Dying Days 6 (23 page)

If the Zombie Killer didn’t have a vessel to use maybe she’d have no choice but to come in her own body, and then Eve could permanently rid the world of the nuisance.

Eve scanned the stadium, picking up several people she didn’t recognize.

There’s no way she’s brought others like her
, Eve thought. She scanned each person in turn. No, they were just humans. They’d entered the stadium and needed to be dealt with but they weren’t the priority.

Eve sent out a soothing message to the people she was connected to: the survivors she’d built up a connection with over the weeks and months.

They might hate and fear her but they also knew without Eve they’d be wandering this post apocalyptic world. Most would be dead by now.

She’d given them food and shelter. Safety from the hordes of zombies. Protection from those like Eve.

She’d given them life and she was going to take it away. Because she could.

Eve marched out with a smile on her face as the first of her sacrifices began dragging their bags and junk onto the field in preparation to leave this world.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Mimzie had every worldly possession she owned in a ripped backpack over her shoulder. She had three pairs of almost new socks with a small knife wrapped inside of one. Her backpack never left her. She used it as a pillow when she went to sleep and she’d had to fight off other survivors who wanted to see what she had. Most of them had nothing, walking with the clothes on their back out onto the football field.

When word had come the zombie was letting them all go she’d smiled and took the photo of her husband out of her pocket, telling him silently her prayers might be answered.

Maybe now she could go and find him. She’d been searching when she was lured to the stadium by Eve with the lie Tom was inside and waiting to see her again.

She worried about her daughters. Her grandkids. Her friends. Everyone she’d ever known.

Mimzie moved with the rest of the group, breathing in the cool night air. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been out of the tunnels. Eve would call on certain people for certain tasks but Mimzie hadn’t proven useful to the zombie. It was better than being used and thrown away, though. Too many people had gotten the call to serve Eve and never returned to the tunnels.

In the moonlight, with a few people holding lanterns or lighters up to see, Mimzie realized just how many survivors there were. Maybe close to three hundred. In the tunnels and side rooms of the stadium they’d been spread out. Rumors of the initial group Eve had tucked away going insane and behind the chained doors at the end of the hall abounded. The fear anyone around you could kill you and take your stuff was all too real, as well.

Mimzie had kept to herself. Even though she’d lived in Jacksonville for many years and had owned a successful business, she didn’t know anyone else in the stadium.

Even in the zombie apocalypse, everyone kept migrating to Florida
, she thought.

A couple of men were trying to get the crowd in the same area, everyone crowding on the fifty yard line in the center of the field.

“Is she really going to let us leave?” someone asked.

“What if we just walked out now?”

“Is this some trick?”

“Will she let us take all of the food and supplies left, too?”

“I haven’t eaten in two days.”

“Silence,” one of the men yelled. He had his hands in the air. “Eve, our Infinite Ruler, is coming. She wants everyone to sit down and relax so she can talk.”

Mimzie thought the many titles she forced them to use about her was ridiculous but she guessed if she ever became a zombie and had hundreds of people living in fear of her she’d become a megalomaniac as well.

Eve walked out of her own tunnel and was smiling.

Mimzie was a little disappointed there wasn’t fireworks going off over the stadium and music playing, which would have fit perfectly with the ego of their Infinite Ruler.

Everyone was beginning to sit but Mimzie decided to stand. She had a really bad feeling about what was going on and she felt trapped with all of these people surrounding her.

She casually picked up her backpack, smiled and nodded at a few people around her, and started heading towards the back of the mob.

“Stop. Where are you going?” Eve asked loudly, and Mimzie knew she’d fucked up. She’d made a target of herself.

Mimzie turned and smiled, shrugging her shoulders. “I was just going to sit in the back and listen.”

Eve shook her head and motioned with her hand. “No. Please. Come up front so you don’t miss anything. I want you to help me lead everyone to their release.”

Mimzie wanted to run but she knew she wouldn’t get far. She thought again about her husband, children and grandchildren. She wanted to live and see them but in her heart she knew Eve was never going to let anyone walk out of the stadium alive.

By the looks of those around her, she wasn’t the only one who thought it.

Mimzie walked to the front, all eyes upon her. She put her backpack down and went to sit but Eve waved her hands.

“No. Remain standing. I want you to witness all of this. You’ll get to leave last. How does that sound?” Eve asked.

“Can’t I just walk out and never look back? I have family out there somewhere,” Mimzie said. “I need to look for them.”

Eve got close to Mimzie, who was too afraid to move away.

“Tell me who you are looking for and I’ll help you to find them,” Eve said.

Was this a trick? It felt like it to Mimzie but she didn’t think she had a choice but to answer truthfully and see what the monster did with the information.

“Tom is my husband. My daughters are…”

Eve put a finger to Mimzie’s lips and smiled.

“Let me find him first,” Eve said and closed her eyes.

A few people murmured but Mimzie didn’t dare so much as flinch while the zombie still had her cold finger touching her lips.

Eve snapped her eyes open and frowned.

“I’m sorry, Mimzie. So sad and tragic. Your husband and children and even your grandchildren are all dead. Mindless zombies biting and violating anyone they come in contact with. They’ll be destroyed soon, too. All does not end well,” Eve said.

Mimzie wanted to scream. This couldn’t be happening. She’d been promised the chance to leave and search for her family but now the zombie was telling her it was too late.

“When… when did they turn?” Mimzie asked, tears in her eyes. She heard a few people behind her who’d heard what she said begin to cry, sharing her pain and thinking of their own families.

“Yesterday.” Eve looked up at the dark sky. “Only a few miles from where we stand. I’d called out, letting them know you were safe and you’d be joining them soon. But they were attacked, not by zombies, but by other humans who are evil. You all fear me yet the real danger is once you leave these four secure walls. It is so safe in the stadium I don’t even post guards. The zombies can’t get in and the living are dealt with swiftly and given a choice: join us or die.”

“Please tell me you’re lying,” Mimzie said.

Eve took a step back and smiled, staring at Mimzie.

“I wish they were still alive. I really do. How glorious would it be to rejoin your family?” Eve suddenly frowned and squinted her eyes, staring behind Mimzie.

“Eve is lying. Your family is safe in Daytona Beach. They got there three weeks ago,” Darlene said as she approached behind the gathered crowd.

“Not that it matters anyway. All of these wretched people are going to die. I would’ve let them go free but you’re interfering,” Eve said.

“More lies,” Darlene said.

“Welcome, Zombie Killer. Once I’m done destroying you, I’ll take my time ripping each person apart and letting them remember it was your fault,” Eve said.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Darlene knew the others were in position. The plan she’d come up with was rudimentary at best but given the logistics and the time crunch it was the best they had to work with.

“Let them go. This is between you and me,” Darlene said as she walked towards Eve and the survivors.

Eve laughed and clapped her hands as the humans stood and began to move, making a path for Darlene.

“This is like Moses parting the Red Sea,” Eve said. “I am your pharaoh and you’ve come to free the slaves. You can’t write this. It just falls into place, right?”

Darlene couldn’t help it. She smiled as well. Shit, the zombie’s name was Eve. There were too many coincidences to make this a coincidence.

“Let my people go,” Darlene said, playing along. If she could distract Eve, the plan just might work.

A few people laughed uncomfortably, not knowing what was going on but praying they weren’t about to die.

“Oh, but these aren’t your people,” Eve said. She put an arm around Mimzie’s neck and pulled her close. “I’m more your people than this bag of bones and blood. I could twist off her neck right now and you wouldn’t feel a thing. You no longer have feelings, do you, Zombie Killer? You’re more zombie than anything else. I can see and feel it. You have immense power but you’re going to waste it trying to save a handful of weaklings who are already extinct. Let’s kill them all together and then march off to find your son.”

“Don’t bring my family into this.”

Eve pressed her face against Mimzie, who looked repulsed. Her hand stroked Mimzie on the cheek.

“But we have a common goal: to find the boy. To exploit the power he obviously possesses. You’ll need me to find him. You know you can’t do it alone, Zombie Killer.”

Mimzie was crying, struggling in vain to escape from Eve, who looked like she barely noticed the human.

Darlene saw Bernie in position in the stands behind Eve, aiming her rifle.

Pull the trigger
, Darlene projected at Bernie.

I can’t while she’s holding the woman
, Bernie thought back.

Shoot her in the head
.

Darlene maintained eye contact with Eve but she needed to see her head blown off of her shoulders. The human wasn’t important. Killing the zombie was.

“You’re stalling,” Eve said. She spun around, still holding onto Mimzie. “Ahh. Now I see. You think mortal weapons can harm me?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Darlene said and screamed at Bernie in her mind to shoot this fucking bitch but the anger from Darlene forced Bernie to drop the rifle and hold onto her head.

“You cannot defeat me. I can control my powers,” Eve said. “Watch.”

She threw Mimzie to the ground but instead of attacking her she turned and pointed at the group of survivors to her left. Half a dozen of them clutched their throats and fell to their knees, choking.

Darlene ran forward but Eve held up her hand and Darlene felt the grip on her own neck. It wasn’t going to choke her out but it was holding her back and uncomfortable, enough to keep Darlene from concentrating.

Shoot her in the head. Now
.

Bernie was still reeling from the mental attack Darlene had inadvertently used against her.

“Is that the best you can do?” Darlene asked, forcing the invisible pressure off of her body and pushing it back. “I thought you’d be a challenge when we faced off in person.”

“You can’t hide behind these puny humans anymore,” Eve said.

The six survivors Eve had been choking stopped struggling and fell to the ground. Another six were immediately grabbed.

Darlene wondered why they weren’t running away but a glance in their direction and she saw what was holding them back: a scintillating wall of energy was circling the football field. It crackled and moved closer as people tried to move away from Eve.

She was more powerful than Darlene thought she’d be and it scared her.

Or was she scared? Darlene knew her mortal former self would have shrunk back from this massive setback, but now…

Darlene laughed and used her own mind to grip Eve by the shoulders and lift her off of the ground. She used her will to slam the zombie to the hard surface, expecting to shatter her bones.

“Nice try,” Eve said, hovering inches from the turf. She turned her head and smiled at Darlene. “I don’t think you have really mastered any of this yet. What a shame. I wasn’t lying when I said we could look for your boy together. I want to drain him of his precious blood while you watch. Unfortunately I’ll have to kill you now.”