Zombie Games (Book 4): Road Kill (21 page)

“You should have brought the Vicks,” chuckled Bryce
, waving his hand.

“Henry’s gas has found a way past
even the heaviest of mentholated vapor-rub,” I said. “Believe me, it doesn’t help with him. Ask Nora.”

“What can I say
? When you get to be my age, sometimes things fester and you never know what’s going to pass through those bottom gates.”

“
God, enough of the fart talk,” said Bryce, turning on the radio. “Which radio station was that guy on in Bloomington?”

Henry reached forward and started turning the stations until he finally reached one th
at actually had a song playing, an old one by the Beatles called “Let It Be”.

“What do you know?” smiled Henry, turning it up.
“Now those boys knew how to shake things up, including the ladies. Why, I remember this woman I dated in England, she was crazy about Paul McCartney and would do these little strip-teases for me when I would put on any of their old records.”

“First of all,” I interrupted. “You lived in England for a
while? You never mentioned that.”

He waved his hand.
“Oh, just a couple of years. Anyway, that girl had these little tassles,” he said, raising his fingers to his chest, “and boy she could get those things shaking and twirling, by golly. It was quite the show, let me tell you.”

“Wonder if they have any of those
kind of tassles at the mall?” joked Bryce, looking back at me.

“Keep your eyes on the road,” I said, my face flushed.

Paige groaned. “Guys, just listen to the song.”

Everyone became silent as the song went on and w
hen it was finished, the same voice from the other day began speaking once again.

“Whether you’re just tuning in or you’ve been listening to us and are still trying to figure things out, we are
here
for you. You don’t have to do this alone, not anymore. Point your truck, your car, hell, your motorcycle and come join us. Let me tell you, brother and sisters, every day more survivors are appearing at our doorstep, lost and nearly giving up hope on everything. But you don’t have to give up
anything
. I’m telling you, all you have to do is join us and you won’t have to worry about food, water, or whether or not you’re going to survive another restless night with these walking dead. We’re all in the same boat. We’ve all lost loved ones- our spouses, our children, our friends, and neighbors. We’ve all been to Hell and back, but no more! No more, I tell you! Here, there is hope, there is support, and there is a place waiting for you….”

“What is he some kind of preacher or something?” asked Paige.

“I don’t know. He sounds like a decent enough person, though,” I replied. “Like he just wants to help us all.”

“Don’t judge anyone by words,” said H
enry. “This guy might not be what he seems.”

“What do you mean?” asked Paige.

Henry turned to look back at me. “Come on, Wild. Listen to his voice.”

His voice had sounded vaguely familiar but it wasn’t until Henry had pointed it out too that it all came back to me.

I stared at him in horror. “Travis.”

Henry nodded
gravelly.

“Did you hear that?” asked Kylie, staring through the metal gates towards the faint cries down the hallway. Two hours earlier, they’d been forced into one of the smaller clothing stores in the mall, locked inside without food or water.

“
It sounds like they’ve found another baby,” whispered Allie. “I think this is the third one we’ve heard.”

Kylie turned to her. “Where are these babies coming from?
And why are they here?”

Allie, who was sitting on the ground, pulled her legs in closer to her chest.
“I have no idea,” she answered. “And I don’t think I want to know.”

“I hope he’s not hurting them.”

“Let’s hope.”

Kylie sighed.
“We have to get out of here and try to help them.”

“
The babies? How? We’re locked in. Even if we were to somehow find a way out, the mall is surrounded by zombies. Face it, Kylie,” she said, her eyes filling with tears, “we are
never
getting out of here alive, especially with those babies. We’re all doomed.”

“Don’t say that.”

Allie wiped a tear from her cheek. “But, it’s true. This guy isn’t human. You saw his red eyes. And, what if he says is true?” she lowered her voice. “What if Satan is coming?”

Kylie bi
t the side of her lip. “Yeah, but ‘good’ is always supposed to conquer ‘evil’. We’ve been reading about that our entire lives.”

“
Sure, but that’s mostly in storybooks, Kylie. This is real. At least, I think it is. I don’t know about you but I haven’t seen anything good for a very long time.”

Kylie kneeled next to her. “Don’t say that! You survived a zombie bite, so did your sister. You’re still alive, Allie. Don’t give up hope.”

“Tell that to my parents, or to Luke, or to the mothers of those babies those guys are stealing! How can we have hope when we’ve been imprisoned by somebody who might actually be an honest to goodness demon? I mean, even if there was a chance for us, nobody knows where we are.”

“
But, there’s always Justice,” said Kylie. “He might be able to help us, still.”

“Justice?
” she scoffed. “He’s not with us anymore. I mean, seriously, he doesn’t even know his own name. Obviously, that demon did something to him.”

“
I still think there’s hope. Maybe if we can get him alone, we can talk to him,” said Kylie, standing up. “Help him snap out of it.”

“Maybe.”

Another noise from somewhere in the mall, this time a woman’s harrowing cries, echoed through the darkness and the girls became silent. Kylie sat down next to Allie and they held hands.

***

Justice watched as more zombies, and this time living, breathing people, arrived at the mall. After getting instructions from Travis, they all took off in different directions, prepared to do whatever task he had assigned them.

Very bad things were about to happen
,
he thought.
And much worse than anything seen in the last few weeks.

Although he understood and was
horrified, he was physically unable to do anything about it. His limbs wouldn’t follow any of the simplest instructions, nor could he communicate on his own, any longer. He felt like a puppet, one that was being manipulated by one very evil puppet-master.

“Dwayne,” said Travis, after dis
missing another small group of zombies. “What is happening with the infants?”

“
Still no luck.”

Travis’s face darkened. “He has to be here, somewhere. The signs all point to this region.”

“We’ll find the child,” said Dwayne. “If he is here, we’ll find him, eventually.”

“We don’t have ‘eventually’,”
snarled Travis. “It has to be soon. Very soon.”

Dwayne nodded.
“Yes, sir.”

Travis suddenly closed his eyes and
stood still for several minutes, almost as if he’d fallen asleep. Eventually, he opened his eyes and nodded. “Excellent.”

“What?” asked
Dwayne.

“I have been given great news,” said Travis. He turned towards Justice and his face broke out into
a chilling grin. “Justice, it is time that we check on your friends.”

Justice felt nauseous.
Why is he doing this?

“Why? Well, there is a reason as to why our paths have crossed, Justice. It was destiny.”

Justice, who had been standing in
one place for several hours, found himself moving towards Travis without his control.

“Follow Dwayne.
Get those sweet young girlfriends of yours and bring them to me,” he turned to Dwayne. “Now you will see exactly why we needed them, alive.”

“I never doubted you,” said Dwayne.

“Go.”

Justice
followed Dwayne back into Nordstrom’ s and into a darker section of the mall.

“Justice!”
squealed Kylie, standing up behind the metal enclosure. “Oh, thank God you’re here!”

He tried opening his mouth to respond, bu
t found he couldn’t.

“Stand back,” demanded Dwayne, searching through a large set of keys.

The girls obeyed and soon they were released from the gate enclosure.

“
We’ve missed you,” cried Kylie, throwing her arms around him. When he made no attempt to return the hug, she stepped backwards and stared up at him. “Justice?”

Staring at the two
confused and frightened girls, he tried to speak, to tell them he was going to get them the hell out of there, but he still couldn’t move his lips or tongue.

“I see you,” said Kylie
, searching his eyes with hers. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with you, if you’ve been drugged or possessed by some kind of evil spirit, but I still see
you
.”

“Let’s go,”
said Dwayne, pointing his gun at the girls. “Move.”

Possessed
? Was something really possessing his body? The thought was horrifying but something told him that it really wasn’t too far from the truth. He had no control of his body, although he knew what was right and wrong, could still think and feel every emotion.

They started
back towards Nordstrom’s, with Dwayne following behind, trying to light a cigarette and Justice could hear the girls whispering frantically behind him.

“Justice,” murmured
Kylie, clutching his arm. “You have to try and overcome this, whatever it is. Travis is evil, but you aren’t.  Please, Justice, if you don’t snap out of this, I have a feeling we’re all going to die.”

Justice tried to respond but
as before, he was still unable to speak.

Allie moved to the other side of him.
“Justice, help us. Please,” she begged. “For God’s sake, you said you didn’t believe in a God before, but I think he may be our only hope.” She removed the cross necklace from around her neck and pressed it into the palm of his hand. She closed it. “This was my mothers. Look, you have to believe and pray. Justice, pray for some kind of a miracle.”

“
Listen to her. Travis said he is paving the way for Lucifer, Justice. Do you know who that is?” whispered Kylie. “If there is a Devil than obviously, there is a God.”

“That’s enough,” growled Dwayne, pulling the girls away from Justice. “Quit groping the boy or I’
ll have to cut you both. Believe me, it will be a great pleasure.”

Justice could feel the cross in his palm and thought about what Kylie and Allie had said. It was obvious that whatever was happening to his body wasn’t something that could be explained. Still, it was hard to conceive that if there
truly was a God, he would allow so much horror, grief, and misery on earth.

“Oh Good,” smiled Travis, as the girls were ushered back outside
into the early, morning light. “They’re back.”

Justice s
tared at the large group of people who must have arrived when they’d left to get the girls. These people were dressed in red robes and each had downward-pointed pentagrams painted on their forehead.

Satan worshipers
?

T
hey stared at Travis as if he was some kind of god himself and he felt like retching.

Were they going to sacrifice the girls?

Justice looked at Kylie who was silently pleading with her eyes for him to do something.

To save them.

Travis grabbed the arms of both Kylie and Allie, pulling them towards the crowd of onlookers. “Our newest disciples!” he hollered, a purely evil smile on his face.

“What? No!” cried Kylie, looking horrified.
She tried pulling away from Travis, but he held her firm.

“Oh my God!” sobbed Allie, staring at the
delighted group of people. “Are these
Satanists
?”

“
How lovely, are we going to sacrifice them?” hollered a woman from the crowd with jet-black hair, and a wicked smile.

“No, they are going to help
us search for the ‘chosen one’,” he said with a sneer. “Our father says they will lead us to the child.”

“Lucifer?”
gasped a man, with awe. “Has he arrived?”

“Not yet,” said Travis. “It’s not
yet time for him to grace us with his glory. Right now, we must continue our search for the child and destroy it, before the day of reckoning.”

Realizing
, now, why the babies had been brought in, Allie and Kylie stared at each other in horror.