Dead Endz (17 page)

“You can’t treat me like this!” hollered Belinda. “I’m family, for God’s sake.”

“Not my family,” said Donnie.

“Marcus,” she said, pleading. “What would your mother say if she knew you was feeding her sister to the zombies?”

Marcus laughed. “She’d have been smart and kept her yap shut. Unlike her big mouthed sister.”

“My family is really fucked up,” mumbled Belinda.

“You think?” asked Nora.

Belinda covered her face with her hands and began sobbing.

“Don’t worry,” said Bryce, putting an arm around her. “We’re going to get out of this.”

She must not have believed him because she started crying even harder.

“Wild, what the hell kind of shit did you get me into?” huffed Nora as she sat down next to me.

I raised my eyebrows. “What? I didn’t get
you
into anything!” I whispered loudly.

“Right.”

“Nora, how’d you wind up here?” asked Bryce.

“Been looking for Wild,” she said, nodding towards me. “When we found the hotel, I used myself as bait and they kidnapped me, too.”

“Where’s Billie?” I asked.

She smiled. “He’s around,” she said. “And don’t worry, he’s not alone.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Marcus and Johnny left to have a cigarette and then to round up the rest of their prisoners. When they returned with the despaired group of women, Carly, who looked exhausted, was also forced into the pool.

“You got a free life last game,” smiled Donnie. “Let’s see if you’ll survive this round.”

Carly scowled and flipped him off.

“No, sweetheart,” chuckled Donnie. “You’ve got it backwards. You’re the one that’s fucked.”

She shook her head in disgust and walked over to me.

“Hi, Carly,” I said.

She squeezed my hand and smiled sadly. “Hey kid.”

“Hey, listen…I have an idea,” said Bryce under his breath. “When they release the zombies, we lead ‘em towards our captors.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that might just work.”

“Or they might just shoot us
and
the zombies,” said Carly.

“There are too many men,” said Belinda. “They’ll just shoot all of us.”

“If we don’t try something, some of us are going to die,” said Bryce. “I can hold my own against some of these zombies, but face it, without a weapon none of you girls are safe.”

“Hello? Nora and I know karate,” I said.

“But Cassie, it takes more than a few karate moves to kill the zombies,” he said. “You know that.”

Carly grabbed my arm, again. “Your name is Cassie?”

I nodded.

She smiled. “Well, you’re mom’s been searching all over for you.”

“You know my mom?”

She nodded. “Kris, right?”

I smiled. “Yes, Kris Wild.”

“I guess I didn’t even make a connection before. I’ve been too worried about staying alive,” said Carly, rubbing her forehead.

“I can’t believe you know my mom. Do you have any news about my sister, Allie?”

Before she could answer, Tony showed up and demanded everyone’s attention.

“Oh, good, everyone’s here,” said Tony, “Mikey, you got the cameras ready?”

“Yeah,” hollered Mikey.

“We’ll be live in ten,” he replied, looking at his watch.

“Oh for the love of God, Tony!” hollered Belinda, her face red from crying. “What in the hell are you doing?”

“God had nothing to do with this, Belinda,” he answered, “ and I have nothing more to say to you.”

“What happened to you?” she moaned. “You was once a decent kid.”

“Now I’m a Godfather in this shitty world and as far as being decent, Well, I make a hell of a decent living,” he snickered.

The zombies were getting restless in the cage, some of them attacking each other. The groans and snarls were enough to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

“Oh, I forgot,” smiled Tony as two of his goons showed up carrying a plastic bag. “I was going to make you all strip but the thought of seeing Belinda running around naked left a bad taste in my mouth. So, we’re going to make this more interesting by doing something a little differently.”

“Oh goody,” said Carly.

“You…shaddap!” hollered Donnie.

“See, I’ve watched Wild in action and I know De Luca would put up a good fight. That’s why I’m going to handcuff those two together,” Tony said, reaching into the bag. “That should even up the odds a little bit. Make it a little bit more fun.”

“Fun for who?” snapped Nora.

“Why for us, obviously,” answered Tony with an evil grin.

I looked at Bryce who looked pissed off as all hell.

“Just remember De Luca,” said Donnie. “You put yourself in this situation. Now you’ve gotta pay.”

The next think I knew we were approached by two of Tony’s men and handcuffed, back to back using two pairs.

“Listen, I’ll do the running,” whispered Bryce. “I’ll lean forward and you can ride my back.”

Normally I’d have been excited about touching Bryce, but the thought of us getting mauled by zombies together was utterly horrifying. I knew if I was attacked and couldn’t defend myself, I’d be dead weight for Bryce. He’d never survive.

“Okay,” I answered with uncertainty.

“Just remember, no matter what happens, I love you, Wild,” he whispered, lacing a couple of his fingers through mine.

I smiled. “I love you too, Bryce.”

A few minutes later we were live on the internet and Tony was giving his “Welcoming” speech.

“Tonight we have a treat for all of you’s watching,” said Tony. “We have ten zombies instead of five and our main event fighter, Ms. Wild, will be handcuffed to another player. Get your popcorn or blow ready and enjoy the show.”

Then as before the zombies were released and dropped to the bottom of the pool.

“Holy crap,” muttered Nora as they stumbled to their feet and began charging.

Before I knew what was happening, Bryce had me on his back and was running towards the steps of the pool.

“I don’t think so, De Luca,” snapped Donnie as he aimed his gun, forcing us back in.

I heard screaming from Belinda and angry cussing from Nora as the zombies attacked and they fended them off. One of the zombies approached us and I yelled. “Turn around, I’ll kick him!”

Bryce turned around and I began kicking with all of my might at a zombie whose eye hung down his cheek by a thread of skin. I kicked him in the stomach and he fell backwards. Then another approached and I kicked him between the legs. Unfortunately, it didn’t have much of an affect.

“Shit,” mumbled Bryce as another zombie approached him from the side. He then leaned forward so that I was flat on his back and rushed towards the zombie, head-butting him. The zombie flew backwards and landed on the ground, growling.

“Damn you have a hard head,” I said.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t good,” said Bryce clutching his forehead.

“You okay?” I asked with concern.

“Just some major head pain but I’ll get over it,” he replied, from behind me.

I glanced around the pool at the others. Carly was trying to help Belinda by showing her how to hammer a stiletto into a zombie’s eye. Belinda appeared totally fascinated and quickly took the other one off to go after a tall skinny male zombie trying to crawl towards her. I turned and groaned, Nora was about to be outnumbered by zombies.

“Watch out Nora!” I screamed, lurching forward with Bryce. Unfortunately, I didn’t account for his weight and we both tumbled to the ground.

“Damnit,” said Bryce.

“Sorry,” I said trying to see Nora who now had one female zombie by the hair and was ramming her face into the side of the pool. I watched in horror as another rushed up behind her and grabbed her by the arm.  Luckily, she was able to yank it free before he bit her and elbow him in the face. When he fell down she swung the female towards him until they were both sprawled out on the floor. She then jumped into the air, crushing both of their skulls with her steel-toed boots. Blood and brain matter painted the side of the pool and I sighed in relief. It was disgusting but very affective.

“Yeah,” she shouted as another female zombie stumbled towards her. “That’s right bitch…I’ve got skills! You want me to share ‘em with you?!

“Nice,” I laughed and shook my head. Nora was the only one truly enjoying herself.

“I like that bimbo,” chuckled Marcus.

Oh no he didn’t…

I smiled in anticipation.

Nora’s head whipped around it felt like all of the noise was sucked from the room. Was it my imagination, or did the remaining zombies pause as well?

“Bimbo!?” growled Nora who suddenly sounded like a demon from hell.

Marcus shrugged. “What? What’s the problem?”

I believe that his location near the shallow end of the pool was his ultimate demise. Before anyone could comprehend what was actually happening, Nora took a running leap towards Marcus, using fallen zombies as steps to launch herself on top of him. From there he was done for.

“Help!” choked Marcus as she pummeled the side of his face with her fists. He lay there helpless and the only reason I believe he couldn’t properly defend himself was the beating he took earlier from Paige and Bryce.

Tony stood up and hollered, “What the fuck!?”

Donnie started towards Nora with his gun raised, but before he could fire it off there were shouts and gunfire coming from everywhere else.

“Get down!” someone yelled.

Billie?

Bryce pushed me against the side of the pool, covering my body with his as I listened at the war being fought all around us. Only when the room became silent, did he release me and we find out what was going on.

“Oh, thank God,” said Carly before I had a chance to see what happened.

Tony, Donnie, and about seven or eight goons lay on the ground with bullet holes in their stomach or heads, their eyes staring lifelessly around the room. The zombies in the pool had also been destroyed and the remaining prisoners had taken off somewhere. Belinda, Nora, Carly, Bryce and myself were the only ones left standing.

“Took you long enough,” yelled Nora as she wiped her bloodied hands on her jeans. I watched in awe as Billie jogged towards us from where he’d been hiding which was behind a large sculpture of a naked Greek god.

“Do you ever stop complaining?” he asked as she lifted herself off of Marcus’s still form.

“Nora,” smiled Paige as she jogged in from the hallway. “Awesome job on that asshole!”

Paige!

Nora snorted. “He’s lucky one of the bullets hit his head or I would have kept going.”

“I can’t believe it!” I laughed, pulling Bryce towards them. I’d never been so happy to see anyone, except for Bryce of course, in my life. But in the next moment, I was proven wrong.

“Cassie!”

I looked up towards the second floor of the atrium and began to cry like a child. My father and mother were waving to me, both wielding smiles and big scary rifles.

“We’ll be right there, honey!” cried my mother, who threw me an air kiss.

I squealed in delight. “Mom and dad!”

I tried to brush the tears of joy from my cheeks but I was still handcuffed to Bryce. He must have known I was overwhelmed with emotions somehow because he squeezed my fingers.

“You guys okay?” asked Billie, coming towards us.

“We are now. Thanks to you,” I said.

“Thank Paige and Nora,” said Billie. “They got the ball rolling.”

“I will definitely do that after someone removes these handcuffs,” I said.

Bryce grunted. “Leaving me so soon? I thought you liked me.”

“Not so much in this position,” I said. “You’re kind of brutal. And I can smell your hair from here, kind of a zombie with a touch of fresh decay scent.”

Paige laughed as she hugged me and then found the keys to our handcuffs.

“I was hysterical when I found out you were caught,” she said, unlocking the cuffs. “I heard you asking to use the bathroom earlier, when I was hiding and thought it was all over.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” I said with a smile. “I survived getting bitten by Eva and if I could do that…”

She snorted. “Fighting ten zombies and a group of drug dealers was nothing. I got it.”

I was rubbing my wrists by the time my parents swept me into their arms. They both hugged me so hard it was hard to breathe, but I didn’t care. I had my parents again and that was a miracle in itself.

“Oh, God,” choked my mom, holding me. “I thought we’d lost you for good.”

“Not me,” replied my dad, patting me on the back. “She’s the “Wild One”, remember? In fact, both my daughters are tough as nails. Chips off the old block, just like their old man.”

My mom let me go and smiled. “Well, Cassie, I guess I should be happy that your
old man
talked me into letting you learn how to fire a gun and take karate lessons.”

“You’re damn right,” he replied. “It’s probably the reason she survived without me.”

“Yeah, it came in handy,” I said.

“I’m happy she did, too,” replied Bryce. “Or I’d have never met her.”

My dad’s eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before he finally broke down and smiled. He patted Bryce on the back, much harder than me of course. “I have to admit that I’m very proud of you, too, Bryce. You’re a good kid and helped save my daughter numerous times. What I’m trying to say is that you… have my permission to… date her.”

Bryce bit back a smile and nodded. “Well, thank you very much, sir.”

I cleared my throat “So, how’s Allie?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer. “Is she… okay?”

My mom nodded and squeezed my hand. “She’s doing very well. She’s just worried about
you
.”

I released a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I’ve been so worried about her. I wasn’t sure if she made it or not.”

“You can see for yourself in a little while.”

“Kris,” called out Carly, who was helping Belinda out of the pool. “Can you believe it? You’re family’s safe.”

Mom walked over to Carly and threw her arms around her. “So are you. I can’t tell you how worried I was when you disappeared.”

“These schmucks took me by surprised,” she said. “And actually, I had no idea that Cassie was your daughter until this evening.”