Zombie Games (13 page)

“What? It helps mask the smell of rotting dead people,” I explained.

She smiled with amusement. “Good thinking. How’d you come up with that?”

“CSI,” I said matter-of-factly.

“I see. Did you know that cigarette smoke can also mask different types of smells? Bryce…do you happen to smoke?”

“Mom!” groaned Paige.

              I smiled as I went to the bathroom down the hall. When I closed the door I noticed Allie’s favorite t-shirt was hanging on the back. It was bright pink with the words “
Dare to Dance
”, scrolled on the front. She’d worn it constantly at home.

I sighed.
I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you
, I thought grabbing the shirt. When I closed my eyes, I could still smell her favorite lotion, some type of strawberry scent. I slid to the ground and closed my eyes, trying not to cry. Before long, someone began knocking softly on the door.

“Cassie? Are you okay?” asked Bryce.

I cleared my throat. “Yes, sorry. I’ll be out in a minute.”

He paused. “Okay.”

I stood up and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair was in disarray, streaks of mascara lined my face, and my tank top was covered in something I didn’t even want to consider. Sighing, I washed my face, neck, and hands, then removed my tank top. I slipped on my sister’s shirt, wanting to be closer to her. Then, I combed out my hair, grabbed the jar of Vicks, and went back into the kitchen.

Kylie smiled sadly. “That’s Allie’s shirt.”

I touched it and nodded.

Bryce looked down at his own shirt and frowned. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything I can change into?”

Kristie snorted. “You could definitely use a new shirt. Let me find you something. I have some new t-shirts in the closet down the hall. Throw that nasty thing away and follow me.”

“Thanks,” he replied removing his shirt, displaying perfectly defined muscles and a hard flat stomach.

“Work out much Bryce?” asked Kristie as she led him out of the kitchen.

I couldn’t help staring as he walked away. The word “chiseled” didn’t do him justice.

“Wow,” whispered Paige. “That dude’s got one
smokin’
body.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, it’s not bad.”

Paige snorted and pushed me playfully. “You’re such a horrible liar.”

“Fine, okay, it was pretty… spectacular.”

“You know, I think he’s graduated from being your karate instructor. The rules have changed.” She sighed and looked out the window. “The world’s changed.”

I pushed my hair behind my ears. “Well, a relationship isn’t really at the top of my “
to do
” list right now.”

“I’m just saying…”

Bryce and Kristie walked back into the kitchen. This time he was covered in a new white t-shirt.

“Sorry girls, I had to cover him up so he wouldn’t distract the female zombies.”

“Or the gay ones,” replied Kylie.

Kristie’s jaw dropped.

“You know, you ladies are starting to make me feel really uncomfortable,” said Bryce with a straight face.

“Kylie? What do you know about being gay?” asked her mother.

“Mom, I learned about sex in fifth grade. Come on!” she replied.

“Okay, seriously…what do we do now?” asked Paige.

“Well, I want to check around the neighborhood,” I stated. “I need to find out what happened to Allie. Find out if she’s trapped out there, somewhere, and needs help.”

Bryce nodded. “I’m coming with you.”

“I think we should
all
stick together,” said Kristie. “If there are zombies walking the streets, we need each other.”

“That’s a good idea,” replied Bryce

Kristie grabbed her keys. “Let’s all pack into the Escalade and go for a drive then.”

We found a large cooler and filled it with water, soda, chips and granola bars. Bryce and I grabbed our guns while Paige grabbed her metal bat.

“This might come in handy,” said Kristie holding up a war hammer she’d found in the garage. It had a sharp spike in the back and hammer head. It looked pretty deadly.

“Yeah, that could do some damage,” I agreed. “Where’d you find that thing?”

“From this renaissance convention that Dan visited last year. He collects medieval stuff like that. Or… he did rather,” said Kristie. Her eyes became moist and she smiled sadly. “Poor Dan. He was a little bit of a dork, but I loved the man. He didn’t deserve to die this way.”

“Nobody deserves this,” I said.

Kristie cleared her throat. “I’ll let you drive,” she said to Bryce, handing him the keys. “I’m not sure how rational I’ll be if I see one of those things on the street.”

It turned out that the street was crawling with zombies, some of them walking around aimlessly in a state of confusion, while others were actually attacking their own kind. From what I could tell, the zombies that were at a farther stage of decomposing seemed to be the most vicious. They’d actually feed on zombies that looked like they’d just turned, somehow sensing that their victims still had some fresh protein available.

“How in the hell are we going to get out of here? I can’t imagine they’ll just move out of the way for us,” said Kristie.

“We’re not going around them,” said Bryce tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “We’re going through them. Sorry Kristie, but you may need a little body repair after this.”

Kristie snorted. “Just get us out of here safely, screw the paint job. Dan’s not going to be around to complain about any scratches.”

“Okay everyone, keep your windows up and lock your doors,” he said.

We started driving slowly onto the road towards the crowd of zombies who were beginning to take notice of us. As we approached, some actually did move out of the way while others decided to get a closer look.

“It’s odd how some are pretty docile while others are so violent,” Paige said.

“I think it depends on what stage there at,” I replied. “The ones who are crazy and more violent have probably been zombies longer. At least that’s my opinion.”

“Now we know why some of them are so bloody and torn apart. They’ve been attacking each other too,” said Kristie, who looked rather ill.

When we reached a point where we couldn’t move the SUV anymore, zombies were standing all around the vehicle running their hands all over it. Some stared with longing at us and eventually began climbing onto the hood.

Bryce sighed. “Okay, I’ve had enough of this. Close your eyes if you have a weak stomach kids.”

The SUV barreled forward, jerking some of the zombies off of the hood. I covered my ears to block out the groans of the zombies and the sounds of their bones crunching under the tires.

“Oh my God,” gasped Kristie, holding firmly onto the dashboard. “This is…I’m going to throw up!”

“No!” cried Kylie. “Don’t throw up or you’ll make me do it too.”

When we finally got passed the mob of zombies, we drove down several streets to try and find my sister. Most of the neighborhoods were quiet, without any signs of life. Even the park was empty. It was frustrating and I knew there was no way we could search all of the homes, it was too dangerous. When our gas tank started getting low and the zombies started getting even more zealous, we had to leave.

“Sorry Cassie. I wish there was more we could do to find your sister,” said Bryce.

“Me too,” I sighed, looking out the window towards the community’s front entrance gate.

“Hey,” Kristie gasped pointing ahead of us. “There’s someone trying to run over there. Oh my God, it’s a girl and she needs some help!”

My heart began to pound and I opened my window to see if it was my sister. Unfortunately it wasn’t, but I did recognize the mass of vibrant red hair.

“Eva King,” I mumbled.

Chapter Sixteen

“Is she a zombie?” asked Paige, lifting her bat. 

I snorted. “No.”

Paige sighed and laid her head back against the seat. “Do we really have to stop?”

“Paige…” said Kristie looking back at her. “That’s not nice.”

Two zombies were edging closer to Eva, who looked annoyed more than anything. In one arm she held a pink dog carrier and in the other an over-sized Louis Vuitton tote bag.

“Stay here,” Bryce said as we skidded to a halt, He jumped out of the SUV carrying his rifle and in less than five seconds, both zombies lay motionless on the ground and Eva looked like she’d just found Jesus. She stared with adoration at Bryce as he lowered his gun and moved towards her.

“Would you look at Eva? She’s smiling at your man like he’s a bowl of cream and she’s a cat dying of thirst,” said Paige dryly.

“Paige, he’s
not
my man. Besides, she’s just thanking him,” I replied. I had to admit though, I felt a twinge of jealously when she threw her arms around him and kissed is cheek.

Paige raised her hands in exasperation. “There you go! She just left her nasty smelly mark on him.”

Kristie chuckled. “Okay, enough Paige.”

I watched as Bryce took the dog carrier and she leaned on him for support as they made their way back to the SUV.

“Hi Eva,” said Paige with a smirk when Bryce opened the back door. “Did you hurt your ankle?”

Eva blinked in confusion. “Paige?” she said biting her lower lip. “Yes, I think I sprained it back there.”

“You can sit in the third row seating,” Paige said as she adjusted the seat to let her in. “With your cat.”

“Oh, okay. This is Chi Chi, he’s actually a Chihuahua,” she replied climbing in.

I turned around and faced Eva, who, as usual, was draped in expensive designer clothing and over-priced heels. She must have gotten up early to do her hair and makeup, because she looked the total opposite of me; fresh and feminine.

“Hi Eva,” I said. “Poor little guy’s been through a lot I bet.” Chi Chi appeared to be trembling more than any animal I’d ever seen.

“Oh God yes,” Eva said rolling her eyes. “This has been
the
worst morning of my life! My mom’s chauffer was supposed to pick me up a half hour ago and take me to the airport. Obviously that incompetent idiot didn’t show up. My mom isn’t answering any calls, which is so typical of her when something goes wrong and I need her. I was so frustrated that my eyes started watering and I lost both of contact lenses. Then, finally, I almost get mugged by those two creeps! I was so scared. I don’t know what would have happened if you all hadn’t shown up.”

“So you didn’t get a good look at those two guys?” I asked incredulously.

She wrinkled her nose. “No but they smelled horrible and were making some really disgusting noises. Thank goodness your cute friend stopped in time. If you ask me they deserved what they got.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You know, I think they were going to rape me.”

I looked at Paige who was biting her lip to keep from laughing. I shot her a look and then turned to Eva. “Eva? What were you doing over in this area anyway?”

“We just moved into my mom’s fiancé’s house across the street over there,” she said motioning to a giant colonial. “I was on my way to speak with the security guard in the booth when those two hoodlums started racing towards me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”

It was clear that Eva had no idea what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I knew someone had to let her know, and Paige was having too much fun listening to her to set her straight. I took a deep breath and began telling her the truth.

She interrupted me right away. “Excuse me? Have you completely lost your mind Cassie?”

“No, she’s telling the truth,” replied Bryce from the front seat.

Eva stared in alarm at Bryce and then closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and then released it slowly.

“Okay…”she replied breathlessly, “well, I would be more inclined to believe you since you were carrying a gun and clearly saved my life. Plus, those freaks did smell absolutely horrible. What was your name again?”

“It’s Bryce,” I answered for him with clenched teeth. The fact that she thought I was lying really pissed me off.

Eva’s attention turned back to me. “Well, you may as well continue with your little story.”

“Story? It’s the facts Eva,” snapped Paige.

“Okay, let’s just relax,” said Kristie. “It’s hard to accept what has happened and we’ve seen it with our own eyes. So imagine how difficult it is for Eva to believe.”

Paige shrugged.

Kristie’s eyes softened. “Honey,” she said. “Here are the facts; that new flu vaccine has created zombies, okay? You’re lucky we found you because you and Chi Chi, you were next on the menu, if not for the two zombies, then for the dead army coming up behind us. Holy crap Bryce, step on it!!”

We all turned to the back window as Bryce peeled away. Hundreds of zombies were heading our way.

~~~

We decided to drive back to my house to check on Bobby and the others.

“Well,” said Kristie, shutting off her phone. “Thankfully my brother was in town visiting my mom when the zombies struck because she would have been all alone. They’re at the cabin now and didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. I told him the girls and I would head out there after we drop everyone off.”

“Are you sure you want to risk driving around by yourselves?” asked Bryce.

“You’re all free to join us if you’d like. It’s only about an hour north of here.”

I didn’t say anything. My mom, dad and sister were all missing and that’s all I could think about at the moment.

“Eva? Are you okay?” asked Kristie.

Eva was staring out the window. After replacing her contacts and getting her first real glimpse of the zombies wandering the streets, she’d been horrified of how close she’d been to death.

I touched her shoulder gently. “Eva?”

She turned to me with tears in her eyes. “Um, sorry…I just don’t really know what to do at this point. I’m just so worried about my mom.”

“Do you have anyone else you can call? Your dad or a grandparent?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. My father is somewhere in Asia. I haven’t spoken to him in years. All my grandparents are dead. It’s just me and Chi Chi.”