Twisted World: A Broken World Novel (20 page)

M
y crew had been
MIA all day.

It was trash week, which meant a group of ten of us picking up stinking bags of garbage, most of which had been sitting in the sun for weeks by the time we got to them. More often than not, they’d also been ripped open by animals or people desperate for leftover scraps of food. Even with gloves on my hands, a mask to cover my nose and mouth, and an orange jumpsuit, the stink seemed to penetrate my skin.

By noon I was drenched in sweat and a hundred percent positive that I’d never feel cool—or clean—again. The worst part: this would be my assigned job for the week. That was how long it took to collect all the trash in the city.

I was beat by the time the shift was over. My arms and legs were shaking when I stripped my filthy clothes off and stepped under the hot stream of the decontamination shower. It would have been refreshing if the water was cool, but they claimed the chemicals they sprayed us down with needed hot water to work well. I was pretty sure they were just trying to torture us a little more.

I spotted my boss on the way out, my hair still dripping and stinking of chemicals, and my body so sore that all I wanted to do was go home and curl up in a ball. Still, I couldn’t make myself leave without finding out what had happened to my crew.

“Hanson!”

The boss stopped and looked me up and down, frowning like he was upset to see me standing in front of him alive. “What do you want James?”

“My crew. The guys you sent me out with yesterday. Where are they?”

Hanson looked away. “Quit.”

“Quit?” All three in one day? “Why?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. All it did was piss me off and put me behind.” He headed off without saying anything else.

They quit…

I didn’t believe it. Not only did it not make sense that all three of them would quit at the same time, but Matt had worked on the maintenance crew since he’d turned sixteen. Why, I didn’t know, but I doubted he would just up and quit.

My stomach was uneasy the whole way home, and it got even worse when I found Mom once again passed out on the couch. This time, I left her where she was.

The feeling of dread stayed with me as I showered for the second time, trying to get the chemical smell out of my hair by using more shampoo than I should, and the worry hadn’t eased by the time I left the apartment—once again wearing my black dress.

When I arrived at the bar, Donaghy was nowhere in sight, and a part of me was relieved. I was so preoccupied that I could barely focus on anything other than the thoughts in my head, and I had serious doubts I would be able to carry on a conversation right now, let alone try to unravel how I was feeling about him and the kiss we’d shared last night.

Like me, Helen was silent and tense. She didn’t look my way when she slipped behind the bar, and even the drunks didn’t get much of her attention tonight. Her blue eyes seemed to be continuously focused on the door across the room, and when she held her cigarette to her lips, there was a slight tremor in her hand.

I wondered if she and Dragon had a fight.

At first glance Glitter seemed to be her normal, chipper self. She chatted with the patrons and shot Helen a few concerned looks that seemed to confirm my first impression about the older waitress having fought with her lover. After a while, though, as the night got busier, I caught Glitter looking my way a few times too. There was pity in her eyes, and concern. I couldn’t figure out why she was looking at me, but the expression fed the heaviness in my stomach. It only got worse when Dragon entered the ring and the crowd moved away from the bar. I turned to face the older waitress, only to find her staring at me with the same expression in her eyes.

My heart beat faster. Something was going on, only I didn’t know what.

I hadn’t seen Donaghy yet. Had something happened to him?

No, Glitter and Helen would have told me. This couldn’t be about the fighter. Dragon was in the ring now, getting ready to call him out, which meant that Donaghy was fine. Nothing had happened to him.

Then why was Helen looking at me like I was on the way to a funeral?

Dragon was still talking when the doors to the back room burst open. I turned toward the sound, hoping to get a glimpse of Donaghy so I could reassure myself that he was okay. The big men who doubled as bouncers pulled the cart forward, and the crowd parted for them. I couldn’t see much from my place behind the bar, not through the crowds, but it had never really mattered to me before. There was never really much to see. Except today, that is. Today was different.

There were three zombies on the cart tonight, an extra treat for the spectators. The first two were small and nothing special as far as I could tell, although not much was visible other than the tops of their heads. The third zombie, however, was so tall that he dwarfed the other two.

“Do you see how big that one is?” I said, not even sure who I was talking to.

My eyes were on the dead as the men pulled the cart forward. Not only was Dragon upping the odds by adding a third zombie, but he was throwing in one that had to be taller than even Donaghy.

“Wasn’t Dragon’s choice.” Helen’s gravelly voice came from my other side. When I glanced her way, the waitress’s hand was shaking even harder than it had earlier as she took a drag off her cigarette. “Somebody brought that one in this morning. Told Dragon he had to add the thing to the fight today.”

“Who?” I asked, turning to face the older woman completely.

She didn’t meet my gaze as she sucked in another mouthful of chemicals. “Somebody high up. That’s all I know.” Smoke came out with the words, hitting me in the face, but I didn’t care.

Why would someone
high up
have any say in the fight? Why would they care?

The dread that had been sitting in my stomach all day grew until I found myself wrapping my hands around my stomach. This had to be about Donaghy. Had they decided to finally finish him off? It would make sense, especially if they’d found a new fighter to showboat across what was left of the country.

By the time I turned back to face the ring, the zombies were chained up and ready for the fight. Donaghy made his way out of the back room and the crowd went nuts, screaming his name. Men and women slapped him on the back as he passed, but as usual, he kept his head down. The closer he got to the ring, the more my stomach ached.

I hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye to him, and I suddenly found myself wishing that I’d paid more attention to the atmosphere when I’d come in tonight. I’d been too preoccupied with what was happening in my own life, and now I’d missed my opportunity.

When Donaghy stepped into the ring and took his place at Dragon’s side, I saw that I’d been right. The third zombie was a good six inches taller than the fighter. Now that I was able to get a better look at the creature, though, I was relieved to see that the zombie was thin. Long and lanky. He might have towered over Donaghy, but he was all decaying arms and legs. Maybe there was still a chance.

“I’ve never even
met
anyone that tall,” Glitter whispered.

“I have,” I said, my eyes on the lanky zombie as he pulled against his chains, trying to get at the fighter. “My uncle was—” The words died on my lips when all the air whooshed from my lungs in one violent burst.

Joshua had been six feet seven inches tall, but thin. Gangly. Just like the zombie in the ring was. He’d died shortly after Dad disappeared. Some kind of accident in the lab. He’d been exposed to the virus…

No.

I shook my head as I moved around the bar, my gaze on the tall zombie. The handlers pulled the levers, releasing the creatures from their chains, but the tall zombie’s back was to me and I couldn’t see his face. I needed to get a good look at him.

“Meg?” Glitter called after me. “Come back!”

I ignored her and pushed my way through the crowd, trying to get closer to the ring. All around me, men cheered, but I was too short to see what was going on. Suggestive comments were thrown my way, but they barely sank in as I shoved the stinking men and women aside with only one goal in mind. I had to know if it was him.

By the time I reached the edge of the ring, one of the two smaller zombies was already down, his head smashed into a putrid puddle of black blood and bone. Donaghy had the other one pinned to the ground, his foot pressed against the thing’s back as he wrestled with the tall one. This one wasn’t as decomposed as the other two were, meaning he’d been turned more recently. His blood was still thick and black, though. Thankfully. If it was brown, it would have meant that his heart could still be pumping, struggling, clinging to life even though he was already beyond saving.

Donaghy had the tall zombie by the neck as the thing snapped his teeth in the fighter’s direction, but his back was still to me. His hair was shaggy and dark brown, with just a hint of gray at the temples. Just like Joshua’s had been. Still, the color alone didn’t prove anything. Lots of people had hair that color. It couldn’t be my uncle. I was imagining things.

Still not satisfied, I pushed through the crowd, keeping close to the ring as I worked my way around to the other side. I turned the corner just as Donaghy twisted the creature around, and everything froze. The monster’s face was decayed and his features distorted, his brown eyes milky and unseeing.

Still, something about his face
was
familiar.

No. It couldn’t be. I was letting my imagination run wild. All the crazy things going on around me recently had me seeing things that weren’t real.

I gripped the side of the ring, my fingers aching from the pressure as I looked the zombie over, trying to find something that would dispute the evidence in front of me. His shirt was torn and stained, and there was nothing familiar about it. His pants, too, were simple and common.

Donaghy twisted the thing away, once again turning the creature’s back to me. The struggle increased in intensity, and somehow the zombie managed to get his hand wrapped around the fighter’s arm. His fingers dug in and I took a deep breath, praying he didn’t break the skin. Donaghy twisted him again, and the lights from above flashed off the band on the zombie’s ring finger, forcing all the air out of my lungs.

I knew that ring.

“No,” I moaned just as Donaghy managed to get the zombie down.

People shot me looks of disgust, which only got more threatening a second later when the fighter slammed his boot into the zombie’s head. A scream of agony ripped its way out of me, and my legs wobbled. If the crowd hadn’t been pressed against me so tightly, I would have collapsed for sure.

Tears streamed down my face and my body shook, but some-how I managed to make my legs work. I pushed my way through the crowd, heading for the door to the cage as Donaghy moved to finish off the zombie that used to be my uncle. The heel of his boot slammed into Joshua’s head and the splintering crack of bone echoed through the air. Somehow with the stomp of his boot, the fighter managed to crush my heart as well as the zombie’s skull.

Donaghy turned to take care of the third and final zombie just as I reached the door. I grabbed for the clasp, my fingers shaking as they tried to get it undone. I was out of my mind. Clueless about what I planned to do. I just knew that my uncle was there. That he was dead.

Someone grabbed me from behind before I was able to get the door open, wrapping their arms around me. “Not so fast,” a deep, male voice whispered in my ear, his tone firm but not threatening.

I was shaking and crying, but I didn’t fight him when he pulled me away from the ring. I couldn’t look away from the rotting corpse of Joshua, practically smeared across the floor of the ring. My legs wobbled, but the man at my back held me up.

“Easy now,” the voice said in my ear. Soothing and calm. “I ain’t gonna let you fall.”

The third zombie went down and the crowd around me roared. The man holding me stepped back when Dragon pushed his way past us. Then the door was open, and even though I wanted to move, I couldn’t.

“Gotta calm down. Don’t let ‘em know that you know.”

I nodded as I swallowed down my anguish.

He was right. Whoever the man at my back was, he was right. I had to stay in control. I couldn’t let anyone know that I recognized the zombie in the ring.

Running my arm across my face, I wiped away the tears. The man at my back loosened his grip, but didn’t let go. Almost like he wanted to make sure I was able to hold myself up before he stepped away. My legs wobbled, but stayed firm when I put weight on them.

“I’m okay,” I said, twisting to face the man.

Gray eyes almost hidden behind a mop of equally gray hair greeted me. The beard on his face was as thick and wild as the hair on his head was, masking his features. Still, something about him was familiar…

The note!

“You,” I gasped just as the crowd pushed forward.

The man took a step back, leaving me alone as the crowd around us shifted and moved. I pushed against them, trying to stay next to the man who seemed to know everything going on in my life, but the current of bodies surrounding me was too strong. I blinked, and just like that the man was gone. Swallowed by a sea of people.