffet line, and I transferred
her to my outside arm. She let out a humph at the new position,
obviously dismayed by the extra distance, and craned her neck as if
she could Inspector Gadget her efforts to reach the tasty
morsels.

I was careful not to take any more than was
appropriate, even though I would be sharing with Daphne. We made it
to the end of the line and Jake grabbed us both a bottle of water.
Steam rose off my plate and filtered its way into my olfactory
senses, making me salivate for what was about to be the best meal
I'd eaten in months.

"Where do we fit in?" asked Meg. "Jocks,
nerds, drama club, randoms?"

"Wow, that's pretty much a spot on
observation," laughed Jake. In the end of the world cafeteria, a
group of men sat at the table closest to the door. Weapons were
slung over their shoulder even as they ate, and while they didn't
go as far as to dress like military, they all had similar fashion
styles. Khaki cargo pants and black tee shirts. The fact that
they'd all decided that V-neck was the way to go made me smile,
conjuring images of a New Jersey, no-necked, Guido. A credit to
them, of course, was that most had the bodies to pull off the look;
no doubt months of manual labor and combat with undead. This group,
again it didn't go unnoticed that it was only men, were definitely
the jocks.

Next to the jocks table was the drama gang.
Comprised mostly of women, and like a needle in a haystack, head
chef, Zack, sat smack-dab in the middle of the ladies, content with
being the center of attention. He erupted into laughter at a joke I
couldn't hear, and I knew we'd get along just from the way he
committed to the act. Zack's entire body shook, throwing everything
he had into the laugh, and he snorted, which made me giggle in
response.

Another howl of laughter pulled my attention
from the chef, and I scanned the room until I noticed Jasper
sitting at another table. He was facing Zack and far enough away
that it would be difficult to have heard whatever led to Zack's
boisterous outburst. But he was laughing nonetheless, affected by
the joyous sound just like my own reaction, and clapping. Unlike
the other tables, the randoms table where Jasper sat didn't appear
to be interacting with each other. While the other cliques packed
in close to one another, leaving barely enough room to get up from
their seats without causing a chain reaction of others having to
move their chairs, the randoms left more space between seats,
distancing themselves from everyone else.

Jasper saw me watching him and waved at us.
"Emma!" he shouted across the room, causing all the heads to swivel
in our direction and my face to turn beet red with embarrassment at
being noticed. The happy-go-lucky man-child patted an empty chair
next to him and cupped his hands over his mouth to yell, "Come sit
with me!" It was so loud that I could swear on a stack of Bibles
that his voice echoed in the room.

I threw caution to the wind and returned his
shout, "okay!"

I finished my room sweep while Meg spooned
corn onto her plate. At the table closest to the basement sat the
nerd herd. There was no mistaking the group for what they were.
Here be the band geeks, I thought, mentally patting myself on the
back for the inner quip. In the worst time in the history of man,
this uptight collection of men and women still dressed as if they
were at work in a lab or board meeting.

My quick estimate put the group somewhere
around a dozen. Many of them wore lab coats with button-up dress
shirts underneath. One woman even wore a blazer and skirt with a
frilly silk blouse. How the hell she thought ironing in the face of
a zombie apocalypse was a good use of time was beyond my
comprehension, and my eyebrow rose involuntarily.

Amongst the geek squad, one man stood out.
Wearing an expensive business suit that fit so well it had to have
been tailored for him, this man with salt-and-pepper hair sat with
his back rigidly straight and his chin raised. He surveyed the
room, looking every bit the snot-nosed politician I knew him to be,
and set his sights on me and my companions. Jeb MacKenzie, the man
they called Mack, nodded curtly at me and quickly returned his
attention to his group, making me feel like a peon.

"There's our fearless leader now," Jake
whispered. I did a quick sweep of our immediate area to ensure no
one was within whisper radius.

"Shh," I demanded. "I don't think it's a good
idea to buck the system before we've even settled in. Have an open
mind. People have been forced to adjust. Maybe he's changed for the
better." My words felt hollow even as I spoke them; not even I
believed the arrogant aristocratic zebra had changed his stripes.
Any lingering doubts I had on the subject were squashed when I
heard Zack's riotous laughter again.

* * *

Instead of walking straight through the
narrow space left between tables to get to Jasper's table, I led
Jake and Meg around them, leaving a wide berth between me and the
seated diners. I felt eyes on my back as I passed, and I began to
sweat from the social anxiety. Jake was no doubt rolling his eyes
at me, knowing full well that I didn't relish being on display.

I likened this experience to that of a movie
theatre. There was something about walking into a room already
filled with people that gave me stage fright. So whenever Jake and
I went to the movies, I made him go first and stuck close behind
him as if I could avoid people looking at me by putting him on the
front lines to find us a good seat. A choice, which of course, I
bitched and moaned about every time. Sometimes I felt bad for the
guy, because I was damn-near impossible to please. Nursing school
was no different, and my way around the issue was to always make
sure I arrived first. In two years, I had been late only once.
Other than that I went so far as to pull up a seat in the empty
classroom thirty minutes before class was even scheduled to
begin.

"Hi, Emma!" Jasper stood as we neared and
rushed to give me a hug. I returned his embrace; I was in instant
adoration with Jasper. His boyish personality coupled with the
joyous innocence in his facial expressions and the fact that he
hadn't become jaded like so many others—myself included—was
refreshing. I genuinely wanted to be around him, and I felt an
instant protection tether form between us. Without question, I knew
I would tear a new asshole into anyone who dared to mess with this
man.

I returned his hug and exuberant greeting.
"Hi, Jasper!" He gave me a lopsided grin, happy at the reciprocated
attention, and moved on to the others to greet them the same
way.

"Hi, Jake!"

"Hey, Jasper!" Jake squeaked out a greeting
while his lungs were constricted by the strength of the hug.

"Hi, Meg!"

"Hi, Jasper!"

He rounded back to me, leaning in with the
same grin. "Hi, puppy!" He tickled Daphne under the chin and
dissolved into childish giggles when she licked the tip of his
nose.

"Quite the ball of energy, that one." Jake
side barred while Jasper made a show of picking out the best seats
for us. Best, of course, meaning the closest to him.

"I love it!" Meg exclaimed, and for the first
time since Vinny died, I heard the smile in her voice.

We sat and began to eat while Jasper rattled
on about the mansion, asking if we saw this room or that room, and
told us tidbits of information about our new home. It turned out,
not really to our surprise, that he'd been part of the ground crew
of Asylum. His one and only job since he was a teenager.

My gaze wandered to those seated at the table
with us. Unlike the other groups, there was no matching fashion,
and really nothing that would draw these people together other than
not fitting into another clique. Most of them focused on their
plates while they ate, not taking notice of us or anything else
going on around them. A few talked softly in small huddles no
bigger than three people, and still others stared blankly ahead and
ate their meal like the act was an automatic response. Some noticed
only Daphne and smiled at her for only an instant before their
faces fell to nothingness again.

I wanted to grill Jasper about Striker, but
it wasn't the right time. Daphne sat expectantly on my lap; all her
attention was focused on the plate of food. One for me, one for
her, I alternated bites of food between us. The air shifted behind
me and creepy crawlies ran up my spine. It wasn't that there was a
movement of air, but more like a darkness that crept in and began
suffocating the happiness I'd allowed myself to feel.

Jake's hand stopped in mid-air and pasta
jiggled on the end of his fork. His face morphed into a scowl and I
fought the urge to say, there's someone behind me isn't there?

"Welcome to Asylum," said a male voice. Mack
had come to greet his loyal subjects, gracing us with his noble
exaltation.

He could have easily moved a few feet to the
left, but instead stood directly behind me, forcing me to have to
turn my body. What an inflated sense of self-worth. Were we
supposed to bow to him, too? I fought the urge to snipe at his
inconsiderate interruption.

I decided to keep shoveling food into my
mouth. I would show him the same courtesy he'd shown me: none.

He continued talking, completely oblivious to
the slight. "We're ecstatic that you've made it here safely. Above
all, Asylum is a haven of mutual respect. We have but one rule
here, and it's that we all do our part to keep this community
running smoothly and safely. As your president, I take my role as
the new commander-in-chief seriously and will do my absolute best
to run what's left of our great nation to the best of my
ability."