The Zombie Zovels (Book 1): Zombie Suburbia (26 page)

Lane looked at her as if she was joking, and Stacey looked at me with pleading eyes.
“It's just... I get really lonely in here on my own, I don't have any friends.”
“I saw other girls in the cafeteria area.” Lane said.
I tried not to laugh. Of course Lane had seen the other girls.
“What, Meghan and her whore friends? No, thank you!” Stacey crossed her arms.
I looked up at Lane and held up my arms. “Go and meet Jasper and see what you think, if it doesn't
work out we can bunk together.... We
can
bunk together, right? There aren't any weird rules about
boys and girls sharing a cell is there?”
“Not that I know of. There's a couple on the lower level, it's all you can hear some nights. Jasper's
that way.” Stacey said, pointing again, practically pushing Lane out the door.
She spun around and beamed at me. “We can make a little bed on the floor for Ozma, and this door
slides across, it's a little stiff to push it manually, but it will keep her in the room during the night.”
“No, it's great.” I said, looking around. There was even a toilet hidden behind a curtain.
“Does that work?” I asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“I like what you've done with the place.”
She had draped voile over the walls, and made colorful creative paper butterflies and dangled them
from the ceiling, and made a curtain around the toilet.
“There are cubicle toilets downstairs, but I can't be bothered to walk all the way down there in the
middle of the night if I have to pee.”
“Lane will be pleased, he's always making bathroom trips in the night.”
“So is he really your brother?”
“No,” I laughed, leaning my bat against the wall, I didn't think I would be needing it anytime soon. I
kept my bag on me, I didn't know Stacey and I didn't want her going through my bag when my back
was turned, even is she did seem friendly.
“Are we allowed weapons inside?”
“Of course, how else are we going to defend ourselves if the zombies get inside?”
“What about guns?”
“Why, do you have a gun?”
I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her, I was still amazed Josh hadn't searched us.
“If you have a gun on you that's fine, a lot of people here carry their own guns, I don't have one,
though.”
Well, that cleared that up. I always felt safer with my gun nearby.
“Is Tammy around?”
“You know Tammy?”
“Yes, I'd love to see her.”
“Sure, I'll take you to her now.”
She walked the other way along the walkway and stopped at another cell.
A scrawny boy was sitting at a desk and Lane was leaning over him. They were looking at a comic
book. Lane's head whipped up and his eyes lit up.
“Alex, Alex, this is Jasper. Jasper this is Alex.”
Lane reminded me of an excited puppy dog.
“Hi.” I smiled at Jasper.
Jasper stood up, came over to me, and shook my hand. A little weird for a teenager, but I didn't say
anything.
“Welcome, Alex, and small child.” Jasper said, looking at Ozma.
Jasper was tall, skinny, dark brown hair that curled just below his ears, he was wearing a Spiderman
T-shirt, trousers (that were actually pajama bottoms), and stripy pink socks.
“Do you want to see another? I've been collecting them, there is more under here.” Jasper said,
kneeling on the floor and pulling out a box from under the bed.
“Ooo... kay, that's our cue to leave.” Stacey said. “Comics are so not my thing.”
I waved bye to Lane who had perked up and actually looked pleased about sharing a cell with
Jasper.
Stacey led me along the walkway, then along a corridor, and down a set of steps. Corridor after
corridor, it was going to take me some time to get my bearings. She stopped at a door and I stuck
my head inside. The room had been converted into a kiddie play-zone. There was a large mat in the
middle of the floor with soft toys and a couple of toddler toys, and against one wall was a long table
with paper and crayons. There was even an area at the back with bedding and pillows set up for nap
time I presumed. There were five children in the room. The youngest ten-month-old was sitting on
the mat chewing a toothbrush and the other children looked to range from four to eight-years-old.
One girl was sitting at the table drawing, and the others were making a car out of empty boxes.
“Alex!” Tammy gasped.
She was sitting on the mat with the youngest one.
I waved, and she jumped up to her feet and came over to me.
“Hi,” I said, as she side hugged me the best she could because Ozma was still attached to my chest.
Stacey walked over to the table and started drawing a picture for the little girl... she looked
familiar
.
“Where'd you get the baby from?” Tammy asked, smiling at Ozma.
“Long story.”
“She's so small. What's her name?”
“Ozma, and she's not as light as she looks, my back is killing me.”
“Here, let me take her for you. Did you just get here?”
“Yes, we heard the airplane and saw it making a drop, then Josh found us.”
Tammy helped me get Ozma out of the baby carrier and lifted her into her arms.
This was probably the fifth person ever to hold Ozma. Ozma had only known Crystal and Thom,
then Lane and I, she wouldn't remember anyone else Thom and Crystal had met.
I watched as she took everything in, her eyes following the other small children around.
“She's a curious little thing.” Tammy said.
“You have no idea. Hey, what happened to Amy and Jo? Did they have their babies?”
“Um, Jo eventually popped and gave birth to a boy, but he died a few days later, we don't know
why, then Amy went into labour, but there were complications.”
“Complications?”
“She died giving birth and the baby was stillborn.”
“That's horrible.”
Tammy glumly nodded, then talked to Ozma in a babyish voice, obviously not wanting to talk about
Amy and Jo anymore.
“So who's Jasper?” I asked.
He turned up a couple of weeks after we lost Amy. By this time, Dom was starting to lose control of
his men, there was a lot of quarrelling, and constant shouting going on. After Dom lost Scottie it
changed him, there was not one ounce of compassion left in him.”
“I'm sorry about Scottie.” I mumbled.
“Dom was furious, he wanted to chase you down and kill you both, but it was dark and he was
chickenshit.”
“Scottie tried to pull a gun on us...” I didn't want to tell her Scottie's gun was empty. After it had
happened I came to the conclusion that not even Scottie knew the gun was empty. I think Dom kept
all the bullets hidden and gave people empty guns, to make them feel big, and kept all the bullets
for himself. That was my theory anyway.
“I figured that.” she said.
“So how did you get out?”
“One day Dom had a major argument with Ron, and killed him with a knife from the kitchen,
everyone became afraid of him, I think he was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and then a few
days later he caught Jasper stealing and chained him up out front with no intention of bringing him
back inside.”
“You unchained him?”
She nodded. “It was a tough journey, we had quite a few zombie encounters, and there were times I
thought
this is it
, but we somehow managed to survive, and eventually stumbled across this place.”
“Where's your cell?” I asked.
“In the kiddie section, I have my own little bed set up over there.”
“I thought that was the sleeping area for the children.” I laughed.
“Oh, it is, but it also doubles as my bed. The youngest one lost his mother and I'm caring for him,
he likes to wake up a lot during the night and we end up playing in here so it made sense to sleep in
here. Has Stacey given you the proper tour?”
“Not yet.” Stacey called over.
“I can get one of the other girls to watch the kids for a bit and I'll come with you. You don't have to
carry that around.” she said, looking at my bag.
“I didn't like leaving it in the cell.”
“Don't worry, I was just the same when I arrived, but no one steals from each other here, it's not like
the Lab, things won't just disappear from your bag. You'll see, you're gonna love it here. Oh, and we
have the best showers here, really hot and steamy... sorry, I'm getting carried away.” She smiled,
bobbing Ozma up and down.
“The sound of a hot steamy shower is actually making my mouth water.” I said.
I looked at the blond girl again, the one Stacey was drawing a picture for.
It couldn't be?
“Who's that?” I asked.
“Lilly,” Tammy replied looking at my curiously.
I opened my bag and dug around. After the van broke down I had kept the keys, sentimental
reasons, I know understood why Lane still had his house keys.
I pulled out the van keys with the photo keyring and looked at the picture inside, then I flipped it
over to show Tammy.
“That's Lilly.” Tammy said amazed. “Where'd you get that?”
“Lane and I found this van, the owners had abandoned it, but Lane got it running and it's where we
lived for some time. These are the keys to the van. Are her parents here?”
Tammy shook her head. “It's a terrible story. It was a complete miracle Dudley found her hiding in a
dumpster.”
“She should have this,” I said, about to detach it.
“No, you hold onto it. Give it to her when she gets to know you a little better, then you can tell her
how you found it, she'd like that, she doesn't really talk to anyone, she's very quiet.”
I nodded and Stacey hopped up and came over to us.
“Ready for that tour?” Stacey asked.
“I'm coming too, let me just grab Abby to watch the kids.”
“Just show me to the showers.” I said.
“It's the same with everyone when they first arrive here, they all go gaga over the showers.” Stacey
laughed.

I woke up to the sound of music playing in one of the other cells. I liked to lay in like any regular
teenager, but Ozma normally woke me up at the crack of dawn. It must be late. I tried to roll over
and felt the warmth of another body cuddled up beside me. I wriggled over and turned to look at
him. Lane was fast asleep, I leaned up and looked over him, Ozma was still asleep in her bed, with
her face in the pillow and her bum in the air, I wondered how that was even comfortable. I laid my
head back on the pillow and gently touched his face. His face twitched and he hung his arm over my
waist, still asleep.
Over the past four months, we had become distant. It wasn't just
us
anymore, we were making new
friends, and in Lane's case, he now had
stalkers.
The main one being, Meghan, a busty blond,
eighteen-year-old.
Lane was the hot topic around here, and every girl with a pulse old enough gave him that look when
he smiled at them, it reminded me of high school, and because of it, we had grown apart. We didn't
spend every day with each other, we didn't eat every meal together, we no longer showered together.
I didn't even have to wash his clothes anymore. Some days we got along, other days he couldn't
keep his hands off me, then there were days when we didn't speak at all. Life was different.
Don't get me wrong I loved living in the prison, but sometimes I missed
us
... the way it used to be.
Stacey followed me around all day, filling every second of silence with her constant chatter, she was
like an annoying parrot that wouldn't shut up. But I put up with her, she didn't get along with the
other girls, the pretty ones that divided themselves away from the group because they thought they
were better than everyone else. The other females here were all a little older and did their own
thing, most of them took care of cooking, cleaning, and laundry. I hadn't been asked to do a single
thing since I'd arrived, and I had offered many times. Lilly, the little five-year-old with blond hair,
had become attached to Ozma, it was kind of cute, I think she thought of herself as an older sister,
always wanting to help out with Ozma. I helped Tammy some days with the other small children,
and whenever I felt like a break I usually left Ozma with her. She didn't mind, though, she loved
every minute with the small children. She apparently wanted to work with children when she left
school so she was making the most of this experience. Lane spent his days with Jasper, they had
become close buddies, and when I say
close
I mean real
close
, they even had their own handshake.
Jasper was a little bit strange, a bit of a weakling if I was honest, and he couldn't lift a single thing
in the gym, which was where Lane was most days. Jasper had sort of super-glued himself to Lane,
he didn't quite fit in with the others, military guys, older teenagers that were all big talk, and the
men that took care of the building and the perimeter. We had a nurse, an electrician, a plumber, and
there was even a hairdresser living here. Altogether we made up thirty-three.
I ran my hand over Lane's biceps, during the four months here, Lane's physique had changed to
beyond hotness. Before he was toned without doing anything, now there was defined muscle and
he'd even got a slight tan. It was hard not to gawk when he took off his shirt. He had been helping
out a lot outside, securing the fences and he got along with Luke, they played ball games outside,
and it was safe enough to walk around the prison grounds as the high fencing kept the zombies out.
It was the safest I had ever felt.
I knew I should get up, but I was enjoying the warmth from Lane's body too much. We'd hardly
spoken for nearly three days, then I wake up this morning and find him in my bed, this was
becoming a pattern. We'd argue, he'd get jealous over Josh (even though there was nothing going
on), and I didn't help with my 'Meghan' remarks. I didn't like her and she didn't like me because she
wanted Lane. From what I could tell he wasn't helping the situation, he never told her to leave him
alone, to be honest, I think he liked all the attention, what guy wouldn't? I knew it was only a matter
of time before he ended up in bed with her, but he made the situation even more confusing by
climbing into my bed every other night. I didn't question it, I had gotten used to it, and if I was
honest I slept better with Lane beside me. No one really knew what was going on between us, even
I didn't really know.
The cell door started to move, Jasper popped his head in and grinned at me. He was still in his
pajamas, looking for Lane. He slid the door shut carefully, then lifted the other end of my covers,
and climbed in before I could stop him.
“Your bed is so much comfier.” Jasper said, wriggling his way under the covers.
His feet ended up in-between me and Lane. I was already squashed up to the wall as it was.
“That doesn't mean you can get in it wherever you want.” I said, playfully kicking him.
He lifted the covers to look up my legs and I tried my best to hold them back down.
“At least you're wearing panties this morning.”
“Ew! I don't wanna hear that.” Stacey said from the top bunk.
I didn't mind Jasper that much, he was twenty, and our personalities got on well together, his humor
was on the same level as Lane and me, we all said inappropriate things and found it funny, everyone
else, not so much. Stacey was only sixteen and still impressionable, I found myself watching what I
said around her, she was always asking me about the most cringe-worthy topics to do with sex. She
was still a virgin, I don't know how long that would last, though. She had a crush on nearly every
one of the guys here, but unlike the guys back at the Lab the ones here had more morals. Jasper was
one of the few guys she didn't have a thing for. I think seeing him in his
Simpsons
lounge pants
might have put her off, and he also had a habit of sticking his finger in his ears and itching them all
the time. She was still young and immature, and I was always scolding Jasper for his crude
language and gestures around her. I also had to watch my own language around Ozma now, she was
at that age where she thought it was funny to repeat random words.
“Oi, Lane, you planning on getting up anytime today?” Jasper asked.
“What time is it?” I asked, not able to reach my watch.
“11.20am.”
“Wow, Ozma must have really worn herself out yesterday.”
“And Lane,” Jasper said.
Yesterday Tammy and I had taken the kids outside and Lane had played ball with Ozma, chasing
her up and down, she loved it, she had become so attached to Lane. I wasn't sure whether he was
just trying to get back in my good books or whether he really wanted to play with Ozma, I think it
was the latter. I think he had grown attached to Ozma as well, which wasn't hard, she was adorable,
happy and playful, and full of love for us. Night time hugs had become my favorite part of the day.
She called me Alley, it was easier for her to pronounce than Alex, that and she'd heard Lane calling
me Alley a number of times, and just two weeks ago she'd called Lane
dada
, he hadn't corrected her
either. Neither one of us had really talked about what we were going to do with her. Lane and I were
the two main people in her life. Even though Lane was off doing his own thing most days he always
made time for Ozma at some point in the day, yesterday morning he came and collected her and
took her down to breakfast without telling me so I could sleep in.
Lane grunted and stretched, and Jasper tickled his foot.
Lane's eyes shot open and he frowned at me, it took him a moment to realize they weren't my feet
on the pillow, I wasn't that flexible.
“Ugh, get them away from me.” Lane said, pushing Jasper's feet toward me.
“Gross,” I said, pushing them back.
Stacey stuck her head down, hanging upside down.
“Hi, Lane, did you get lost again on the way to your cell? Do you know the one I'm talking about?
Five cells down with all your stuff in it.” she teased.
“Not now Stacey, we've only just woken up.” Lane said.
“I was just saying...”
“When are you ever not?” I said.
She smirked at me and Jasper tried to pull her pigtails, but she moved back up to the top bunk
before he got the chance.
“Okay, I'm getting out. This bed isn't big enough for the three of us.” I climbed over Lane and he
tried to grab my waist to pull me back into bed.
“No, I need to get washed and dressed before little miss wakes up.” I carefully trod on the floor and
Lane scowled at Jasper.
“What?”
Lane grumbled and threw the covers over Jasper, and stood up. I quickly gathered my wash things.
Stacey sat on the top bunk, painting her toenails.
“Stacey-” I started.
“It's fine, I'll watch her, you go and get showered.”
“Thanks.”
“I'll come with you, I'll just get my stuff.” Lane said.
“Um,” I started to speak, but Lane was already out the door.
Stacey raised an eyebrow at me and Jasper smirked before lifting himself onto the top bunk next to
Stacey. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled, looking at me.
“Have fun in the shower.” she said.
“You two are as bad as each other.” I said, walking out of the cell.
Jasper waved bye and held out his foot for Stacey to paint his nails. He was so weird sometimes.
I made my way to the shower room. The only rules we had regarding the showers was males on one
side and females on the other side of the wall (more like a half wall that you could see over), it
wasn't unusual to see male and females in the shower room at the same time. I think everyone here
thought there were more important issues to worry about than a bit of nakedness. I usually took my
shower in the evenings when there was no one around, but last night I had been helping Tammy
with the other children and I couldn't be bothered to have a shower so late. When I arrived I was
pleased to find there was no one else inside the shower room. I quickly stripped down and dashed
into the showers. I was still getting used to the shower arrangement. The only other person that had
ever seen me fully naked was Lane, and I wanted it to stay that way. I was sure if anyone else
walked in I would exit the showers automatically. And I would most certainly die of embarrassment
if Josh walked in and saw me naked and covered in bubbles, I would never hear the end of it. He
walked in on me changing one time, I was thankfully still in my underwear, but he hasn't forgotten
about it, and still reminds me of my strawberry shaped birthmark on my inner thigh.
I quickly lathered my hair, I had just started rinsing it out when another body appeared in the
showroom.
Lane laughed at the expression on my face and my attempt to cover myself with my hands.
“It's not funny. I thought you were someone else.”
“You can uncover yourself, it's nothing I haven't seen before.” he said, trying not to laugh, still
standing in his underwear.
My cheeks flushed, and I angled my body away from him, rinsing the rest of the shampoo out my
hair.
Lane didn't care about the wall dividing us, he was going to shower beside me whether I liked it or
not, but I didn't mind, I felt better when he was in the shower, probably because if anyone else came
in I could use him as a shield.
“Nice ass.” he said, pulling his boxers down.
I tried not to look... believe me, I tried.
He was in a different mood today, he was actually smiling, and talking to me. I missed this... alone
time with Lane.
He caught me checking him out over my shoulder, and he spanked my butt.
“Ouch!”
“You love it.” he said, sticking his head under the shower beside me.
I conditioned my hair and soaped myself down, I was just rinsing off when Lane slipped a hand
around my waist and pulled me against him, he then kissed my shoulder, up my neck, and nibbled
my ear. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy. Believe it or not, we hadn't done anything
like
that
since before we arrived at the prison. There had been a few heated kisses and his hand
finding its way under my T-shirt, but we never got the chance to go any further. Even though this
place was huge and there weren't that many living here, we were never alone, not like this. We both
shared cells with other people and the rest of the time I had Ozma with me. We'd tried to sneak off
together, but we usually got interrupted, once by Josh who had walked in on us and found Lane
feeling me up on the couch in the games room. I had been wondering whether we should get our
own cell now, but I didn't want to bring it up first. From day to day I didn't know what was going
through Lane's mind. But right now it was obvious.
He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face him and pushed me back against the wall. He
dipped down to kiss me, it was quite a reach from Lane's height, he quickly lifted me up to him, and
pressed me back against the wall again, exploring my mouth with his tongue as I ran my fingers
through his hair. A deep moan escaped my mouth, Lane pulled away and smiled at me. I smiled
back and went to kiss him again... but stopped when I heard Jasper calling Lane, causing our smiles
to evaporate.
Grrr! Jasper.
“C'mon, you've been in there ages, it doesn't take this long for a guy to shower. What, is she, like,
giving you a facial as well?”
Lane reluctantly put me back down on the floor. He stuck his head under the water one final time
before grabbing his towel.
“Don't make me come in there. I will. I'm dying to see Al naked. I hear she has this cute little
birthmark on her-”
“Jasper,” Lane warned.
Josh may have told a few people about my birthmark, and Lane didn't like it.
Lane gave me an apologetic look and left me alone to finish getting washed.