Controlling the Dead (26 page)

In another house, a couple heats up on the couch. She straddles and kisses him as he rubs her protruding belly. From the lack of children, I guess it’s their first child. Bingo. I sigh at their obvious stupidity and go into the backyard to try the sliding glass door. I sigh again as it opens. It seems I’ve picked the right house of morons. I guess they aren’t expecting any zombies to break in, or anyone else for that matter. Music plays softly, and it sounds as if they are getting their teeth cleaned or waiting to get to the top floor in an elevator.

I creep through the kitchen, dropping to crawl into the living room. I’m behind the couch when she giggles.

He moans. She giggles again. “Oh Bryce, you know you like it.”

“Yes, I do,” he says in a husky tone. She gags. I roll my eyes and scrunch my nose. I should have gone to the next house. Great. Peering over the couch, I see her head bobbing as his hand guides her, every now and then pushing her too far, making her gag. This is not a sexy kind of gag. There’s a difference. This guy is really pushing her. After this, I don’t think Bryce will ever get another blowjob without looking over his shoulder.

I wrap my arm around his neck with my fingers on a pressure point and put my cocked gun to his temple. He freezes, shocked beyond words. The girl lifts her head. She is way too young for this guy. My stomach flips at the sight of her innocent face. I meet her frightened gaze. “You make a sound and I’ll shoot him.”

Bryce tenses when he hears my feminine voice. I ignore him and tighten my grip on his neck. “Please put his dick in his pants. It doesn’t look like he’s enjoying it anymore. Although, why hearing you gag turns him on is beyond me,” I say into his ear as she tries unsuccessfully to zip his pants. White hairs peek from the opening of his ear. “Maybe it won’t when she tosses chunks all over you.”

He finally speaks, his voice full of pure terror. “Wh—what do y—you want?”

“I want you to tell me about this compound.” A crossword and pencil lay forgotten on the coffee table. “Draw a map.” I jerk my head to it and she complies.

“Don’t Ash—” I jerk my arm, choking off his words.

“You dumb fuck, I’m here to help you. Now shut up and let her draw the map. I’ll explain.” I tighten my arm for emphasis. Truth be told, my arm trembles in effort, and I still have a long night to go. I don’t want to be man handling anyone. She hastily starts drawing. Thank anything holy.

“Good momma. Now, think about a place where you can go anywhere, with no zombies. You don’t have to live inside a gate. You can go to a job you like doing. You don’t have to live by these fucked up rules.” The girl stops to look at me. “I bet you got a vaccine, right?” She nods. “It doesn’t work. If you don’t believe me, you can go outside and put your arm through the gate to find out for yourself. They do it to keep you under control, to follow their ways.”

“You’re lying,” Bryce chokes out.

“Think about how I got in here. Did you know I walked right through all the famished. They paid no attention to me.” I see no reason to bring up the rogue. “I jumped the fence. Just like that. Never has happened before, hmm?” He shakes his head as much as my arm will let him, eyes wide.

I don’t want to tell them more than that. Who knows if they will be able to tattle before the party even starts. I take my gun and pistol-whip Bryce. He goes out cold, easy since I kept blood from pumping to his brain from the pressure point. The girl yelps, watching his head slump backward on the couch. I put my finger to my lips. “My arm was getting tired,” I shrug. She swallows. “Now explain the layout to me.” I tell her and she does, stumbling over her words, peeking at Bryce. “Thank you,” I say, standing up with the map.

I grab her arm and make her go with me. “Rope and duct tape?” Her eyes widen, but she obliges. “Sit down there.” I point to a chair.

She hesitates. “Wait. You should see something.” She holds up her hands to let me know she isn’t a threat and walks slowly toward a stack of papers. I narrow my eyes in curiosity as she skims through them and she hands me a leaflet of some sort.

I gasp at the cover. It’s me, the seventeen-year-old me when I was arrested for computer forgery. The picture captions my full name, complete with armed and dangerous in a conspiracy against the government. Another picture is beside mine. I stare at it. Even without seeing the name, I’d know his face anywhere. Rudy stares out at me, making
pissed off
look hot. The picture was captured a while ago. The first remarkable thing is his hair, or lack thereof. It’s cut short, sticking up in the back as if he didn’t brush it. The rest of it falls right above his brow, curling a little. His ears stick out at me, but that’s because I’m not used to seeing them without hair. He has his sideburns, but a week’s worth of stubble scatters his chin. His face also lacks the character I’ve come to love. Both eyebrows are full, lacking the scar that now splits one in half.

They have our pictures side-by–side, as if we are post-apocalyptic Bonnie and Clyde. Julie’s picture states
kidnapped
in a caption. I can’t help laughing. The girl stares at me. “This is just another scare tactic.” I wave the leaflet at her.

Upon scanning the other pages, grainy pictures from cameras show Reece and I fighting famished on the base. My white legs seem to be the only color. There are also after photos of the damage to the base. Another grainy photo of Rudy beating Gray in the face takes up a whole page. I’m on the ground in the garage. In the picture, my body sports clothing. It’s computer edited. As if I was never naked at all. Anger surges through me. There’s another photo of Gray’s dented skull. My heart skips and I swallow, but my eyes burn with fierce satisfaction.

I clear my throat, stuffing the leaflet into my pack. I tie her up first, so she won’t do anything stupid while I’m tying up Bryce. “Your name?”

“Ashley.”

I smile, “That’s pretty. I guess you know my name is Kansas, but I go by Kan.” She blinks. “I told you I didn’t want to hurt you. I just want every zombie wiped from the earth’s surface. This is a precaution, I’ll be back for you.” I pause, “You know they are not the government, right?”

Her eyes are wide. “I really don’t know what to believe, but I do know you could kill me.”

“That’s right, but I want to help you, and I will. I have one more question, and I want you to answer truthfully.” She nods as I tap my chin. “Good, where is Mya staying?”

“Um, I think in the women’s singles dormitory. I’m pretty sure.” I nod and wrap duct tape around her head, so she can’t scream. After that, I lay her chair sideways on the floor putting a pillow under her head.

“Cold? Want a blanket?” I ask and she shakes her head no. I want to make her as comfortable as I can. Tying Bryce up in the same fashion, I lay him down facing her. It takes longer, since he is dead weight. I go into the bedroom to apply some heavy make-up. I don’t want to be recognized. Locking the sliding glass door, I go to the front door and lock it behind me as I leave. I take the time to write down their house number and slink away into the night.

*

By the time I get to the women’s dorm, I learn two things. One is the black-canvas men patrol. The other is this place is worse than a maze. The building I’m at is huge, like an apartment building, complete with balconies. I have no idea how I’m going to find Mya. I’m so screwed, but I push on, walking right through the front door into the lobby.

First thing I do is search around for a directory. No such luck. Damn my mortal soul. Silk plants strategically decorate the corners. A full-length mirror that can be used by twenty people at one time hangs on the wall. The ladies need one last look at themselves before mingle time with the bachelors. I try not to gag.

“May I help you?” A voice echoes through the lobby with extra loud vibrations.

I turn and see a young woman watching me with a hand on her hip. I don’t know what to say, but she helps me out.

“I know it’s hard adjusting, but you’ll get there. You must be new. I’m Cynthia.” She holds out her hand. I don’t take it because I don’t want to get too close, but she doesn’t seem all that bright. Or maybe she doesn’t think the armed and dangerous Kansas City Sunshine Moore would waltz in here like she owns the place.

“Uh, Stacy,” I say so my voice won’t carry. “I’m meeting a friend down here,” I explain. “Have you seen her?”

She cocks her head to the side and glances at my pack. Before I came in here, I had stuffed everything inside in case I ran into anyone and wanted to appear harmless.

“Running away isn’t the answer. I can get someone you can talk to.” Her eyes move to my absurd pants. I should have borrowed some clothing from Ashley.

“Oh,” I giggle. “I’m not running away. I’m giving some clothes that don’t fit anymore to my friend. She loves them.”

Skepticism crosses her features as she checks out my pants, but she brightens. “Oh, well then. Maybe you missed her. Do you what room she is in?”

 Double bingo. “Uh, no. She told me, but I forgot.” I try to put some distress on my face.

“What’s her name? I’ll probably know.”

“Mya.”

Her brows furrow as her face changes. “Who the hell are you kidding? Mya isn’t friends with anyone. That weirdo is some kind of recluse freak.” Taking a deep breath, I stuff down the rising anger and keep calm.

“That’s not nice. I like her is all. Maybe if everyone looked beneath the surface, they’d see what was really there.”

Her eyes narrow. “I’ll call her to see if she is expecting you.” Her steps echo all the way to the lobby desk, drowning out my own soft stepping behind her. I take the gun from the back of my pants and pistol-whip her before she dials the first number. I catch her as much as I can and slide her to the floor. Glancing around, I hang the phone up without making a sound. Shock courses through me at the feel of a phone. I stare at it a little too long before catching sight of a lobby bathroom. I pull her in, wrapping her hands and legs up good and tight with the duct tape. I turn on the faucet and water trickles out. The pressure is really low, but I try to splash her face anyway. She doesn’t stir.

I drag her into a stall. Her cheeks are warm as I hold onto the sides of her face. The water ripples with the vibration of the stall right before I shove her face in it. It takes a second but she starts thrashing, and I pull her up. Gasping in air, she glances around with wet hair stuck to her forehead, taking in her situation, including the Bersa I point at her. “You scream and I’ll shoot you.”

“Floor three, room sixteen,” she says in matter of fact way. I blink.

Her mouth opens to say something else, but I hit her before it comes out. She drops to the toilet seat. Cursing myself for jumping the gun, I begin checking her pockets. She probably didn’t have anything important to say, anyway. Finding a key, I pocket it in case I need it somewhere along the way.

I make it to the third floor without another incident. The carpeted hall keeps my steps silent as perfumes reach my nose. Different sounds blast from everywhere—music, laughter, and TVs, all in a big jumble. Picking up my pace, I find room sixteen and take my toboggan off to release my locks. I knock on the door.

A miniature version of Leila opens it. I stare at her, every bit like her mother with her father’s pointy nose and dark skin, but whereas he is handsome, she makes it look cute. I don’t put her past twenty years old.

Her dark eyes widen as her gaze slides eerily beside me. The small hairs on my arms stand straight up. Great.

I peek but there is nothing there. Rubbing my arms, I say, “I wish you guys would stop doing that.”

She swallows. “Can I get my backpack?” she asks, turning, and her long, black hair swishes around.

Her small apartment is nothing like her parent’s house. I wonder if this compound has a special place for her to do her Voodoo stuff.

She seems wired with wide eyes and dilated pupils, licking her lips. “I’m so glad you’re here. I can’t wait to see my parents.” She grabs her backpack out of a closet. “Don’t look so shocked, Kansas. You should know how much I already love you, and I will do everything I can to help you.”

I stuff down my shock of her obvious affection. “Good. Then you’ll cut out the zombie mojo, so my team can come in,” I say, borrowing Sander’s wording.

She smiles at it. “I know you need the computer systems, but they are kept under heavy guard. I can keep the living dead at bay, but I can’t do anything to get you in there. Also, we have to act quickly, because once they notice I’m gone all hell will break loose.”

“Well, with the people I have tied up, it’ll be sooner than that. Not to mention, the team is four hours away.”

“What?” she asks me, placing folded clothes in her bag.

Since she is in a hurry, I stuff my toboggan on my head. “The famished, it’s overwhelming. We couldn’t do it without harming anyone. We barely made it out of the last attack unscathed.”

“I guess we’d better gear up for a long night.”

I agree and point to her bathroom. “Grab a towel.”

*

I quickly realize stealth is not Mya’s specialty. Every move she makes behind me bounces around the space surrounding us as we rush through the shadows. Several times I’ve pushed her against the wall as we wait for guards to pass, or in one instance, stagger as if drunk. After an eternity of this, we make it to the fence. The famished automatically part like the red sea.

I smirk at her. “Nice.”

“Comes in handy,” she whispers as I grab the fence for the climb.

*

The four hour drive is hell on my nerves and worst of all, I’m exhausted. The good news is I think I can get some sleep later, since the famished are subdued. After Mya checks over Ashley’s map and adds to it, I speak to her about something.

“I have an idea.”

“What would that be?”

“This whole idea of going in and letting zombies run amok doesn’t sit well with me. Is there anyway you can direct them?”

“Maybe. Depends on what you’re thinking.”

I smile, and we make plans. Eventually, she falls asleep. My eyelids droop, and I’d turn off the heater to keep me awake, but I don’t want to make Mya uncomfortable. When I pull into the parking lot where the team waits for us, people jump out of vehicles and come from the small building.