The Undead World (Book 2): The Apocalypse Survivors (29 page)

“The truck is high-centered,”
Shondra said. “We can’t leave it. We’ll die out there.”

Ram spun once looking at the truck, before glancing to the hordes that he had led away. They were heading back and weren’t being slow about it. “Can you fix this?” Ram asked the little girl.

She had stepped away from the truck and now was looking at it with her lips tight together; under her arm she carried a stuffed animal. She nodded. “I think so, but we’ll need some time.”

“I’ll give it to you,” Ram declared and then spun about again. He headed right for the mob of undead, turning at the last moment to lead them away.

“Have you tried putting it in four-wheel drive?” Jillybean asked. “That’s when all the wheels go at once. You see with your truck, it’s only the back wheels what are up off the ground.”

Shondra
looked at her dashboard, searching. “I don’t think it has four-wheel drive,” she said at last.

Jillybean made a face of disappointment and then unexpectedly said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a stupid truck. We still have to get it off of there.”

The two adults glanced at each other, before Sarah asked, “How old are you?”

“Six and three-quarters,” Jillybean answered by rote. Her mind was clearly somewhere else. She squatted down and looked at the truck’s undercarriage, she then climbed up the back to peer in
to the bed. “We need some help back here," the girl said. "Whichever one of you is stronger.”

Sarah was the younger by twenty years. She hopped out of the truck and hurried into the bed where Jillybean stood pointing at the spare tire. “Can you pick that up?”

“I…probably,” Sarah said. The tire was much heavier than it looked, and it looked very heavy. First they cleared a path through the chaos in the back of the truck then the two heaved it to a standing position and rolled it off.

“
I need you to put this extra tire under one of the tires that’s off the ground,” Jillybean instructed. Sarah saw what was needed and together they shoved the spare onto the median beneath the jacked up tire, but unfortunately they were inches too short. “The two tires have to be able to touch!” the little girl said emphatically. She was clearly getting nervous at how long the operation was taking. “We need some boards or wood or anything flat.”

There was nothing in the bed that would serve. In vain, they pushed aside the heavy fuel cans and the water jugs and the boxes of canned goods that had been haphazardly thrown in the back. Their surroundings weren’t any help either.

“What about a shovel?” Jillybean asked suddenly. “Ipes says we can build a quick mound of dirt that could do the trick.”

“Ipes?” Sarah asked.

At that moment, Shondra gasped and pointed behind them. Mistaking this for a good thing, Sarah turned, excited, hoping that Ram had returned, instead she was confronted with more zombies heading their way.

“What do we do?”
Shondra asked.

It was clear what they had to do. Sarah ran for her gun, pausing only to kiss Eve. When she got back to the end of the truck the little girl was acting strange.

“Come on, Ipes! Tell me what to do,” she demanded. “I told you we don’t have anything that’ll go under there. What? The gas? It’s too big. Oh, I get it…excuse me. Ipes has an idea. If we can’t raise the mound we can lower the truck.”

“You’re going to let the air out of the tires?” Sarah asked. “Will that
even work?”

“No,” Jillybean said matter-of-factly. “That’ll make it worse by increasing the angle. What we need is everything in the back piled as far to the rear as possible. If we’re lucky then the truck will tip rearward the few inches we need.”

The two women immediately started to climb into the truck forcing Jillybean to remind them of the zombies. Shondra hopped down. The zombies were straggling up and her .38 was good for this sort of work. She began killing them one at a time, while Sarah heaved the gas and the water to the back.

Jillybean watched for a minute, but then she said in a monotone, “Ipes says to put down the tailgate. I think it’s that thing.” She pointed vaguely at the back of the truck. She then walked away and came back toting Eve in her arms. “Whose baby is this? She was crying.”

Sarah almost choked to see this strange girl holding her baby without permission. Eve always seemed like such a tiny thing, but in the little girl’s arms she looked to be the size of a sack of potatoes and the girl was holding her like one.

“Oh hey, Honey, don’t,” Sarah said. “You can’t just pick up someone’s baby. She was fine.”

“She was crying,” Jillybean explained. “I forgot to mention, you need to put that stuff on the tailgate.” She went to point, but almost dropped the baby. “Oh, sorry. I’m pretty good with babies, normally, you can trust me.”

“It’s not you,” Sarah lied, hopping down and taking back Eve. “She’s just safer in the truck. What if a zombie comes up? You see?”

“I have magic marbles,” Jillybean said.

It took a moment for the words to sink in, though understanding failed to. Sarah asked, “Magic what? Marbles? Babies can’t have marbles. They’ll choke on them.”

Jillybean sighed. “You don’t get it. The marbles are used against the monsters. You see? Not babies. And especially not this baby. She is supposed to be my little sister.”

Sister! Who was this kid? None of what the girl was saying made any sense and it caused Sarah to stand there speechless. Eventually, Jillybean sighed again and pointed at the truck. “It’s ready. Ipes says to floor it, which means go fast. I’ll hold the baby if you want.”

“That's ok, but, thank you,” Sarah said and put the baby back on the floor, making sure to bundle her tight. She then started the truck and easily drove it off the median. In minutes the back of the truck was righted and a shaking Shondra was in the passenger seat, while a quiet Jillybean sat in the back.

“Are you worried about Ram?” Sarah asked
the little girl. “You shouldn’t be. He’s an extremely capable person, he can take care of himself.”

“He can’t, not really,” Jillybean replied. “He
's like everyone else. He can’t take care of himself.”

Figuring it was best not to get into an argument with
her, Sarah only smiled briefly before turning back to the road. They found Ram minutes later. Amazingly he was leading a black Range Rover that she recognized immediately—it was Mark’s SUV!

With a feeling of wild joy, Sarah was out of the truck in a flash and running to see her husband and Sadie…only Sadie wasn’t there, and Neil looked like he was about to throw up.

In less than a minute, he explained how Sadie had been kidnapped by a, as he put it, “crazy-assed cult” and was being held against her will. “They’ll trade for her though,” Neil said as a way of re-assuring Sarah. She had been feeling lighter and lighter in the head with every word her husband uttered.

“But we don’t have anything
to trade,” Sarah cried. How quick she had gone from joy to crushing despair. She felt like she’d stepped off a cliff.

“No,” Neil said, taking her hand. “They don’t want stuff. They want…” Just then he noticed
Shondra and Jillybean for the first time. He pointed at the two females. “They’ll trade for one of them.”

Chapter 29

Neil

Atlanta, Georgia

“Hell no!”
Shondra exclaimed.

The six of them, Eve was snoring contentedly in the F-250 now that the shooting was over, stood in the middle of an intersection just down the street from the CDC.
Shondra still held her .38 Police Special; before it had been an afterthought, now she gripped it with two hands, though she kept it clutched to her bosom.

“You can’t make me join into some cult,” she insisted.

Neil put out his hands hoping to calm her. It didn’t work. His hands shook and his eyes were big circles of crazy. Out of fear for his daughter, he was beyond desperation and into a territory of mental aberration he had never experienced before.

“No, it’s not a cult,” he pleaded. “I misspoke. They believe in God, sure, but that doesn’t make them a cult. It’s actually really cool. They have this underground city that is completely safe and the people are happy. And they have food! I didn’t mention the food before. They have so much food that some people are getting kind of chubby.”

All this spewed out of his mouth in seconds as the sentences accordioned in on themselves, running one over the other.

In the gloom of night,
Shondra’s normally dark face was impossible to read, but her tone spoke volumes. “I’m sure it’s just lollipop heaven,” she said, sarcastically. “If it’s so great then why doesn’t Sadie want to stay?”

“Because,” Neil said, his mind floundering. “She is…uh. They want to…uh. I don’t know. She wants to be with her family?”

“Find somebody else to trade,” Shondra stated flatly.

Just then that somebody else spoke up. “Excuse me,” Jillybean said, raising her hand as if she were at school. “There are monsters coming from right over there.” She
indicated at an open area; there were indeed a few zombies heading toward them. Everyone followed her pointing finger, but Neil.

He stared at
Jillybean in amazement. She was a miracle in his eyes. This was how he was going to get his Sadie back—he just had to play his cards right. With Shondra he had let his emotions and the crazy sensation that was overwhelming his thinking show on his face. With this girl he would try another track. The little girl wasn’t just thin, she looked as if she had just been liberated from a concentration camp. Her eyes were wide and blue in her thin face, while her cheek bones rose up like little apples. Even the bones and cartilage in her neck stood out in rings beneath her tight skin.

“I wasn’t kidding about the food there,” he said quietly, wondering if this was how child molesters spoke. “I had the best meal in a year. We had sausage and eggs and toast with jelly. And milk! I bet they had strawberry milk too, but I didn’t ask. Do you like strawberry milk, uh…?”

“Jillybean,” she said.

Her odd name caused him to pause only a second. “Do you like strawberry milk, Jillybean?”

Before she could answer, Ram said, “Neil.” The one word carried a warning in it. Sarah stepped all over it. She pointed at the zombies and taking Ram’s arm she gave him a gentle nudge.

“Can you stop them, please?” she asked. “I’ve had enough of zombies for one night.” She looked it. Neil had never seen her more of a mess. Her entire front was covered in tar or oil, and her left hand dripped red blood, while her right was so black with zombie blood it looked as though she had fished about in the guts of one.

Ram glanced at her in surprise and answered. “Sure. Ok. I’ll be right back.”

The second he was gone Neil started back in immediately. “They ha
ve everything, Jillybean. Like I said they had chicken and hamburgers and milk and bread. Did I mention the bread? It smelled so good you wouldn’t believe. You like bread.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes, I do like bread,” Jillybean admitted, guardedly. “But that doesn’t mean…”

“And I forgot to mention the animals,” Neil said, interrupting. “They have flocks of sheep and cows and goats. Have you ever seen a baby goat? They are darling. I bet they’d let you pet them and feed them. Would you like that?”

She nodded but her face was in pain. “I do real bad, but Ipes says cults aren’t good for me. He says that if the black lady doesn’t like them and you don’t like them, then I shouldn’t like them.”

“Ipes?”

Sarah stepped to his side and pointed at the stuffed animal Jillybean carried. “It’s the zebra, I think.”

“Oh, Ipes said that?” Neil asked. “I bet Ipes didn’t know that Christianity was once called a cult too, and now I bet you’re a Christian. You celebrate Christmas, right?” When Jillybean nodded, Neil did too. “That makes you a Christian. I’m a Christian also. So you see a cult isn’t always bad…”

Shondra
made a noise of disgust and said, “I can’t believe you’re going to try trick a little girl into thinking cults are good things! If it’s so good, why don’t you want your daughter joining one?”

Neil’s eyes flared with heat. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Ask Mark. Did anyone look unhappy there, or scared, or abused?”

Mark stood edged in close, practically touching Neil. “The only person who was scared was Sadie. And it was probably because everything was so new,” he said.

“I’m not going to be a part of this bullshit,”
Shondra seethed. “I’ll wait in the truck until you’re done brainwashing this poor girl.”

For all his life Neil was a
nice guy
. But not then. The life of his daughter hung in the balance and so far he hadn’t said anything that wasn’t precisely untrue. “Then go,” he demanded. “Get the hell out of here, but don’t forget the girl. She’s your responsibility now, since you care so much.”

Shondra
hesitated as Neil knew she would. There were no secrets in a community as small as the CDC: Shondra could barely take care of herself. Even owning a cat was beyond her.

Neil sneered and said, “Go on. She’s yours. We all know Ram won’t keep her. That’s not the way he is. And I can’t take her; I have my own family to watch over. So it’s up to you to feed her and clothe her and protect her from the zombies. Go on, take her.” Neil even went so far as to give
Jilly a push in Shondra’s direction.

The black lady stepped back.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Neil said, making his own noise of disgust. He went to one knee and turned Jillybean to look her in the face; her skin was now so pale there was a spectral sheen to it. “Here’s the truth: I want my daughter back and she wants to come home. Do you understand, Jillybean? About family? Do you understand what a father would do to get his girl back?”

In the second before she could answer Ram arrived in mood that matched the black blood he was covered in. With one arm he yanked Neil to his feet. “You’ve got some nerve!” he bellowed so loudly that every zombie within a mile must have heard. Without effort he threw Neil to the ground and went to stand over him with his fists balled.

“He is right, Mister Ram,” Jillybean said in a voice that was as quiet as his had been loud. Everyone turned to stare. She stepped back squeezing the zebra tight to her chest. “My daddy would have done anything to save me.”

“That doesn’t give him the right to act this way,” Ram said.

“What way?” Neil demanded. “This is Sadie I’m talking about! Will you cast her away after everything she’s done for you? She risked her life for your baby for goodness sakes. Do you remember what you told her?” Ram’s anger wilted before their eyes. Neil went on, nodding, knowing that he had won, "You said if there was
anything
you could do to repay her, you would do it. This is something you could do, Ram."

The night was quiet save for the pattering of rain and the distant haunting moans that they had all come to live with.

“That baby is yours?” Jillybean asked Ram, her head wagging in confusion. “I thought she was his and hers.”

“It’s a long story,” Ram told her. “I had a woman and…”

Neil interrupted, “And he gave up his baby when she died. It’s not a long story. You told Sadie you could never repay her, but now you can. Ram, please, at least come look at this place before you make a decision.”

Sarah touched his arm, adding, “
And it's not like the CDC is safe anymore. It’s empty. The germs got out and everyone has runaway. We may be too close even now.”

“Then why the hell have we been standing here?”
Shondra asked, drawing a sleeve to her face.

“Because I need a girl,” Neil said. “This place Sadie is at may be a cult, but I don’t know if it’s a bad one. It’s weird. That’s the truth. The leader wants balance. He wants there to be a male for every female. It’s got something to do with harmony is all I know.”

“I’ll do it,” Jillybean said. Her face was down, her chin resting on her chest. “I thought I was going to live here, with you, Mister Ram, but…but you were going to give me away, weren’t you? You said I’d be a big sister. That means you were going to give me to these people.”

“I wanted you to have a family,” Ram told her. “A real family
, with a real mom and dad. Normally they’re not like this.”

She shook her head. “Ipes thinks you’re wrong and I do t
oo. They’re always like this, but only for their own babies….not for me. I think I want to go to the cult. It’s better than being alone.”

“No. I’ll take care of you. You won’t be alone,” Ram said. “Ever. I mean it.”

He went to one knee and the little girl crushed into him, but then she drew back, her face wet. “My daddy said that too, and you’re like him. You’ll end up dying for me and I’ll end up alone.” She pulled away completely and went to Neil. Without looking beyond the tips of her toes she held up a hand. “You’ll take me?”

The hand was so tiny and delicate. Neil was suddenly afraid to take it as if his touch would doom her
, as if his skin was poison, as if he was leading her to a sacrificial alter where she would be drained of what little blood her frail body possessed.

She saw the swift doubt and took his hand. “It’ll be ok as long as they let me keep Ipes. Do you think they will?”

Neil gave a shrug. “I don’t see why not.”

“Hold on!” Ram cried. “I haven’t okayed this. You just can’t take her.”

“I don’t know if you have any say so in this matter,” Neil shot back, standing as tall as he could, going stiff in the spine. “Ten minutes ago you were going to give her to Sarah and me. Are you now claiming some sort of parental right? We both know that alone you're not really father material." When Ram hesitated, Neil begged, “Come and look at their facilities before you make up your mind, please. That’s all I ask.”

Ram dropped his head, agreeing without a word.