Survival (5 page)

Dana gasped. "That sounded like a kid."

All three searched the surrounding area.
"There! Next to that building." Meredith pointed to her left.

"Stop the car." Sarah moved to the other
side of the vehicle, and grabbed the door handle.

Dana looked over her shoulder. "I thought
you said—"

"I know what I said. Just stop the car,
Mere! It's a kid for Christ's sake." Sarah opened the door before
the Expedition came to a full stop and ran toward the girl.

When she saw Sarah coming at her with the
machete, she screamed again, but froze in terror.

Sarah dropped the knife next to her as she
knelt beside the child. She looked her over and figured her to be
about four or five. Blood covered her pink shirt and pants, but she
didn't see any injuries. "Are you okay? Where's your mom?" She had
to repeat the question twice before the girl pointed. Sarah saw a
man crouched over a woman, hugging her to him half a block
away.

"Is that your dad?"

The girl nodded as she whispered, "She tried
to bite me." Tears flowed down her face and she gulped for air.
"She bit daddy and he . . ." The child sobbed unable to finish.

Sarah rose, picked up her machete, and
pulled the girl into her arms. The child's face nestled against her
shoulder, her sobs quieter, but they still racked her small body.
Sarah motioned for Meredith to follow as she moved cautiously
toward the man and obviously dead woman. She kept the girl's face
pressed against her chest, so she wouldn't see the bashed in face
which used to belong to her mother.

A flap of skin hung from what was left of
the woman's mouth, her teeth and face covered in gore. A brick lay
near her head stained with her blood and brain matter. The man
clutched her to him, whispering over and over how sorry he was. He
had a huge chunk of flesh missing from his arm and another from his
chest. His head turned and his eyes met Sarah's.

"Maggie? Oh, my God, Maggie. Are you okay?"
He reached for her, noted how her head pressed against Sarah, and
then looked down at his wife. He laid his wife down and tried to
stand, but could not. He had lost too much blood. Instead, he
scooted backwards a few feet and held out his hands.

Sarah leaned down to place the girl in his
arms just as a blast came beside her. She whipped around to find
Dana standing there, gun in hand. A zombie staggered toward them,
unaffected by the large bullet hole in his stomach.

"Aim for the head!" Sarah turned a full
circle. Others had heard the gunshot and were now on their way.

She shook the man's shoulder. "We have to go
now. More are coming." She tried to get him to stand, but he looked
at her then back at his injuries.

He held his daughter against him, covering
her ears as best he could. "I'm not going to make it and I don't
want to put her at risk. Please take care of her. Please." He
stroked the child's back and begged Sarah with his eyes. Sarah
stifled a sob and nodded. "That's Janine." His chin pointed at the
woman he had left to hold his daughter one last time. And I'm Paul.
Campisi. Please help her to remember us." Tears fell quietly down
his face. Sarah nodded again and he brushed the tears aside.

Dana fired three shots at the approaching
dead. Time was running out, but she thought they could give him a
few seconds more with his daughter.

"Maggie? Maggie, look at me, honey." He
gently moved his child so she could see his face. "Your mommy and I
love you very much." Sarah didn't know how he found the strength,
but he held back the tears as he looked at his daughter for the
last time. "But you have to go with . . . ." He looked up.

"Sarah. That's my sister, Dana."

He turned back to Maggie. "Sarah and Dana
are going to take good care of you and make sure you're safe."

"No! I want to stay with you and mommy." The
girl wailed and wrapped her arms around her father's neck.

"I know, sweetie, I know. I want you to be
with us, too. But . . ." He caught his breath and held back his own
sob. "You need to go with Sarah." Tears fell then as he hugged
Maggie one last time.

"We have to go! Now!" Dana shouted. She
fired another couple of shots, but there were more zombies ambling
toward them than they had bullets.

Sarah moved quickly, taking a struggling
Maggie from her father's arms. "We'll take care of her, Paul. I
promise you." She pressed the curly brown head against her chest
and ran for the SUV with Dana on her heels.

Another kid ran past her and she shouted for
Dana. Her sister turned just in time to grab him by the shirt. He
clawed at her, yelling that a zombie had him. He kicked her shin,
and punched her in the stomach, but she held on.

"Kid! Hey, kid! I'm not a zombie. Stop
fighting me or we're both gonna get dead." He finally stopped
struggling and looked at her. His wide chocolate eyes were filled
with fear as he took in the horde nearly surrounding them.

Dana turned him around and pointed. "See
that black SUV there at the curb? Run and open the back door and
climb inside. We're right behind you." His eyes took in Sarah and
Maggie. Sarah had to give him credit. He didn't even hesitate. He
just took off running.

The stench from so many decaying bodies made
Sarah gag. Her eyes watered. She could barely see to make it to the
vehicle as the boy disappeared inside. He tossed the blankets into
the cargo area, leaned out, and helped Sarah get Maggie in the back
seat, while Dana went around to the front passenger side. Dana
fired off two more rounds while Sarah dispatched what once appeared
to be a fireman, but now was missing both arms—one ripped from the
shoulder and the other at the elbow. Bones, muscle, and tissue hung
from the stumps.

Sarah jumped in beside Maggie, slamming the
door. The locks clicked into place as Meredith drove through the
mass of corpses. She tried to block out the sounds of flesh rending
and bones crunching. Maggie pressed herself against Sarah. The boy
moved closer to them and she put an arm around him as well. Other
than everyone's rapid breathing, no one uttered a sound until they
were clear of the mob.

A few street lights still burned and Sarah
took a minute to assess the boy. His creamy mocha complexion was
clear and he breathed easier than he had been. His clothes were
splattered with blood, but not enough for her to think he had been
bitten. When he realized he was under scrutiny, and had pressed
himself against her, he backed away to the far side of the seat,
trying to hide the fear that ate at all of them.

"I'm Sarah. This is Maggie." She rubbed the
still sobbing child's hair. Pointing, she said, "That's Dana. My
twin."

"Well, duh." He rolled his eyes and she
laughed. At least some things could still be counted on to be
normal.

"And the lady driving is Meredith." She
leaned toward him and whispered loud enough for it to carry to the
front seat. "But don't call her Mere. She hates that. Right, Mere."
She laughed again as the woman gave a weak glare via the rearview
mirror. It felt good to laugh. But she was afraid if she laughed
too much she might not stop. Instead, she turned to their newest
passenger. "What's your name?"

"Dexter." He looked at her with resignation.
"Yeah, I know, but my mom named me that before the show. Most
people call me Dex."

"Hi, Dex. How old are you? You handled
yourself pretty well back there." Dana faced them, peering around
her seat.

He snorted. "Yeah. I let a girl beat my a—"
He looked over at Maggie. ". . . butt."

"Yeah, but this girl has training. It's been
a while, but I still have a few moves. My sister there, now she's
awesome. She's kept up the training and can whip grown men's . . .
butts." She winked. "She's already kicked a few today and saved my
behind."

"Yep. And she saved mine right back. We make
a pretty good team." Sarah looked down at the girl in her arms. She
had exhausted herself crying and now slept, although she whimpered
occasionally. She adjusted Maggie so she sat across her lap and
cradled her. Looking back at Dex she asked, "So how old are
you?"

"Eleven. I'll be twelve next month." He
pulled his shoulders back, making himself appear bigger. "How old
is she?"

"Not sure yet. We'll have to wait until she
wakes up. I'm guessing about five. What do you think?"

"Yeah. I have a cousin about her age." He
leaned against the seat, lost in his thoughts.

"We'll try to get you back to your family
soon."

"My mom died when I was a baby. I was living
with my grandma, but . . ." He blinked back tears. "The zombies got
her."

"I'm so sorry. We'll see if we can find any
of your family as soon as we can. If we can't, you're always
welcome with us." Dana reached back to pat his knee.

The vehicle made a turn and slowed. "Look,
the doors are boarded up. I guess that means someone's in there."
Meredith pulled the car to a stop in front of the red brick
building. "So what do you think?"

"I think I'm exhausted. And if someone's in
there, it has to be someone who has a keycard since the building
wasn't open today except for a few supervised kid visits. If
they've got the windows boarded, then hopefully they've cleared the
courthouse, so that's one less thing we have to do. Right?"

The running engine was the only sound for a
few moments. "Yeah. I think we should try it. What do you think,
Dex?"

He looked surprised Dana had asked him.
"Let's do it."

"There's the underground garage that's
restricted to Judges. Let's see if we can get in that way."
Meredith eased the truck around the building and down an enclosed
ramp which made it difficult to see if one didn't know it existed.
She stopped outside the gate. "I put my bag in the back earlier,
along with my purse. Could you find my purse for me, Dex?"

"You have a keycard for the gate?" Sarah
looked at Meredith's smirk in the mirror. "Of course you do." She
watched Dex hand over the purse.

"Franklin gave it to me not too long ago."
She mentioned the name of a judge whom she had wrapped around her
finger long before Sarah started work there. While the other judges
loved her, she could never get Franklin Montoya to cut her any
slack. No doubt he had been influenced by Meredith's dislike of
her. Sarah shook her head. None of that mattered anymore. Not a lot
she had deemed important previously mattered any longer.

"Thank goodness he did. I hope the code
reader is still working," Sarah said.

Meredith lowered her window and inserted the
card. Everyone let out the breath they had been holding when the
large gate rumbled upward. It started closing as soon as they were
inside.

Before they could park, a door opened up and
three men rushed outside brandishing assault rifles, yelling. "Keep
your hands where we can see them! Stay in the car! Stay in the
car!"

A
gasp caught in her
throat, but she teared up when she recognized the men. "Well, I
feel better already." A collective sigh filled the interior of the
car. Sarah pressed the button; her window slowly lowered. "Eric?
It's Sarah."

A large man with deeply tanned skin,
six-feet, two-inches and close to two hundred pounds, lowered his
weapon and moved toward her. The other two stood guard.

"Sarah?" He leaned in the window, cupping
her face in his hands. "Thank God." He opened the door his gaze
taking in the other passengers. He motioned to the other men. "It's
okay. It's Sarah and Meredith. And someone who looks a lot like
Sarah." He smiled briefly. "You must be Dana."

"I must be." She smiled back at him. "So
you're Eric. The man my sister has been going on and on about for
the past six months. Eric this and Eric that—" She rounded the SUV
to stand beside her Sarah.

"Dana! What the heck?" After all they had
been through, and now she wanted nothing more than for the floor to
swallow her.

Eric's laugh echoed in the garage. "Six
months. Really? We've only been on two dates in the last month and
I had to work my butt off for those." Amusement shone in his dark
brown eyes.

"Well, one thing you can say about our Sarah
. . . she ain't easy."

"I am so gonna get you for that." She bumped
Dana's hip and changed the subject. "So it looks like you guys have
things under control here."

"Took a while, but it's secure for now.
Let's get you inside."

"Good. Cause I really don't feel well."
Meredith slumped in her seat.

"Meredith? You okay?" Sarah touched her
shoulder.

"Yeah. I will be. I just need to lie down
for a while."

"Well let's get you all inside."

The other two men came forward. Eric tried
to take Maggie from her, but the girl gripped her tightly even in
sleep. "It's okay, I've got her."

He grabbed Meredith's bag and tossed the
blankets, pillows and jackets to Robert, one of the other Sheriff's
deputies. Theodore helped Meredith from the truck and hopped in,
adjusted the driver's seat and backed the SUV into a spot near the
door.

Once inside, Eric led them down a stark
cream-colored hallway and stopped at a bulky metal door. His
keycard opened it quickly and he motioned them inside. Sara stood
there looking from the door to the keycard. "If the electricity
goes out..."

"We won't be trapped in there," Eric said.
"There's a manual override as well as keys for every room and
cell."

Once inside, the door clanged shut behind
them. It was a large space with twenty cells where prisoners were
held when they had court cases pending. A bulky metal door closed
it off to the rest of the building. No one would be able to get
through it easily. The section also housed the building's security
equipment. Outside and inside views showed up on several monitors,
some in night vision green.