Surviving The Aftermath (Book 1): The Dead Linger (11 page)

“Let’s do this bitch!” Jill said venomously as she was rearing back to kick his balls up through head. Jeff was definitely surprised by her sudden change, from chick to scary girl in a matter of seconds. With his hesitation, that bought Jack enough time to complete a diving tackle over a table of plants at Jeff. Slamming both guys into another table, Jeff’s back taking the brunt of the blow and all the fight out of him.

They scuffled on the floor for minute or two while Tom and Kurt ran over pull them apart, Casey bent down to help pick Jill up. She stood slowly while watching what was happening. Tom and Kurt had a hold of Jeff as he hunched over in pain and started bringing him to the door.

“Don’t worry about this dirt bag, they have a holding cell in the security room. Probably held feisty shoplifters back in the day, but now you’ll get comfy there won’t ya?” Kurt said giving him a biff on the back of the head and yanking hard on Jeff’s one arm with Tom on the other arm. As they were walking him by Jill, he gave her a knowing smirk, and that was enough to put Jill over the edge as she cocked her hip and kicked her foot out, planting that foot square in his junk. With a new burning pain and puking sensation now running through Jeff’s stomach he was doubled over in pain the whole way out and across the yard. Jill’s adrenaline now slowing down she had to grab a seat and with her hands shaking she slumped as Casey managed to grab her quick before she fell to the floor.

“Are you ok? You’re bleeding. I should go get Beth.” Jack said looking over Jill’s face.

“Yeah see if she’s in her room. We’ll probably need some ice.” Casey was telling Jack as he sprinted off with his new mission.

“Maybe we should lay you down or something. Do you need some water?” He was walking her over to sit down on some bags of soil against the wall.

“Did you want to . . . .  talk about it or need to cry?” Casey asked hoping she’d talk about anything at the moment because he wasn’t sure if he could handle her tears or listening to what that jack ass Jeff was obviously trying to do to her. He noticed the two of them come in here and thought it weird so he and the others followed, obviously not fast enough though. If Jack hadn’t been blocking his path going in the door way, it would have been him kicking Jeff’s ass. He probably would have thrown him through the glass, so it might have better Jack tore after him.

“No…..I’m fine….” Jill tried to say without it sounding to forced or uncomfortable. She could feel the burn behind her eyes, her hands still shaking, she was about to cry and she didn’t want to. Not in front of Casey, she was still embarrassed and mad from their last conversation. She stood up, man her legs were shaky, and she started to wipe her face some and turned to walk away when Casey was there right behind her. He gently put his hands on her shoulders and turned her and tried to hug her, but she wasn’t being totally cooperative and tried to shove Casey away, but eventually she gave up and let him hold her while she silently cried some. They just stood there, not talking, Casey slowly stroking her back hoping to soothe her. After a few minutes he tilted Jill’s head back to look at her face, reluctant at first but eventually giving in she looked up at him. Casey could see the bruise developing under her eye and her lip was split a little. Knowing now wasn’t the best time, he still wanted to kiss her and unsure where this sudden urge to kiss came from, he leaned forward a bit and touched his lips to hers. Neither person seemed to really know what was happening but they went with it. Casey brought his other hand up to Jill’s unmarred cheek and he held her face there while he kissed her slow and gently. It had been a while for both of them.

“I should have kicked his ass when I had the chance. Why did you guys stop me, I could have taken him.” Jack now pacing back and forth, the party had moved to outside the greenhouse so Beth could better attend to Jill.

“That guy would have mangled you. He’s bigger and has experience from being an asshole on his side.” Casey told him.

“That’s Bullshit!” Jack said shoving Casey back and he let himself take the shove. He understood Jack’s frustration in having seen what he couldn’t prevent. It challenged the male ego and pride, guys usually felt the need to hit something after that. It must go back to the Neanderthal days of grunting and club wielding. 

“He’s right.” Jill said as Beth administered a little antiseptic and she was holding an ice pack against her cheek.

“You surprised him with that flying squirrel tackle, so you had the upper hand for a bit, but it wouldn’t have taken long before he pinned you down beat your ass.” Jill finished. She was ready to just go somewhere quiet for a bit.

“Oh knock it off about the ass kicking.” Beth now stepping in. “Things could have been a lot worse, so Jack be happy you got to help, and Casey be happy you didn’t have to throw anyone off the roof.” She said with her voice rising and noticed the surprised look on his face, like getting his hand caught in the cookie jar. “Yes I can read your mind, if Jacky here hadn’t jumped in first that Jeff guy would be laying on the parking lot pavement right now. So shut up and let’s be thankful everyone is still alive.” Beth finished her sermon and continued checking Jill out.

“Guys! Guys, look at this!” Meghan, Beth’s daughter, came rushing to the edge of the roof and was shouting down at the group. “You have to come see this, quick!” She said excitedly. Everyone managed to get to the roof without too much trouble.

“Why are they so riled up?” Jack asked observing the raucous below. Everyone was now looking over into the parking lot at all the zombies now starting to file in, making angry noises, hungry noises, grunts shouts emanating from below. Some were ambling fast, others barely able to walk, a few dragging a limb, while others had no limbs at all, and just grotesque figures staggering towards the building.

“Why are there suddenly so many, could they hear us?” Jill asked seriously confused.

“No.” Casey was looking on and was starting to feel defeated. “It’s getting warmer out, smells travel farther, the Zeds thaw out from the harsh winter up north, they sense us maybe, who knows. But last summer was vicious, and it’s definitely getting worse and far more crowded around here. I thought we would have had at least another week or two before it got bad, but there must be more of them out there now.” Casey said.

“What do you mean more?” Jack asked.

“More. As in more new ones, as in more human survivors that use to be alive, that are now mindless flesh eating zombies. People that could have been hiding out within miles of us and we couldn’t find them so now there here anyway.” Casey said, clearly upset now. He’d always thought maybe a year or two of surviving and then things would start to look up again. Maybe the government would start sorting stuff out. But each month, and now each year passed and it just started looking more and more bleak. Hopeless. Watching them stumble through the empty parking lot, closer to the building almost single file like, as if it were Thanksgiving and they needed that one last item to complete their perfect dinner only to find the grocery store closed. A few sprinters spotted them up on the roof and screamed with rage as they began to haul ass towards the building. Casey called in some orders on his walkie talkie to let the others know they were having company and quick. This was a process that was long, many days and weeks, and it lasted day and night. It made it difficult to travel in and out of the place. And this is when lots of people died. Casey had worked hard with the others over the winter to make stuff extra secured, in hopes that they wouldn’t lose anyone this summer. Now they would see if how their efforts fair.

“Where are you going?” Jill said as Casey starting walking to a locked shed that they had constructed on the roof that held weapons.

“We’ve got to start thinning them out because in a matter of minutes they might overwhelm the fences. Trust me, this has happened before with dire results. We’ve got to jump on this and now.” Casey told them as the stairwell door opened up from the store below and about ten more men and women were on the roof suited up in there ragtag zombie killing garb and grabbing weapons.

“No firearms yet, just see what you can do with this stuff.” He told them as people started grabbing there weapon of choice and started setting up along the rooftop. There were sandbags placed all along the edge to give people a place to set up and fire from and to rest. Most would be there all night with runners to fetch more ammo, food and or drink. They would switch out when the shooter would declare himself too tired to continue, then they’d go and try to get some rest and another runner would be up in place. It was a decent system that had been proven to work.

“What do you need us to do?” Jack now very anxious to help, asked Casey.

“Go downstairs and find Andy, he’ll let you know.” He said

“Wait  . . . . . . what?!!?” Jill confused over hearing the exchange between Casey and Jack just now.

“No.” She said and grabbed on to Jack’s arm before he could get away. “He’s not going anywhere, what’s happening?” Still confused.

“I’m on the security team now, it’s cool.” Jack told her obviously shocked face.

“You didn’t tell her?” Casey looked at Jack who looked down at his shoes. “We offered him a job, I guess you could call it, with Andy and Mike and the rest of the crew, he told us he would tell you right away so there wouldn’t be confusion.” Casey went on to finish.

“We’ll that conversation failed to happen. The boy is only seventeen, and sheltered over the last year. What makes you think he can do any of this stuff you guys do.” Jill starting to get emotional and worried about Jack’s safety, angry now for even caring about Jack at all. Jack was now looking at her hurt and offended. Casey was already geared up for this conversation and was getting ready to give her a rebuttal.

“You know what . . . . . . “ Jill cutting everyone else off before this conversation went somewhere she didn’t want it to go.

“He’s nothing to me, do whatever the hell you like Jack.” There was no relation what so ever. They were friends she supposed, they’d known each other a handful of months. She had no say in what he wanted or did. So she walked away with her ice pack, leaving the two guys and everyone else looking after her then, at each other. She nearly plowed into Kurt and Tom as they came up to the roof.

“Dude what’s gotten into her? Did you guys have a fight or something? We were seriously only gone a few minutes.” Tom said walking up pointing his thumb back over his shoulder.

“No, she just found out about Jack helping us out.” Casey said knowing somehow he’d have to fix this.

“I don’t understand what just happened.” Jack said still looking at the door that just Jill went through.

“She views you as a little brother Jack, whether you like it or not, she’s grown attached to you and she cares for you. She doesn’t want you hurt and knows that you can die from this, even a scratch means she’ll have to shoot you in the head.” Beth told all the men and was with silence and perplexed looks.

“You got all of that, from the little bit she said?” Jack asked pointing first at her then to where Jill retreated.

“Yeah, maybe she’s so attached she wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger on you either.” Kurt muttered. As the conversation about Jill settled down and everyone got down to work, Beth went back down, mostly to get the scoop from Jill about the kiss she witnessed prior to all the hull-a-bah-lu. If Jack had been any closer behind her while they were going into the greenhouse he would have ruined the whole mood and they would have been both embarrassed.

‘Tyler I want to go with you, let’s just go now. Screw my folks, let’s go tonight with everyone distracted. Just me and you baby. We don’t need Jeff, he’s a jerk anyways. He was always trying to get into my pants.” She whined on. “But you know I’d only let you. I love you.” She stroked his face to reassure him. Tyler was so torn. He liked Cindi, but leaving Jeff behind was a big decision. What if Jeff got out and found out about this new plan? Jeff would kill him for sure. No, he had to stick to the original plan, but first he had to free Jeff.

“Baby you know I love you too, but we have to stay here a bit longer. We don’t have enough stuff yet. How will I feed you or protect you?”

“You need guns?” Cindi asked excitedly. “I’ll get you guns, anything you want or need.” This interested Tyler immediately.

“Really? You can get that stuff? How?”

“My daddy.” She said plainly. “I can get whatever I want, I’m his princess.” She said with a sunshine smile.

Tyler put his arms around her and kissed her neck. “That sounds good to me. We’ve got a SUV all picked out. I’ll show you where we are stashing everything and then you and I can move the stuff.” He continued kissing her neck and fondling her through her shirt. How lucky could he get that he found a girl so easy and with no hang ups. He still remembered that first night and how easy she was to get into bed. A couple of sweet nothings whispered in the ear and she was like melted butter.

Trying to pull away from kissing her Tyler said. “Honey we still have to be careful. If your dad or mom find out about us, you know they will try and keep us apart.” He was now trying to put some separation between the two of them in case anyone was out here.

“But I want you so bad. I say to hell with them. Who cares if they know, I’m and adult, if I want to be with you it’s my choice. People hook up around here all the time.” She put her arms back around Tyler to try and kiss him again. That’s when two women walked about, they were chatting and appeared not to notice the lovebirds, but Tyler still shoved Cindi away quick.