Lost World (15 page)

We find Angus and Parvarti in the front yard, sitting on the hood of an old car. Smoking. I’ve never seen Parvarti smoke, but it doesn’t look odd on her. Not with the bow in her lap and the bandana over her jagged haircut. It looks like she was born with it between her lips. If her friends and family could see her now, they’d never recognize her.

“What you got?” Angus calls out.

Axl holds up the box and grins. “You ain’t gonna believe this!”

“You got somethin’ to say to me, Blondie?” Angus nudges me with his elbow and grins.

“I’m not going to kiss your ass just because you were right, Angus,” I say, but even I can’t hold back my smile.

“I was right? Is that what you said?” His grin gets bigger and he puffs out his chest. “I could get used to that. Sounds good. ‘Specially comin’ outta your mouth.”

“Give it a rest, Angus.” I roll my eyes, all the while grinning from ear to ear. “You could have just as easily been wrong. How many piece of shit houses do you think have cellars full of food? Not many.”

“Don’t matter. We just need the one.”

I’m never going to hear the end of this.

“That’s ‘bout as good as it’s gonna get,” Axl says, stepping away from the cellar door.

The four of us stand in silence for a few seconds, looking down at the now covered door. It’s so piled with trash I’d never be able to find it if I didn’t know it was there. Anyone passing through will walk right by it. Unless they decide to dig through all this junk, that is. This will keep the food safe until we can get back for sure, which is the most we can do right now. Hopefully, we can find a car soon and come back.

Parvarti is the first to turn away. “We better get a move on. It will be dark in about an hour, and we need to find some place to sleep before then.”

Axl grabs my hand and pulls me after her. Angus is right behind me.

On the other side of the house, there’s a beaten-down path that must have been used as a driveway. It isn’t paved and it’s starting to look overgrown, but it’s the only way to this house that we can find. We decide to follow it so we can see where it leads, that way we know how to get back. It ends up being about a ten minute walk to the road.

Axl drops my hand when we step out of the woods and pulls his backpack off. “Gonna leave a marker.”

He produces the same can of spray paint he used earlier, shaking it as he heads toward the end of the driveway. Just like before, the noise sends my heart into double time. I keep my eyes on the surrounding area while Axl sprays a neon orange ring around the trunk of a tree. He places it near the bottom, which makes it pretty inconspicuous. It’s doubtful anyone passing by would notice it, and even if they did, they probably wouldn’t give it a second look. It will help us find our way back to the house, though

When Axl’s done, he shoves the can back into his pack and points down the street. “Let’s head on down the road a ways. See if we can find the name of this street.”

Angus and Parvarti take off, leading the way, and Axl grabs my hand before heading after them. Overhead, the sky is even grayer than it was a couple hours ago, and in the distance it’s so dark it almost looks black. It’s getting late, so that could be why, but it’s more likely that we’re going to get hit with a storm soon. A snow storm, judging by the chill in the air.

We walk for less than ten minutes before we reach an intersection. Parvarti and Angus stop below the sign to wait for us.

“Emerick Road and County Line Road,” Angus calls out. “Gonna hafta get us a local map an’ come back here.”

“We’ll find it,” Axl says confidently.

Parvarti licks her lips as she looks up and down the street. Her whole body is tense. “I don’t like being out in the open like this.”

“You hear somethin’?” Angus asks, his head jerking up and his eyes roving the area.

“No. It just makes me nervous.” Her grip tightens on her bow.

I can’t argue with her. There’s no cover on the road, and if someone did come up on us right now, we wouldn’t be able to hide. Which is why we usually avoid being out in the open like this.

“Let’s head back into the woods.” Axl pulls the compass out of his pocket and holds it in front of him, then points to our right. “That way.”

We step off the road and head into the wooded area to our right. My body is lighter the second my feet crunch against leaves, but I’ve only taken two steps into the forest when the moans of the dead make me stop short. All the tension returns to my body and Parvarti freezes next to me. I pull my knife out while my gaze sweeps across the area, but I don’t see shit.

“You hear that?” Parvarti whispers.

“Yeah.”

Axl nods, and Angus stops walking. They’re about a foot in front of us. Angus’s shoulders stiffen as he pulls his own knife. None of us move. The wind blows and a shiver runs through my body, but it’s only partly from the cold. I strain my ears, listening for any indication the zombies are headed this way. Leaves rustle with the wind. Tree branches click together. An animal scurries across the ground somewhere to my right while a bird not too far from us takes off. No more moans, though.

“Which way?” I say as quietly as possible.

Parvarti notches an arrow and shakes her head. Axl looks over his shoulder, and his gray eyes meet mine just as another moan breaks through the silence.

“This way.” Angus takes off running, jumping over branches as he charges through the forest. Only he’s running toward the moans, not away from them.

“Shit,” Axl says, taking off after his brother.

Parvarti shakes her head, but she and I don’t move. “He has too much fun killing them.”

“No kidding.” I snort out a laugh, and I’m all ready to make a smart-ass comment when more moans break through the silence. This time they’re followed by a howl of pain.

Parvarti’s head snaps toward the sound. “Someone’s in trouble.”

My heartrate picks up as I take off after the brothers, my fingers tightening around my knife. Parvarti is right on my heels. We haven’t seen someone outside our group in more than a week, and it seems crazy to run into another person out in the middle of nowhere like this. There’s no way a zombie made that sound, though. It was human for sure.

I run up behind Axl and Angus just as the horde comes into view. Seven of them. Their clothes are tattered and dirty, their skin torn. Black ooze pours from their eye sockets, noses, and ears. The putrid smell of decay hits me from four feet away, and my stomach jumps to my throat, but I don’t slow.

Only a few feet in front of them, a kid is running for his life.

The boy stumbles through the forest on short legs, barely making progress, and the dead are closing in fast. At first, all I can see is the back of the kid’s head. He has shaggy brown hair that’s way too long, like he hasn’t had a haircut in a year. When I get closer though, I can make out his black backpack. It’s weighed down by whatever’s inside, and it’s slowing him down.

Axl reaches the horde first and takes the closest one out with his knife. The blade drives through the side of the zombie’s skull, and the bastard falls. Angus kicks a second one in the back of the leg, sending him flailing to the ground. He doesn’t die, but before he can get back up, Angus stabs him in the head. An arrow whirls by me—so close it would have scared the shit out of me if I didn’t know Parvarti was such a good shot—and slices through the skull of a third.

I reach the dead just as Axl sinks his blade into another zombie’s head. The monster in front of me is so foul-smelling that it makes my stomach lurch. I swing my knife forward, and the blade slices into his temple. The dead man falls to the ground, and with him out of the picture, only one zombie remains. A wiry, decaying man who probably didn’t have much hair even when he was alive. Now, only a few stringy strands hang from his scalp. They flap in the breeze as he lurches forward, diving for the boy. He doesn’t get his fingers into the kid, but he does succeed in knocking him down. They fall together, and the kid grunts. The zombie moans as he pulls himself across the ground on his hands and knees.

Before he can get very far, Axl is on the dead man. He slams the heel of his boot against the zombie’s skull, and the creature shrieks. Axl does it a second time, and the crack of bone splinters through the air. Black gunk oozes from the dead man’s head, but he’s still moving. Still clawing at the ground and reaching toward the kid. Axl brings his boot down a third time, and the thing’s skull collapses. The bastard finally slumps to the ground.

The boy is panting when he scrambles forward, but something about the whole thing seems off. I blink and step closer, trying to get a good look at the kid, but it’s a few seconds before reality hits me. The kid isn’t a kid. He’s a man. A dwarf, to be exact.

The man rolls onto his back and frowns at the zombie with the bashed-in head. When he looks up, his eyes sweep over the four us so slowly it makes the hair on my scalp prickle. Why does it feel like he’s passing judgment on us?

Parvarti and I look at each other, and her eyebrows shoot up. She shrugs. Axl doesn’t move from his position in front of the man and he doesn’t say a word—he’s probably as shocked as I am—but Angus lets out a little chuckle.

“Shit,” he mutters, shoving his dirty knife into its sheath. “We got ourselves a midget!”

The man gets to his feet and brushes the dirt off his pants. He doesn’t even glance Angus’s way. “The correct term is dwarf, you ignorant prick.”

I press my lips together and try to hold back my smile, but it doesn’t work. Parvarti doesn’t even try. It’s the first smile I’ve seen on her face in weeks, and will probably the last I’ll see for a long time to come. I’m starting to think a part of her died when Trey did.

Angus’s face turns red, and the little vein on his forehead pops out. He takes a step toward the man, who hasn’t moved an inch. “You little shit—”

Axl grabs his brother’s arm and pulls him back. “Shut up, Angus.” He studies the man, pursing his lips. “You bit?”

The man jerks his head to the side to toss his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes. “No, I’m not
bit
.” His tone is sharp and his brown eyes even sharper. They pierce through Axl like they can see everything he’s ever done.

Angus spits, and the man’s eyes snap down. He frowns as he stares at the speck of brown liquid shimmering on the leaf at his feet, and it isn’t hard to tell what he’s thinking. What he thinks of Angus, to be exact.

“You got a big attitude for such a little man,” Angus says with a grunt.

The man looks up and narrows his eyes on Angus. Then he snorts. “Size doesn’t matter. Or haven’t you heard?”

“You alone?” Axl asks, ignoring his brother and the man’s sarcastic remarks.

The man nods slowly, and for the first time he looks uncertain. His gaze moves over us again, focusing on our weapons. He looks like he’s trying to size us up. To decide whether or not we’re going to use the weapons on him. When his gaze meets mine, he presses his lips together.

“I haven’t seen another person since before the dead came back,” he finally says.

Axl glances my way, then purses his lips again. When he looks back at the man in front of him, his face is softer. Sympathetic. “How’ve you made it this far?”

The man rolls his eyes so far back in his head only the whites are visible. Angus was right. This guy
does
have a big attitude.

“You mean because of my tiny little legs?” he says, his words dripping with sarcasm. “Determination and brains always win out over speed. Read
The Tortoise and the Hare
.” His gaze moves to Angus and he grins. “
If
you can read.”

“Son of a bitch,” Angus mutters, stepping forward again.

“Enough!” I shout. A bird caws above us, flying into the air, and I glance around nervously. No zombies. Not yet, anyway. “You all have dicks. Good for you. Let’s not have a pissing contest right now.”

The man tears his eyes away from Angus and gives me an appreciative look, but I don’t return it. He’s getting on my nerves. There’s no time for this bullshit. The sun is so low there’s barely any light penetrating the thick layer of clouds above us, and it’s getting colder by the second. We need to get somewhere for the night. And fast.

“What’s your name?” Parvarti asks.