Shattered World (Broken World Book 2) (7 page)

7

THERE’S A GOOD-SIZED GROUP of people to see us off when we meet in the common room at six in the morning. Hadley and I are the last to stagger in. It was a rough start for me. I took a sleeping pill—courtesy of Joshua—so I could get some real rest before we left. I’m sure I’ll feel more rested later, but at the moment, I’m walking through a fog.

“‘Bout time,” Axl snaps.

I’d be offended if I weren’t used to it. I give him the finger and lean against the wall. Hopefully, the dead trying to get at me through the fence will wake me up. The coffee and cold shower sure as hell didn’t work.

“You going to be okay?” Hadley chews on her lip while her green eyes swim with worry.

I wave a hand at her and nod. “I’ll be fine. I just need some time to snap out of it.”

“If you say so,” she mumbles.

“Let’s head out!” Axl calls.

We walk as a group to the hall outside the control room. James is already there, watching the monitors closely. It’s stupid, but I look away. I can’t focus on the dead, or I’m afraid it will make me too nervous. Like seeing them will make them more aggressive or dangerous.

“What’s the plan?” I ask Axl as he studies the screens.

“First we’re gonna get to the car. Once we’re in, Angus is gonna throw a flare over the fence, away from the gate. Hopefully, that’ll draw them away, so’s he can get the gate open. Anne and James are gonna cover him.” His voice is tighter than usual, and when he turns to face me, his jaw twitches. “You ready?”

I nod and try to hide the fear that creeps up inside me. When those doors shut behind us just two days ago, I really thought we were safe. Now we have to go back out there and not only face the dead surrounding the fence, but the ones in Vegas too. I can’t believe it.

I double-check the knife at my waist and make sure my gun is loaded for the hundredth time this morning. My pack feels heavy, and the straps dig into my shoulders. I’m not sure why. There isn’t much in there but a few bottles of water and some more bullets. I adjust the straps, but it doesn’t do any good.

“Be careful,” Hadley says. I’m more than a little shocked when she pulls me in for a hug. “I saw this lying on the floor in your room. Thought you might want it.” She slips something in my back pocket, and when I pull back, she flashes me a grin.

I give her a questioning look and shove my hand in the pocket. The plastic condom wrapper crinkles when I touch it. “Seriously?”

She shrugs and shoves me toward the stairs. “You never know. Just want you to be prepared for any scenario.”

“Thanks.” I roll my eyes, but she’s behind me now so she can’t see.

James drags himself out of his chair and heads for the door. He types in the code, and the little red light on the keypad goes out and the green one next to it lights up. He glances over his shoulder at Axl, then nods once before pulling the door open to reveal the dark staircase.

Axl starts up, and I follow him on shaky legs. I grip my gun tighter. I’m ready. Or as ready as I’ll ever be anyway. Can anyone ever really, truly be ready for a zombie apocalypse? I don’t think so.

When we reach the top of the stairs, Axl pauses and looks back at us. He’s carrying his own pack as well as a bag of guns, and he adjust them while his eyes hold mine. They dart away, and he takes a deep breath. “Y’all ready?”

Winston and Trey are next to me, with James, Angus, and Anne at the back. They all look as tense as I feel. The three of us going nod. Axl takes another deep breath, then pushes the door open and charges out of the building.

I’m out the door behind him before he’s taken two steps. The sun isn’t up yet, and the air is still cool. There’s a slight breeze, and it blows my hair into my face as I run to the car, bringing with it the stench of death. The smell is so much stronger than it was two days ago. I gag, but I can’t afford to waste any time throwing up. I swallow down the bile and focus on Axl’s strong shoulders.

Winston and Trey’s footsteps mingle with the moans of the dead. The more time that passes the louder the wails get, growing more and more frantic with each step we take.

I’m panting by the time I reach the passenger side of the Explorer. I’m pretty sure it’s more from fear than exertion. The good news is, I was right. Facing a horde of the undead sure did wake me up.

I rip open the door and climb inside, slamming it behind me just as Trey and Winston climb in the back. Axl is busy with the wires under the dash, trying to get the car started. We don’t have a key since we stole the thing, and he has to hotwire it to get it going. Luckily he’s experienced, and in less than a minute, the engine purrs to life.

“Seatbelts,” he says tensely when he puts the car in drive.

He can’t move since the fence surrounding the small building is shut tight, and we all wait in silence as Angus runs toward the fence with a flare held tightly in his hand. He hurls it over, and I let out a sigh of relief when the dead actually go for it. Once they’ve moved a safe distance, Angus runs to the gate with Anne and James right behind him. It takes him a few seconds to cut the zip tie holding the gate shut, and as soon as he does, he throws the gate open and Axl hits the gas.

We fly through the gate, and Axl doesn’t slow down for even a second. I twist around in my seat and stare through the back window. Angus has the gate shut and is working on getting it secured while Anne and James shoot the approaching dead. The flare didn’t distract them for long. When he’s gotten it shut, the three of them run back toward the building.

“They made it,” I tell Axl when I turn back around.

“Knew he would,” he says.

Every inch of his body is tense, so I put my hand on his leg and lean closer. “Relax,” I whisper in his ear.

The corner of his mouth twitches, and he puts a hand on top of mine. Slowly, he starts to relax.

“So what’s the plan?” Trey calls from the back. “If the stores we looked up are no good?”

“No idea ‘til we get there. Like to avoid the Strip if possible. Maybe find a more residential area. Hafta wait an’ see what we can find.”

We’re about an hour from Vegas. Probably less with the way Axl is driving. The sun is just now coming up, and the horizon is painted a brilliant shade of yellow and orange in the distance. It will be early morning by the time we reach the city, which will be convenient. I want to be able to see when a body tries to eat me.

The city’s going to be crawling with them, there’s no doubt about it in my mind. Vegas was a vacation hot spot, virus or not. I can’t imagine how many people were crowded into those hotels when martial law was declared and travel was cut off. They stopped air travel pretty early on, too. Thousands of people were probably stranded. Eighty-five percent of which died from the virus and rose again. It’s staggering.

But what about the others? People who were immune. People who have managed to stay alive. Some are going to be dangerous, but some are going to be like us. Just looking for a way to survive.

“So what happens when we come across other survivors?” I ask suddenly.

“Who says we will?” Trey says from the back.

I glance over my shoulder. Is he kidding? He’s the one who thought we were overreacting to the virus in the beginning, who pointed out that four million people surviving a deadly virus is still a lot. Now he thinks we won’t find any other survivors?

“You think we’re the only ones who’ve managed to make it?”

He shakes his head, but his eyes are flat. “No. I think others survived the virus, but I think they either got eaten by the zombies or got the hell out of the city. Who would be stupid enough to hang around?”

“There are bound to be people trapped in the city,” Winston says. “Vivian brings up a good point. How’s everyone going to feel if another group comes back to the shelter with us? We barely have enough to live on as it is. Are people going to be mad if we bring someone else back? Five someones? It’s something we should have discussed before we left.”

Axl snorts and shakes his head. “No need to discuss it. We ain’t leavin’ people to die if we can help ‘em. Hadley coulda left our asses in the desert to get eaten by the fuckin’ zombies, but she let us in. Same goes for us. If we can do somethin’, then we’re gonna.”

It never occurred to me that we might abandon people, so I’m glad to know Axl’s on board. I glance back at Winston and Trey, and they’re both nodding in agreement. I guess they feel the same way Axl and I do.

“Okay, then. If we see people, we save them,” I say.

We reach the outskirts of Vegas just after the sky is fully lit by the sun. It’s totally residential, though. No stores, no gas stations, nothing but cookie cutter houses in neat rows. And the dead walking the streets. There’s plenty of that. The bodies react to the sound of the car the same way a dog would react to a canine whistle. They can hear us coming from a mile away. They’re ready for us before we even turn onto a street, waiting for us to show up. It’s eerie and terrifying, and I have no idea how we’re going to get out of this car alive, let alone make it through the city.

I’m on map duty, and the further we get into the city the more I struggle to find us on the atlas.

“Where do I go?” Axl asks me for the millionth time.

“I don’t know!”

“Let me see,” Winston says, reaching forward and yanking it out of my hand.

We’d looked up a few addresses the night before, courtesy of a Las Vegas phonebook in the control room, and found several addresses for Sam’s Club warehouses in the area. They seemed like the perfect places to stock up on supplies and possibly gas up, since most have gas stations these days. Only I apparently can’t read a map.

It only takes Winston a minute of searching to figure out where we are and tell Axl where to go. Before I know it, a sign for the warehouse is looming in the distance.

“Everybody grab your shit and be ready,” Axl says through clenched teeth.

I get my pack and sling it over my shoulder, hitting my head on the dashboard as we roll over more bodies. This is insane and beyond dangerous. And hopeless. Did I mention hopeless? We aren’t going to make it out of this car alive.

Why the hell didn’t I just go ahead and screw Axl last night like I wanted to?

“This isn’t going to work.” I grip the
oh shit
bar as the wheels of the car thump over more of the dead.

There’s just no way to avoid them. They charge us, completely oblivious to the fact that they’re no match for the Explorer. The terrifying thing about it is that there’s nowhere we can stop to be completely free of them. They hear the car. They want the car. And they are more than willing to throw themselves in front of the car. They’ll be on us the second we stop, and then there will be no escape.

“We need a distraction,” Axl mutters as the wheels bounce over yet another body.

He purses his lips, and his gray eyes search the road in front of us. He’s thinking, and there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll find a way to get us the hell out of this situation. Axl is smart.

Just as we’re passing a car parked on the side of the road—a BMW that looks brand new despite the thick layer of desert sand settled over it—he swerves to the right. He barely touches it really. Just a tiny ding that probably did minimal damage to either car. But it’s enough to set off the alarm on the Beemer.

Even in the Explorer we can hear the high-pitched alarm that goes off. It’s the same annoying pattern I’ve heard hundreds of times throughout my life, but this time it’s like music to my ears. Suddenly the dead are no longer interested in the purr of the Explorer’s engine. They hear a much tastier-sounding treat coming from the Beemer. Every last body in sight heads in the direction of the car alarm. Mindlessly walking toward the sound of the dinner bell that shrieks through the air. It’s amazing and wonderful and so much of a relief that I’d lean over and kiss Axl if the situation still wasn’t so dire.

“Are they goin’?”

I nod and reach over to squeeze his leg. “They are going!”

He smiles—an actual, real smile—right before he jerks the wheel hard to the left and pulls into the parking lot of the Sam’s Club, skidding to a stop in front of door. Axl turns the car off, but none of us move. There are still bodies milling around the store. But just like the others, they’re on their way to the BMW wailing down the street.

“You’re a genius,” I whisper.

He gives me a quick smile before growing serious. “We’re gonna wait just a couple minutes. When I say go, I want you to get out and run toward them doors as fast as you can. Stay close, keep your weapons out, and try to make as little noise as possible. Once we’re inside, we gotta get that door secured. But stay alert. There are bound to be some of them fuckers inside, too.” He pauses and glances out the window, scanning the parking lot.

My right hand is on the handle and I clasp my knife tightly in my left. They shake from anticipation, nerves. Fear. I chew on the inside of my cheek while I wait for Axl to give us the go ahead. There’s a raw spot, like I bit it in my sleep or something. The more I gnaw on it the more it hurts. I bite down so hard that the sharp, coppery taste of blood fills my mouth.

The parking lot is pretty clear. There are a few stragglers left, but the alarm is still blaring in the distance and they’re slowly making their way toward it. It’s amazing how decayed they look at this point. Their skin is so dark gray that there’d be no way to mistake them for the living, and it hangs on the bodies like tissue paper. It’s probably just as thin. They have open sores and cuts and tears on every visible part of their bodies. And the black goo that flows through them in the absence of blood seeps out of every opening. From cuts, from their eyes, from their ears. They’re covered in the stuff.