The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (7 page)

“Yeah, everyone loves Nick.” I chuckled. “Well, maybe not the gang who ran him over the bridge.”

Asia laughed. “Yeah, definitely not them, but they were just jealous and wanted to run things. That’s why they gave you all that trouble back at the nursing home.”

“Probably.”

“Hey, Dean?”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve made mistakes, and you’re still learning the ropes, but deep in my heart, I believe you’re destined for something great. Not everything and everyone in the world is still hopeless.”

My face beamed. “Thanks. Nice to have your vote of confidence.”

She glanced over at me, taking her eyes off her assigned coordinates for only a moment. “You know what movie character you remind me of?”

“Hmm. Rambo? Rocky? Dirty Harry?” I said.

She laughed. “I think you’re more like that kid, John Connor, in those
Terminator
movies.”

“Not exactly who I had in mind.” I shook my head as she smiled. “So you think I’m a rebellious teenager?”

“No, but you are a rebel, of sorts, and you have a mission in life. John Connor might have grown up to declare war on the machines, but Dean Walters is gonna lead the rebellion against these freakin’ zombies.”

“But I thought you said you don’t think we’ll ever get our world back. You must think I’ll suck as a leader or something.”

She smiled. “Meh, maybe I’m having a change of heart. Maybe fate has destined you to lead humanity into a glorious new zombie-free existence.”

I was flattered to know that Asia didn’t think of me as a bumbling idiot like my brother, that she saw me as a leader. I felt honored. She was so beautiful, and I couldn’t help being attracted to her. It felt like a mistake to be on that roof with her alone, especially when I was so tempted to kiss her.

“John Connor, huh? Hmm. That’s pretty deep,” Kate said from below, letting us know she’d been eavesdropping. “Nice of you to stroke Dean’s ego, Asia, but I’d feel a whole lot safer if I knew you were paying more attention to the woods than to flirting with Mr. Connor reincarnate.”

“Sorry, Kate,” she said, staring at me with the most beautiful smile on her face. “You can relax. My eyes are right back where they’re supposed to be.”

I let out a nervous laugh, like a little boy with a schoolyard crush.

“Um, Dean, how about you take a turn patrolling down here?” Kate asked. “Maybe I can face my fears and come sit with Asia up there for a little while.”

“Sure thing.” I shot Asia one last smile, did my best Arnold impression and said, “I’ll be back,” then climbed down the ladder.

Kate and Jackie were good friends and had bonded back when Jackie was sure she’d lost Claire forever. Kate had lost her sister, and she was so supportive to Jackie. I knew Kate was worried that something might transpire on that roof that would hurt Jackie, and it really was for the best that I was taken out of that situation.

We finished our patrol without any problems, and I went to sleep in the upstairs bedroom by the bathroom, dreaming of robots and zombies and rebellions.

***

“Wake up!” Nick said. “It’s morning, time to go.” He jerked the dusty curtains open, and a bright beam of sunlight shot straight into my sleepy eyes.

I threw the covers over my eyes. “Nick!”

“Get up!” he said, yanking the covers off of me.

I slipped into my pants as my eyes adjusted to the light. “What time is it?”

“All I can tell ya is that it’s dawn.”

“Breakfast anybody?” Jackie asked, opening the door with a big smile.

She was a radiant vision, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” She handed me Vienna sausages on a plate, along with a tall glass of water.

I smiled. “Oh, yum.”

“Breakfast of champions,” she said with a smirk.

Nick shot her a look. “What is this? The Ritz-Carlton? We’ve got no time for room service and breakfast in bed. We need to get our butts outta here.”

She didn’t even back down from him. “Calm down, Nick. It’s finger food. He can eat it on the run.”

“Dean, for goodness’ sake, get up and get dressed and packed!” Nick ordered like a drill sergeant. “We need to get a move-on, people.” He raced out the door and stormed down the stairs.

I caught Jackie staring at my chest and smiled.

She smiled back, then picked up my shirt from the ground and tossed it to me. “C’mon. We’d better get going before your big brother has an aneurism.”

I couldn’t help noticing the soft waves in her hair. “You look beautiful,” I said. “You’re such a sight for sore eyes.”

“I found a brush and got eight hours of beauty sleep,” she said. “I guess it’s good that our fearless leader deemed me a risk to the group.”

I pulled my boots on and threw on a jacket. “I’ll talk to Nick about that, Jackie. I’m sure you would have turned already if you were going to turn at all.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“He said something about packing, but what am I supposed to pack? We didn’t find much here, other than a flashlight, a shotgun, and lemonade.”

She kissed my lips. “The little we do have was packed an hour ago, but I do have some bad news.”

“What?” I asked, grabbing my bat.

“Lucas’s wound is starting to seep, like it’s infected. We need to find some antibiotics and fresh bandages.”

“All right. We’ll find something.”

Jackie handed me a small black photo album. “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“I found a bunch of empty albums in one of the drawers, so I took one and put it to good use.”

I smiled. “Those Polaroids!”

She grinned. “Yeah. It only holds about fifteen pictures, so I picked our best shots of the gang and the ones of you and me. I used the rest of the photos to make an album for Claire. I know we can’t afford to haul too many personal luxury items around, but they’re not too big or bulky.”

I kissed her again. “I love it. Thanks.” I glanced down at the first page and read the inscription she’d written: “Victims or survivors. It’s our choice, and judging by these pictures, we choose to smile, to laugh, to protect, to love…and to survive. Stay strong and never give up. Love, Jackie.”

I ran my finger over the words, then closed the album and put it deep in my coat pocket for safekeeping; I knew it was something I would cherish forever, especially in those difficult moments, when I needed to look back on happier ones.

As we headed down the stairs and out the door, I did a quick sweep to make sure we hadn’t left anything behind. We found our friends sitting on the front porch. The birds were chirping songs to greet the morning, the sky was bright blue, and the sun was shining; for a moment, I felt the false illusion that the world was normal again—that everything was okay and peaceful and beautiful and that reincarnated dead were not roaming the planet, devouring people. I quickly shook off the feeling, because I knew what was really in store for us: zombies, death, and gore.

Lucas glanced around. “Quick, somebody check and see if there are some striped socks sticking out from under the cabin!” he shouted.

“What?” Val asked, looking at him in confusion.

“Look at this out here, all peaceful and sunny and perfect, with no teeming hordes of dead or ravenous loner zombies to fend off. It’s like we’ve landed in Oz or something. Tell me, Val, are you really a good witch?”

“Shut up, Lucas,” she said, playfully punching him. “Glad
some
body’s in a good mood.”

“Meh, why shouldn’t we be? We’ve gotta accept life for what it is now. I’ve already said goodbye to my old life, and we just gotta make the best of things.”

“Sorry, but I disagree. I can’t accept zombies roaming our planet,” Val said. “I still have hope that we’ll find our Oz again,” Val said sternly.

“No use living in a dream, Val. There is no somewhere over the rainbow. Heck, there aren’t even any rainbows. That’s our reality now. This beautiful, sunshiny morning is just…a façade. It’s just a cover-up for the filthy sickness that lies beneath.”

“Gosh, Lucas. How can you be in such a good mood, so blasé about all this, and still be so depressing?” She leaned into him and sighed.

Lucas pulled her in for a hug. “Don’t worry. We’ll get through it either way,” he said. “I’m not blasé. I’ve simply accepted the reality, but I refuse to be depressed all the time. Those corpses have taken enough from me already. They won’t take my spirit—or my jokes.”

“Well, your spirit’s one thing, but as for your so-called jokes…” Val said, smiling up at him with weary eyes.

“Ha! Very funny.” He smiled back at her briefly, and then a serious look came over his face. “Look, I know how tired you are, how tired we all are. It’s exhausting to live like this, but we’ll survive. We have to.”

“I know, but it gets hard sometimes. It’s just so…ugly.”

Lucas smiled. “All we can do is make the most of life and try not to dwell in all the death all around us.”

“Hey, Dean,” Asia said, leaning against the railing with the rifle slung over her shoulder.

I smiled. “Mornin’.”

“I didn’t think you were ever gonna get up.”

I ran a hand through my messy hair. “Were you guys waiting on little ol’ me?”

Claire threw an arm around my neck. “That would be a yes.”

“Man, I’m sorry. I was just…beat.”

She motioned me to be quiet as Lucas cleared his throat, requesting our attention.

“People, we had a good night, with a few laughs and some beauty sleep, which some of us apparently needed more than others,” he said, looking at me and smirking. “Now, I can’t promise every night will go as smoothly, but we’ve gotta take the good moments when we can get ‘em. Hopefully, you’re all well rested, because we’ve got quite a hike ahead of us. Does everyone have a weapon?”

I gripped my Louisville Slugger, and everyone else held up their own weapons and nodded. We’d managed to put together quite a zombie-bashing arsenal for a ragtag army, and that made me feel better.

Lucas walked over and threw a black bag over my shoulder. “Think you can handle carrying some supplies, bro?”

I grunted a little when he surprised me with the bag, but then I nodded. “No problem.”

He continued, “We split everything up so everybody’s carrying equal weight.”

“Let me take yours too. You’re still pretty banged up,” I said, nodding toward the bandage on his injured shoulder.

“Naw, I’m good. God gave me two of ‘em, and my other shoulder’s fine, man.”

I gripped his arm. “Lucas, I know you think you’re invincible, but you’ve got an infection. I’m taking that bag, whether you like it or not.”

“I appreciate that,” he said, taking his bag back, “but I can handle it.”

I shrugged, realizing he was not going to be outmanned. “Fine, but if it gets too heavy or—”

“It won’t,” he said with a grin, then walked off.

“Move ‘em out, people,” Nick barked, sounding like the military officers who’d trained him, and we were off into the woods behind him, ready to face another treacherous journey.

Chapter 6

We snaked through the forest of towering trees, winding through the labyrinth of fallen logs and hedges and underbrush. As we marched along, my shoes squished in the soft, spongy earth. Shafts of sunlight penetrated the thick canopy over our heads, and I stared at the feathery shadows on the ground. My thoughts threatened to consume me, but when Jackie caught my gaze and smiled, I returned the grin.

Suddenly, her smile faded, and her expression grew more serious. “Hear that?”

I whipped my head around and listened intently, catching the sound that had her so unsettled: wild footsteps crunching through the forest. Shivers ran down my spine, and we exchanged worried glances.

Jackie stiffened and spun around. She swept an uneasy glance around the trees, her senses on full alert. Everyone else began to hear it too. With his eyebrows raised, Nick stared at the direction of the sound. Asia looked through the scope of her rifle, aiming at the area of the disturbance.

I wrapped my fingers tightly around the bat, ready to hit a grand slam with the head of any undead freak who got in my way. Just as Nick moved a few towering weeds aside, a chill shot up my spine. It was suddenly eerily quiet, except for the sound of several of us taking calming, deep breaths.

In a blur, something broke through the
vegetation in a sprint. The deer staggered toward us and crashed to the ground. When I looked closer, I could see blood flowing from a gaping wound on the animal’s furry head and neck, and a second later, the doe closed her big brown eyes and stopped moving. I looked her over and saw that her stomach was ripped open; she’d practically been gutted. I
cleared my throat and swallowed to try to ease the dryness, but even that didn’t help. I felt so horrible for the deer and even worse for us.

“
Oh my gosh!” Jackie said. “What happened to her?”

“
Definitely not deer hunters,” Asia added. “Some
thing
killed it, and it wasn’t a bullet or arrow.”