Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel) (15 page)

Hearing her say that made him a little more confident, and he hoped there was a chance they could be more than just friends. In a clear, but still nervous voice, he said, “Lisa, I think… no… I know I’m falling in love with you.”

She leaned over and kissed him passionately. She came up only to take a breath and say, “I love you too.” She barely said the word ‘too’ and she was kissing him again. Without stopping, she said, “I need to feel you inside me.”

Mark was kissing her back and loved how she tasted. He felt her tongue pass his lips and gently caress his. A sudden rush of energy entered his body and exhilarated him. He put his arms around her and slowly ran his hands down her back as she climbed onto the bed. She unbuttoned her shirt while his hands moved over her hips and onto her thighs. He felt her every curve as his hands moved up under her skirt. Neither wasted any time, undressing the other, as they kissed.

She straddled him and he felt her soft wet heat as she slid down, taking him in. He kissed her mouth wildly as she intensely raised and lowered herself. Matching her intensity and rhythm, their breathing became heavy and his hands gently caressed her smooth feminine body. She wrapped the sheet around her hands and pulled it free from the mattress. He held her tightly against him and thrust deep. Their energies merged into one as he erupted, releasing all his warm liquid love inside of her. Leaning back, she closed her eyes and let out a quivering sigh of pure pleasure as her orgasm resonated through her body.

They looked into each other eyes and he loved the feel of her skin against his. Caressing her arms and kissing her wrist, Mark could see passion burned hot in Lisa’s soul. She felt satisfied, but didn’t want to stop. She took his hands and put them on her soft breasts. Leaning forward, she kissed him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sheryl walked into the living room. “Okay, Jet, I’ll take it from here.”

Jet looked at her, but didn’t get up. “I’ll never get to sleep back there. Don’t they realize we can hear everything there doing?”

Sheryl just smiled and said, “Well, when you’re ready for that kind of affection, you’ll understand. When all of your attention is focused on that special person with you, the rest of the world just kind of fades out.”

“Okay, I guess, but they’ve been at it for over an hour.” She giggled. “I was wonder if they’re attempting a new world record or something. I mean, this is like the fourth time.”

Sheryl stopped and asked, “The fourth? Really?”

“Yep.”

They heard Lisa moan as she had another orgasm. Jet nudged Jeff. “Slide back a little more and make room for me.”

He mumbled and slid against the back of the couch, lying on his side. Jet lay down and snuggled up with her back to him. She took his hand and set it on her stomach as she caressed his arm. Hearing them in the room, she sighed. “Again?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jet’s eyes opened and she saw Amy standing there. She felt Jeff behind her still asleep. Sitting up, she noticed Sheryl wasn’t around. She shook Jeff as she said, “Hey, wake up. It’s your turn to take watch.”

Amy said, “No, it’s not. I took it.” She looked down the hallway. “I wasn’t sleeping very good anyway.”

Jet glanced down the hallway, then back at Amy. With a smile, she asked, “You heard them too, huh?”

“Who didn’t?”

In a groggy voice, Jeff asked, “What’s going on?”

Jet chuckled. “Your brother and Lisa kept everyone awake last night.”

“Why? What happened?” He looked at them both, but they didn’t answer. “How come no one woke me up? What’s going on?”

Jet gave him a pat on the arm and said, “I’ll explain it to you later.”

Jet helped him up from the couch. After he washed his face and woke up, he and Amy went out to the barn. A few minutes later, Dedee and Jet joined them. They went out into the field and Jeff put the cross in the ground. Amy stared at the acorn as Jeff dug a small hole for it. She carefully placed it in the hole and whispered, “Don’t worry, little brother; I’ll come back some day to visit you.”

When they returned to the house, Tami and Sheryl were in the kitchen. With a smile, Sheryl looked at Jet and asked, “Really? Face eating for dessert?”

Jet grinned as she said, “Well, it sounded good at the time.” She didn’t hear Mark or Lisa moving around in the bedroom, so she asked, “Aren’t they up yet?”

“No, they were up pretty late last night… or should I say early this morning?”

Dedee said, “Yeah, no kidding. I swear, I think they’re part rabbit or something.”

They heard movement and the bedroom door opened, Mark carefully stepped out and into the hallway. He stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him. Lisa came out and strolled down the hallway toward the kitchen with a beaming smile. She passed by Tami. “G’morning, Tami.” Peeking out through the window, she said, “Looks like another wonderful day outside.”

Tami turned to Sheryl and asked, “Who took our Lisa and replaced her with this person?”

“I guess you could say this is our new Lisa.” She looked at them both. “Lisa, it looks like your ankle is doing better. Mark, you better be careful. I don’t want any stitches popping out.” She winked at Lisa.

Lisa said, “Mark and I have talked and we need to get things ready so we can leave.”

Mark added, “Yeah, I don’t like the way these zombies have been showing up. If we can, I’d like to leave this afternoon.”

Dedee, Jet, and Amy began packing the food and usable clothing. Tami got the medical supplies together while Sheryl took another look at Mark’s leg. She felt it was healing nicely and she would probably take the stitches out in a few days. Lisa got her regular clothes and changed into them. When she put her things in the bag, she made sure the little blue skirt and shirt were in there.

Sheryl gave Jet a strap for her sword she had made from a pair of denim jeans and Jeff attached it for her. She put it over her shoulder; it fit nicely up against her back and was easily accessible. All she had to do was practice drawing it without cutting her hair or scalp with the sharp edge.

By early afternoon, everything was packed up and loaded into the van. Before they left, Lisa insisted they stop back by the first farmhouse and top off the tank. Even though it was only a few gallons, she said the distance it would cover was equal to a day’s walk. After thinking about it, everyone agreed.

They stopped at the farm and pulled around back by the fuel tank. Jeff stepped out to top off the tank while Dedee and Lisa kept watch. As he was removing the cap from the tank, they all heard something fall inside the shed. Jet jumped out of the back with her sword. They listened and heard more movement from inside. Lisa looked over and said, “Hurry up, Jeff.”

The wind picked up a bit, a door on the shed swung open and slammed against the metal skin with a bang. Lisa ran over and turned the valve of the tank on. Dedee shrieked and Lisa looked back. She saw four zombies coming toward them, but only two of them were moving fast. She noticed the two slower ones had parts of their arms and faces eaten off.

Lisa drew her pistol, but the two faster ones were already on her sister and had her on the ground. Lisa aimed, but they were too close to Dedee for her to get a clear shot. She ran over and kicked the first one in the ribs twice before she fired and blew the back of its head out. Dedee had her bat against the throat of the second one, holding it back.

Lisa saw a long stick appear to her right. Looking over, she saw Sheryl jab the handle into its mouth. The teeth broke and fell away as it slid in and the double-sided blade popped out from the back its neck. Sheryl twisted the handle and lifted; the zombie immediately went limp and fell to the ground.

Jet charged the third one, slicing its gut wide open as she passed. There was a nasty gurgling sound as intestines and maggots poured out through the gash and the smell of rotting flesh and sulfur filled the air. Her second swing cut clean through the neck and severed the head.

Jet looked at the last one and saw Tami beating its face and head with the pipe. The skull bone began to weaken and there were indentations of the pipe in its forehead. It managed to grab her and leaned in to take a bite. She screamed loudly, “You’re not eating my face, ass bag.” She brought the end of the pipe up as hard as she could into the soft under part of the chin.

The edge of the pipe cut as it penetrated until it hit the top inside of the skull bone and caused the head to jerk up. The neck snapped and the head ripped completely off. Tami held the pipe up with the zombies head on the end of it and yelled, “I got this one.”

She set the head on the ground upside down and placed her foot on the base of the skull. Tami jerked up on the pipe until it came back out. She looked and saw there was a round hole under its chin where the pipe had been. Casually, Tami tapped the pipe against some concrete blocks until the contents inside it slid out onto the dirt. Once it was all over, she bent over and heaved several times before straitening up and returning to the van.

Jeff finished and waved them over as he said, “C’mon, let’s go.”

Lisa jumped back in the passenger seat while Jeff, Dedee, and the rest got into the back. Jeff saw five more running toward them. He raised his rifle and fired, dropping the closest two. He got the doors closed as the other three reached them. One managed to get its hand in the door, but it was severed as the door slammed shut.

Mark threw the van in gear and punched the accelerator. The back tires spun, kicking up a trail of dirt and pebbles. The back of the van fishtailed wildly as they drove toward the road, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. Once they were on the pavement, the tires squealed and white smoke billowed into the air. The tires slowly grabbed traction and they were launched forward.

Lisa looked back and said, “Tami, that was some nice work back there.”

Mark glanced into the rearview mirror. “Yes, nice job. That zombie looked like a giant Halloween PEZ dispenser.” He laughed.

Lisa looked over at Mark and said with a smirk, “Okay, I’ll give you that one. It was kinda funny.”

They got on the freeway and headed north. Lisa kept a close eye out for anything that may come up behind them or from the access roads running alongside the freeway. They were finally making some good time and Mark started to feel a little better. He figured that if they kept up a good, steady pace, they would be at the cabin in a just few days. But that would be if nothing else happened along the way. The way things had been going so far, it seemed there was a surprise waiting for them around every corner.

Mark slowed and came to a stop; he put his head in his hands and sighed. The overpass in front of them was partially collapsed and only a narrow section of road remained. Lisa looked through the windshield, but couldn’t see the ground below. Mark turned to her and his eyes widened as he looked beyond. He said, “Oh shit!”

Lisa looked to the right through her window. She was shocked. She sat speechless for a moment, then asked, “What in the hell happened here?”

Everyone in back got out and stood, staring out at the landscape. The area must have covered a square mile. The ground was black except for a dozen or so small craters scattered through it. There were charred frameworks that were once portable trailers. Toward the center, was a scorched concrete structure, now hollowed out. The multiple fence lines that once enclosed and secured the area now had sections knocked over or completely missing. Though they didn’t see any smoke, its odor still lingered in the air.

Without taking his eyes off the blackened earth, Mark said, “I bet this is what the planes were doing. This had to be where all the smoke came from.” Mark had to pause before continuing. “This is one of those MQCs they held the uninfected people in.”

Jet whispered to Jeff, “What happened? Where are all the people?”

Jeff looked at her and shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’m sure some of them got away.”

Jet got a sick feeling in her stomach as his words sank in. She remembered Mark saying some of the compounds had 30,000 people living inside. If only some of them got away? How many were still inside when it burned? Those were questions she really didn’t want the answers to.

Mark went over to the edge and looked down. The ground below was about twenty feet down and was littered with asphalt and concrete debris. “It’s pretty narrow, but we should be able to make it across.”

Lisa saw him standing on the very edge and started to get nervous. “Mark, get away from the edge. It looks pretty unstable.”

He glanced over at her. “Nah, it looks okay to me.”

Lisa shook her head as she sighed and said quietly, “I swear, he’s going to drive me nuts.” She watched as Mark jumped back, a section of road where he had just been standing, crumbled and fell away. She shouted, “It looks okay, huh? Does it still look okay?”

“Yeah, well, I think it’s stronger over here where I’ll drive across.”

“What? Drive across that? Have you totally lost your mind?”

“Look, Lisa, by the time we go back and zigzag around, we’ve lost the better part of a day. Or we can just drive fifty feet over to there.” And he pointed to the other side. “Not to mention the fact it will probably leave us close to empty.” He gestured to the landscape around him. “And I don’t see any fuel around here either.”

“And what are you going to do if the road collapses?”

He shrugged and said, “I’ll open the door and jump out, but I don’t think it will.”

She looked at him like that was the most insane thing she had ever heard. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed your leg slowing you down. You won’t be able to move fast enough if you have to jump.”

Jeff said, “Yeah, but I will.”

All eyes turned to him. Jet got a nervous twitch in her stomach as she stared at him. She had this horrible vision of watching the road collapsing from under him as he crossed. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.

“Would you rather walk the rest of the way?”

She didn’t even have to think about it. “Yep, I’ll walk it.”

Jeff smiled as he said, “Well, it’s not going to come to that. Trust me, I’ll be fine.” Then his smile faded. “Just in case, let’s carry our stuff over before I drive across it.”