Savannah's Only Zombie (Book 2): A New Darkness (19 page)

The house was completely gone. Nothing but ashen
remains remained. Jeremy stared in disbelief as he drove the truck up to the
black spot of earth.

It’s all gone,
he thought.

Everything. All their food. All their clothes. Their
weapons. Everything was gone.

He parked the truck and everyone got out. Lexx
paced back and forth frantically by the smoldering embers.

“They got out. There’s no way they were still in
the house. No way,” he rambled on.

“Let’s calm down, Lexx,” Jeremy said.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Lexx shouted.

Jeremy held his hands up, signaling he was not
up for a confrontation.

“All I’m saying is Josh and Tori were both very
resourceful. I doubt they were still in the house.”

Lexx looked back at the ash.

“We gotta search it to make sure,” he said.

“If I may interject,” White said. “Why don’t we
look for clues that maybe they made it out first? Then, if we don’t come up
with anything, we can search the rubble.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Right, Lexx?”
Jeremy said.

Lexx nodded and walked off. Jeremy turned to
look the two police officers.

“Sorry. He can be a bit gruff.”

“It’s fine. He’s just worried,” White said.

The four of them walked around what was left of
the house, looking for any sign that Tori and Josh made it out of there okay.
Not much left on the ground except for the bodies of zombies killed the night
before. And the pieces of Abraham Archer Armstrong.

Strangely absent were the bodies of Josh and
CJ’s family.

They weren’t bitten, so they wouldn’t have
turned. Where could they have gone?

Now that he thought about it, he did not
remember seeing Chris or Amy’s bodies on the way in either. Jeremy glanced over
to CJ, who was kneeling over by the ash.

Had CJ noticed?
Jeremy thought.

He hated the idea that the kid’s family could be
walking around somewhere, giving them the possibility of running into each
other. Jeremy did not want CJ to have to see that. He had been through enough.

After several minutes of searching, Jeremy and
the two officers returned to the truck.

“We didn’t come up with anything, but we don’t
really know what we’re looking for. We saw the other vehicles here. Were there
any others they could have taken?” Black asked.

The SUV and pick-up truck were still in their
spots. They barely moved, except for getting around the grounds.

“No, these were the only three,” Jeremy said.

Black rubbed his chin.

“You think they might have escaped on foot?” He
asked.

“No,” Jeremy replied. “The only reason I can
think of them leaving would be runners.”

“Runners. You keep saying that. What do you
mean?” White asked.

Jeremy looked at the two officers and realized
that they had yet to come across the much more terrifying type of zombie.

“You haven’t seen them?” He asked, a little
surprised.

Both shook their heads no.

“Runners are what we call the faster zombies.
They don’t look as dead as the normal ones and they have superhuman strength
and speed. You heard their shrieks last night. They were the reason we left.”

Black looked at his partner, an eyebrow raised.

“So, you’re telling me, there’s some kind of
super-zombie out there?”

Jeremy ignored the man’s disbelief.

“Yeah and worse.”

Jeremy started to explain to them what happened
to the Lumberjack, but CJ ran up, breathing hard and excited.

“It’s gone!”

“What is?” Jeremy asked.

“My four-wheeler! It’s gone! They must have used
it to escape! That’s why the cars are still here!”

CJ led them back to the shed behind the house
and showed them the empty spot where the ATV would have sat. Black knelt down
and examined the dirt.

“Yeah, these tracks are fresh,” he said.

“Yes! I knew they got out of here!” Jeremy said.

Lexx came running over the four of them.

“What? I heard the yelling. Did you find
something?”

“They took CJ’s four-wheeler! The tracks lead
that way into the woods!” Jeremy yelled.

Lexx’s face lit up.

“Well, let’s go then!” He said, starting too jog
in the direction of the tracks.

“Wait.”

Everyone turned to look at CJ.

“They have the four-wheeler. I bet that my uncle
was just waiting for daylight, just like we did, to return. It might be better
to wait here for them, rather than go after their tracks in the woods.”

“The boy’s right,” White said, clearing his
throat. “The most important part of a missing persons search is having somebody
at home waiting for them. Sometimes the lost just need time to find their way
home.”

“Well, you guys stay here then, I’ll go,” Lexx
said, turning to walk towards the woods again.

“Lexx, c’mon. You don’t have any decent weapons.
The zombies are probably scattered all over the property now, what if you run
into a large group?”

Lexx shrugged.

“I’ve been in tighter situations.”

Jeremy was at a loss for how stubborn the man
was. When he set his mind to something, it took a miracle to change it. It was
one his qualities that was a good thing/bad thing.

“I’ll go with him. We’ll look for a little while
and try to figure out which direction they went off in. Then we’ll circle back
here and wait,” Black said.

White seemed surprised by his partner’s offer.

“You sure, Will?” He asked.

Black nodded and pulled his side arm from its
holster. He checked his magazine.

“Yeah, I got a couple of little buddies still in
there. I’ll be okay.”

White removed his spare magazine from his belt.

“Here take mine. Just in case.”

“Thanks,” Black said, taking the clip.

“Hey, Starsky and Hutch, can you guys high five
and get it over with already?” Lexx asked.

Jeremy shook his head.

Good ol’ Lexx…

“I’m sorry there, Sport. I forgot, was I helping
you?” Black shot back.

Lexx gave him the finger.

“Alright then,” Black said with a chuckle.

He held his fist out for White to bump.

“Stay tight, my ninja.”

“Seriously?”

“C’mon, give me knuckles.”

White did not budge.

“C’mon, Michael. Before nancy-boy over here
pisses his pants.”

White bumped Black’s fist.

“Get out of here, you moron.”

Black smiled and walked over Lexx, who was
tapping on his wrist to an imaginary watch. The two of them walked off into the
woods.

“Those two are like two peas in a pod,” White
said.

Jeremy laughed.

“Yeah, I didn’t think it was possible, but there
is someone as obnoxious as Lexx out there.”

Tori could tell that, even in the daylight, Josh
had no idea where they were. He kept looking at the compass, hoping that it
would magically tell them where to go. They had been walking east for over an
hour, with no sign of civilization anywhere.

“Would it have killed them to put up a sign?” he
said.

“Maybe a nice map with a ‘You are here’ arrow?”
Tori said playfully, hoping to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, that would be perfect. I’d be happy with
anything right now.”

“Even a ‘Deer Crossing’ sign?” she asked.

“Yeah, maybe we could ask the deer for
directions.”

Tori laughed lightly to herself. They walked a
few more paces before she decided to break the silence again.

“Will you know how to get back if we do ever
find something that tells us where we are?”

Josh stopped walking and looked at her. His eyes
were dark; he looked exhausted. She knew he did not sleep well when she took
over watch. He tossed, turned, and mumbled in his sleep. She tried not to
worry, but it couldn’t help but remind her of the night before LJ turned.

“Hopefully I will,” he said.

They began walking again. Tori’s ankle hurt. It
had been hurting since they jumped out of the house and now with all the
walking, the pain was starting to flare up. She winced and marched through the
pain.

I don’t want to slow us up,
she thought, as another
jolt shot up her leg.

She would have to sit down soon, whether she
wanted to or not. Debating on telling Josh of her injury, Tori cleared her
throat.

“Hey, you think we could rest for a minute?” she
said.

“You’re tired already? We just started.”

“Yeah, well, we haven’t had any water in a
while, plus I guess I didn’t sleep too well last night, being on the concrete and
whatnot.”

He stared at her.

“Are you hurt?” He asked.

She blew out air through her lips and laughed.

“Hurt? No! Are you hurt?”

He continued his stare.

“Where?” he asked, his eyes not leaving hers.

Tori’s laughing died to a chuckle and then
stopped completely.

“It’s my ankle,” she said, crossing her arms on
her chest.

“From when we jumped?” He asked.

She nodded.

“Let me see,” he said, kneeling down in front of
her.

“No!” she said, stepping away.

He looked up at her.

“Tori.”

“No! What are you some sort of weird foot guy?
Is that your thing? Mister Nice Guy, but you really have a strange foot fetish?
Is this your one chink in your armor?”

“No. But we are dependent on each other right
now, and if there’s something wrong with you, I need to know about it. Same
goes for me.”

She felt silly for bringing up the foot thing.
She nodded and sat down, pushing her right foot in front of him.

“Thank you,” he said, taking her shoe.

She flinched when he took hold of her foot.

“That hurts?” He asked.

“Like hell.”

“Okay, I’m going to try and take your shoe off.
I’ll be as easy as I can.”

He proceeded to untie her shoe and began to slip
it off gently. Tori still let several expletives slip through her gritted
teeth.

“When did you first notice the pain?”

“What are you a doctor now?”

“Tori…”

“Ugh, okay, I first- Fuck! Easy there!”

He had her shoe removed and began to peel off
her sock.

“I noticed it last night, but it didn’t really
start hurting til this morning,” she said.

He had her sock off.

“Yeah, this looks swollen,” he said, slowing
inspecting her foot in his hands.

“Yeah, it feels swollen too,” she quipped.

His hands glided over her foot and to her ankle.
It felt big in his hands. She definitely strained her ankle.

She watched as he examined her foot. His hands
were soft and he was gentle, like he promised.

I bet they smell,
she thought.

He sat her foot down on his knee.

“Yeah, I don’t think you should keep walking on
this.”

“Well, Josh, we don’t really have many choices,
do we?” She said, reaching for her sock and shoe. “Unless, you want to go back
and try peeing in the four-wheeler. Maybe that might work.”

He stood up and walked away into the woods.

“Hey,” she yelled. “I was just kidding! I’m
sorry!”

She finished getting her shoe on and tried to
stand up.

Shit balls that hurts.

She did her best to hobble over to the woods,
but stopped when Josh returned. He carried a large branch, about five feet
long. He began snapping off smaller twigs, until it was just a bare pole.

“Here,” he said, presenting her with the walking
stick. “You can use this for now.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking the stick.

It was just the right height to lean on. She
took several practice steps, keeping the weight off her bad foot. It wasn’t the
greatest solution, but she appreciated the effort he went through to find it.

“Hold on,” he said, reaching out for the stick.

She handed it over, balancing herself on her
left foot. He took the hatchet from his belt loop and knelt down. He started
chopping bits off one of the ends, spinning the staff as he did. He stood up
when he was finished and handed it back.

“Now we have two weapons,” he said.

Tori looked at the tip of the spear and nodded.

“Nice. Thanks. Again,” she said.

Josh smiled.

“You’re welcome.”

***

They walked for another hour, taking micro
breaks every few minutes. Tori appreciated how Josh tried not to push her too
hard, but she felt like a burden to their progress.

“Seriously, you should leave me.”

“I’m not leaving you, Tori,” he sighed,
aggravated by her persistence.

“I’ll be okay. For real. I have this pointy
stick.”

He turned and looked back at her. His look was
disapproving.

“No. We’ll just take our time. The others will
probably return to the house. We’ll do our best to meet them there.”

She let out a sigh, but she knew he would not
leave her.

It was worth another shot.

The road they were on weaved through a stretch
of woods that seemed to go on forever. Everywhere she looked, Tori saw trees,
trees, and hey, guess what? More f’ing trees. She was sick of trees.

At least it’s not hot,
she told herself.

The December sun was out above them, but not in
full force. It halfway hid behind a cluster of clouds, only peeking out every
now and then.

Josh stopped.

“What is it?” Tori asked.

“A sign,” he said, pointing up ahead.

In front of them, several yards away, was a
metal sign, glinting in the sunlight.

“Go see what it says!” Tori yelled. “I’ll catch
up to you!”

Josh looked back to her.

“Go!” she shouted.

He took off running. She did her best to shuffle
behind him, her stick steadily ticking against the pavement as she did.

Josh was mere feet from the sign, when he halted
and spun back around.

“What are you doing?” Tori asked, but her
question did not go long without an answer.

A pack of zombies shambled out from the woods by
the sign. It was a decent sized group, about ten of them in total. If they had
better weapons, they might have been able to take then them on, but with Tori’s
ankle, it would be difficult.

Josh had other plans.

“Jump on my back!” He yelled, kneeling down in
front of her.

“No way!” she argued. “I’m not going to let you
carry me!”

The dead moaned, signaling that they spotted
fresh food.

“We don’t have time for the bullshit, Tori! Get
on!” He yelled.

Her mouth dropped at his language. She could not
recall a time when she heard him say anything bad.

Tori did not argue and jumped on his back. He
stood up, shifted her weight, and began to run into the woods. She felt
ridiculous, bouncing up and down, as he carried her like a child. With one arm
wrapped around his chest and the other clinging to her spear, she felt like an
Amazonian warrior, riding on her stead.

His face was slick with perspiration.

“Can you see any behind you?” He huffed.

Tori did her best to turn without adding to the
strain of carrying her. She could see the slow moving shapes behind them, but
at a distance. They were losing them.

“They’re still back there, but there’s a good
amount of space in between us. You can probably slow down now,” she said.

He grunted something in reply, but kept his
pace. He bobbed and weaved through the trees. Tori turned her head again. She
could not see any of the dead.

“They’re gone, Josh. You’ve lost them.”

He ignored her again.

“Josh! Stop!” She demanded.

Again, he ignored her, pushing on into a wall of
brush.

Fine, be that way,
she thought.

Tori did the only thing she could think of.

She pulled up on the reins.

Her arm tightened around his neck, cutting off
his oxygen. He began to cough and sputter, but continued to run. The branches
of the thicket scratched at them, urging them to turn back. The wall of green
appeared to be never-ending.

Josh broke through to the other side and
stopped, falling to his knees. Tori eased herself off him, releasing her death
grip on his neck.

“Are you out of your mind? Why do you have to be
so stubborn? Why didn’t you sto-”

Tori fell silent as her eyes caught the same
thing Josh was staring at as he caught his breath.

In front of them, tall, emerald green stalks
reached up into the canopy. Camouflaged nets crisscrossed from the treetops,
shielding the tall plants from any curious eyes. Marijuana plants filled the
entire grove.

Josh looked up at Tori, whose mouth was open in
shock.

“That’s a lot of dope,” he said.