The Zombie Zovels (Book 1): Zombie Suburbia (5 page)

“Why wouldn't they tell us?”
“Maybe because they don't know what to tell us. I don't think even they know what's happening,
plus it would cause worldwide panic.”
Lane cleared the plates away and I finished my lemonade.
“Sorry if I killed the mood,” he said.
“It's okay, I think it's killing everything... literally.”
“You think they're all dead?”
“I dunno, but I think you're right about the government hiding something. All these people started
getting sick right after those reports of people getting bitten from bats started popping up.”
“You think all these sick people caught it from a bat?”
“I don't know, we haven't heard much about the bats recently, but it's possible. I mean that's when it
first hit the news that people were getting sick with a strange new virus.”
“Psycho bats that turn savage and attack people, carrying a new virus that makes humans sick and
confused. I dunno maybe? I heard someone in Brazil contracted this flu,” he said using air quotes
when he said the word
flu
. “then when they woke up in the hospital they just went crazy and started
biting everyone in sight-”
Lane noticed my disgusted face.
“Sorry! Maybe you shouldn't walk home tonight?”
“I think I'm going to take the truck. I only had one beer, I didn't even touch the second beer.”
“Well, we wouldn't want you getting bitten by a bloodthirsty bat.” Lane joked.
I looked at him, kind of wanting to laugh at his inappropriate joke.
“Sorry, I'll stop talking.”
My cell pinged. Message from Pip.
Where are you?
“It's Pip, she's finally noticed I'm missing.”
I stood up and tucked the stool back under, and Lane cleared the glasses into the sink.
“Thanks for hiding with me,” he said, turning to look at me.
“Thanks for letting me borrow your T-shirt.”
“It's okay you can keep it.”
“No, I'll wash it and give it back to you at school.”
“
Or
you could keep it and wear it, I think it looks better on you.”
Lane moved across the floor and positioned himself in front of me.
“So what are you gonna do now?” I asked.
“I'm probably going to go downstairs into the basement and play Xbox in Lewis's man-cave.”
“Well, you have fun with that.” I said, trying to sidestep around him, but he put his arm down on the
counter blocking me.
I turned to go around him and he quickly placed his other hand on the counter, trapping me inbetween his arms. I hadn't realized I had been slowly backing myself into the counter. I thought
about ducking under his arm.
“Don't even think about it,” he said, guessing my next move.
I looked up to meet his gaze and he smiled, watching my lips.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He didn't answer and moved closer to me, pressing me into the counter. Even in my wedge trainers,
Lane still towered over me, but I was slightly arched over the counter which didn't help. He leaned
closer and I leaned further back. I brought my hands up and placed them on his chest.
He stopped and looked at one of my hands, I should have pushed him away, I shouldn't have even
wanted to kiss Lane Walker... but I knew deep down it was all I wanted to do.
I found myself licking my lips in anticipation, and when I didn't push him back he took it as
permission to close the distance between our lips.
His lips pressed against mine and his hand cupped the back of my head. I gripped onto his T-shirt
pulling him even closer to me.
His tongue slid into my mouth, flicking against mine, and roughly exploring my mouth. Both his
hands moved to my face, gently holding me in place as the kiss continued.
I hadn't kissed many boys, but this kiss was making all the other kisses non-existent.
I knew I should stop, but I knew after tonight Lane probably wouldn't talk to me again. It was one
of those never again moments and I was enjoying it far too much. His hands fell to my waist and he
broke away from my lips, but only so he could lift me onto the counter. He pushed his way inbetween my legs and took my face between his hands again, and my hands slid under his T-shirt,
exploring his rock-hard abs.
The back door suddenly swung open, and we broke apart, which was more like me pushing Lane
away, he wasn't too pleased we'd been interrupted.
Lewis came through the door with a very drunk Katherine under his arm. Lewis had seen us and
was about to say something when Katherine fell onto his chest and crushed her lips to his, she
hadn't noticed us yet. After a brief kiss, she pulled away and Lewis smiled down at her, holding her
up by her arms as she was unsteady on her feet.
“Sorry, man, didn't mean to interrupt,” Lewis said, turning to look at us again.
“I was just leaving.” I said, pushing Lane back so I could get down.
Katherine looked up at the sound of my voice and spotted Lane. She quickly unhooked herself from
Lewis and swayed to the side, using the counter to balance herself. She stumbled forward and into
Lane's arms.
She slid her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him.
“Katherine, what the fuck?” Lewis muttered.
Lane grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from his neck, then he held her away from him at
arms length. Her eyes drifted to me.
“Alex James?” she said with a snotty laugh.
I slipped around the pair of them and headed for the back door.
“Alex, wait,” Lane called. “Here you can have her back,” Lane said, passing Katherine back to
Lewis.
I dashed around the side of the house, and Lane came jogging up behind me.
“Alex,” He grabbed my arm.
“What?” I said, turning to face him.
“Don't run away.”
“I'm not, I'm just going to find Pip.”
He let go and stepped back giving me space.
“Are you going to talk to me at school next week?” he asked.
“I don't know, are you even allowed to talk to me? I don't think Lacey will approve.”
“I don't really care what Lacey approves of.”
“Alex!” Pip called from over the fence.
“I have to go, she's looking for me.” I took three steps back, but Lane reached out and grabbed my
hand pulling me to a stop.
“Is that it?” he said.
“Is what it?”
“You're gonna give me the cold shoulder now?”
“Lane, we were never friends, we don't even know each other.”
“What if I want to change that?”
“I don't think it's your choice. You hang around with the populars, and I'm not one of them. It would
be social suicide for you.” I said, trying to wriggle out of his grasp.
“Okay, Alex, have it your way.” he said, letting go of my hand. I took another step back. “but if you
change your mind-”
“I won't. You're not my type.” I said.
“I think you're wrong, and I'm going to change your mind about me,”
“Good luck with that... I know exactly what you are, and I'm not interested in having a ride on the
back of your bike.”
“Was that code for something? I didn't get it,” he smirked.
“Goodbye, Lane,”
I hurried down the path and hopped over the flower garden to next door and spotted Pip on her cell
phone.
I tapped her on the shoulder.
“I was just ringing you.” she said.
“You were.” I mumbled, patting my pockets down looking for my cell.
“Where did you go?”
She was my best friend and I loved her, and there was no way I was going to tell her I had just been
exchanging mouth saliva with her hero.
“I was.. err..”
“What are you wearing?” she asked.
“Liam puked on my top.”
“Liam?” she said with a skeptical look.
“Yes, Liam.”
“Is that why you disappeared? Wait, whose is that?” she asked, eyeing the T-shirt I was wearing.
But before I got a chance to answer, she squeaked.
“Lane's walking this way,” she whispered.
I didn't turn around and looked down at the ground, pretending I couldn't care less.
“Alex,” Lane called my name.
I was still looking at the ground when Pip shuffled closer and knocked my leg with her crutch.
“What?” I said, casually looking up at him.
He was holding my cell in his hand.
“You forgot this.”
“Thanks,” I said through gritted teeth.
I could practically feel Pip's eyes burning holes into me.
I was waiting for him to leave, but he wasn't in any hurry.
“I said thanks, you can go now.”
He smiled to himself, stepped around us, and lightly tapped my butt before he left, thankfully, Pip
didn't see it.
“Oh, and Alex,” I looked up to meet his eyes, still recovering from the weird pat on the ass.
“Game on!” He smirked and turned on his heel.
I was still deciding if he was just messing with me when Pip whacked me in the leg again with her
crutch.
“Oww!”
“Why did Lane have your cell and what did he mean by
game on
?”
“I borrowed a T-shirt from Lewis's house, and Lane was there playing Xbox. I must have forgotten
to pick my cell up after I'd changed.”
“You borrowed Lewis's T-shirt?”
“Um no, this is-is Lane's T-shirt.”
“What!”
“It's just a T-shirt, Pip, calm down. He saw me wandering around outside and said I could borrow
one, so we went inside and I changed into a clean T-shirt and that's about it.”
“I thought you said he was playing Xbox?”
“He was... he saw me through the window.”

Damn, I'm a terrible liar.
“Did he say anything?”
“About?”
“Did he say anything about me?”
“No... he didn't say much, then Lewis turned up with Katherine, and I left.”
“I can't believe this,” Pip squealed.
“I know right, who knew Lane Walker could actually speak to a non-popular.”
“Do you think you could maybe bring me up in conversation next time?”
“Next time?”
“When you give him his T-shirt back, you could drop my name into the conversation.”
Pip was so fucking deluded sometimes that it drove me mad.
There was no way I could tell her he said I could keep the T-shirt, she'd probably steal it from my
drawers when I wasn't looking, and I suddenly felt weirdly attached to it.
“Maybe, we'll see. Why were you ringing me, are you ready to go?”
“No, I don't want to go, but my dad's freaking out.”
“Why, what's wrong?”
“Another three teenagers have gone down with the flu this weekend. One of them was Courtney.”
“Huh? I wondered why she wasn't with the rest of them.”
“Dad said they've started shutting schools down in some places to try and prevent the flu from
spreading.”
“The
flu
. It's not the fucking flu!”
“Well, whatever it is, my dad doesn't want me hanging around with anyone from school
unnecessarily.”
“C'mon, I'll give you a ride home.”

“You should have tried out for the track team,” I said, coming to a stop beside the dead zombie.
He gave it a kick to make sure it was definitely dead. I was certain it was.
Its skin had paled and turned green from the infection, and infected wounds oozed puss down its
arms. This one was male, the only way I could tell was by its enormous feet that had a pair of large
walking boots on them. His other clothes were barely hanging on by a thread.
As the disease spreads, it gets harder to tell what sex a person would have been, their hair falls out
and they become hollow shells, with their sunken eyes and frail skin, which can easily be damaged.
He was bent over examining the zombie. I didn't know what he found so interesting. He
straightened up and grinned at me.
I hadn't seen this boy since that night at Sean's party. The following Monday I never got a chance to
see him as we were all sent home before lunch, and that was the last day I ever attended high
school.
“You got him straight in the back of the skull. Good job, Alex!” he said.
“I'm surprised you remember my name.” I said.
“Of course, I remember your name.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I mean, you were always with
that girl, the one with only one leg.”
I smiled grimly. He didn't even know her name. She had spent years convinced she was in love with
him and he couldn't even remember her name.
“Pip. Her name was Pip.” I said glumly, reminding myself of a life that felt as though it happened a
million years ago.
He nodded and started patting down his pockets.
“I'm Lane... you know, in case you forgot.”
He pulled out a packet of cigarettes and lit one, watching me carefully.
Cigarettes were easy to come by, but when most people raided homes and stores they were looking
for edible food, water, and clean clothes, not cigarettes. He coughed a deep mucousy cough.
“You won't be able to keep running like that if you keep smoking those.”
He didn't say anything and looked down at the makeshift weapon in my hand, that was covered in
zombie blood, as were my hands.
“You're good with that,” he said.
“Well, I've been using it for a long while.”
The weapon was mine, and it was the one I had lost in the last town when I got into a scuffle and
had to make a quick exit. The only other weapon I had on me was a fork inside my messenger bag,
and I wanted to keep using it to eat with. I assumed he had been following me for awhile and picked
up my weapon for me.
“Why have you been following me?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean why are you following me?”
“I dunno... because you're the first human I've seen in a month. What are you doing here?”
He meant what was I doing in Oregon, a long way away from our home town back in Washington.
“I don't know really. I just keep moving.”
“Yeah I know what you mean.”
I looked down at his feet. He was still wearing his red
All Star Converse
, I was surprised they hadn't
worn out by now, but he might not have walked the whole way. I sometimes got lucky with the odd
car that still had the keys and a tiny bit of gas left in the tank.
I rubbed my hands down my jeans, smearing zombie blood down them in the process, they were
already filthy and covered in old zombie bloodstains. I would have found a new pair back at the last
town, but I got chased out by a swarm of zombies.
Their instinct was to chase humans and to feed off of them. We were their idea of take-out on the
go. Some towns were like that, completely taken over by zombies, but I usually stayed clear of
those places, but the last one had appeared quiet when I'd first entered.
“So which way are you going?” he asked.
“Which way do you think?” I replied.
There was only one route out of town and it was the one I had been following. He knew that. I think
he was asking permission to come with me.
I looked down at him. His jeans were covered in mud and there was a suspicious rip in his black
hoodie. I stepped back and tilted my head, speculating.
“Lift it,” I said, nodding my head at his hoodie.
I think he thought I was kidding for a moment, but I waited for it to sink in I was being serious. He
slowly lifted his hoodie along with his T-shirt, revealing a scrape across his stomach. It didn't look
like a zombie wound, they become infected real quickly, it's how the disease spreads so rapidly.
He spun around so I could see his back, which was smooth.
“My legs don't have any cuts or bites if that's what you were wondering, but I can take off my pants
as well, if you want?” he asked, smirking.
“No, I'll take your word for it.”
“Why aren't you with one of those survivor groups?”
“I was,” I said.
He looked at me but didn't push me for any more info, and I was grateful. I didn't want to tell him
about the last time I had taken shelter with a group of other survivors, and we were ambushed in the
middle of the night. I was lucky I got away.
“Why aren't you?” I asked.
“I haven't found any.” he replied, looking at the dead zombie again.
“I think the zombies are getting smarter. I think they figured out we hide in groups in large
buildings so I figure my best chances are out here.”
He nodded and looked around, checking the trees. I walked around the zombie and started moving,
I didn't like standing around like this. I swung my weapon beside my leg and soon enough Lane
caught up, matching my pace. I looked sideways at him and caught him smiling at me. He looked
away and pulled up his neck tube, covering half his face. The picture on the neck tube was a
skeleton skull, but only the bottom half of the skull, with teeth, it looked kind of creepy. Even
though I couldn't see his mouth I knew he was smirking by the way his eyes looked at me.
“What? It keeps my face warm.”
I said nothing and pulled up my hood. We followed the road, my eyes glued to the trees. I hadn't
been expecting to see a zombie in these forests. They normally stuck close to the towns, there was
nothing for them to eat out here. They weren't clever enough to pick berries or hunt. They were
driven by their hunger for flesh, to the point they would sometimes eat each other. I remembered on
the news before we lost the TV broadcasting, they had said the disease affected humans and made
them hungry for flesh. Everyone started calling them the flesh-eaters (basically a zombie). Their
bodies started dying from the moment they became infected. The disease spread within weeks and
soon became an epidemic. The disease originally came from bats that had traveled over from
Mexico. No one knows what happened or why the bats suddenly became carriers of the virus. The
bats became hostile and once a few humans had contracted the virus there was no stopping it. One
bite was all it took to create worldwide zombie chaos. Safe to say I now hated bats. The only upside
was the disease didn't affect animals, otherwise, I would have been screwed months ago with the
amount of bug bites I'd had, and my fair share of run-ins with psychotic dogs. I'm not surprised they
had turned that way, to them the humans were the ones that fed them and took them for walks, now
most of the population walking around on two legs wanted to eat them.
There was a weird awkward silence.
Lane cleared his throat like he was waiting for me to speak first, but I didn't know what to say, so
Lane finally broke the silence first.
“So what's the plan?” he asked.
“The plan?”
“Yeah the plan, where do we go from here?”
“I dunno, I don't have a plan.”
“Okay, what about the plan for tonight, what do we do when it gets dark?”
“We find somewhere to take shelter. Why, what do you normally do?”
“Hide.”
“There is nowhere to hide. They'll always find you.”
“What about when we get hungry?”
I looked over at him, unsure if he was kidding.
“Find something to eat.”
“What if they find us?” he asked.
“Then we run if we can or fight if we have to.”
“What if we get bitten?”
I came to a stop along the road and turned to him.
“Look, Lane, I'm not your mom. I'm not gonna hold your hand and talk you through how to survive
the zombie apocalypse 101. We happen to be walking the same way, that doesn't mean we need to
get to know each other, and I don't want to be friends because you'll probably end up dead in a
week. I'm kind of surprised you survived for this long... How have you made it this far?”
“I was one of the lucky ones.”
Figures. The best of the bunch picked for survival.
They started evacuating humans out accordingly. Which meant if you had clever parents you got
picked. Lane's father was a professor at the university, teaching Physics, and his mother was a
Doctor. The only way I knew this was because Pip had mentioned it. More than once. The lucky
ones were evacuated to the nearest facility that had been set up, armed with military guards. They
had supplies flown over and dropped, including medicine and food. Apparently they were deemed
the safest places to be.
My dad being ex-military was invited and I was his daughter which automatically got me a free
pass. One problem, though, my mom and dad never got married and they wouldn't accept her.
Obviously, there was no way my dad was going to leave my mom as she was pregnant and he had
been crazy about her since high school. They wanted me to go to the facility, hell, dad practically
forced me out the front door, but I couldn't leave them. In the end, I was glad I hadn't gone. I got to
spend more time with my parents. Later on, I heard from different survivors that the infection had
still got into the facilities and overtaken some places, then people scattered and took shelter
wherever they could, staying in numbers for safety. I was at a secure high school for two months
before it was attacked and overrun by zombies, which was the last time I felt mildly safe as there
were a few armed guards that had come from another facility.
“Good for you.” I said dryly.
“What if I have to pee?”
“For fuck's sake, Lane, if you wanna pee then you pee, just do it there in the middle of the road. I
don't care! Don't ask me any more dumb questions.”
“Sorry!” he mumbled, looking hurt.
“We walk until we find a crossroad then we'll say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. Sound
good to you?”
“Um, no.”
“Well, you don't get a choice. I just think it's for the best. That way I won't get killed trying to save
your ass.”
He mumbled something incoherent and we started walking again. He stayed a couple of steps
behind me. I wasn't sure if I liked him behind me. I felt vulnerable. I stopped and he walked in front
and looked back at me.
“What's wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. I'd just prefer it if you walked in front.”
“Why?” he asked, frowning, looking at me differently when I didn't answer.
“What, you think I'm gonna jump you or something?” I shrugged. “What's to say you won't jump
me when my back's turned?”
“I dunno, it depends on whether you've got anything useful in that rucksack?”
I was ninety percent sure he knew I was joking, although I was ten percent considering it.
He didn't say anything and turned around and stalked off in front. After awhile, I was finding it
difficult to keep up with him. I think he knew because every thirty steps or so he would stop and
pretend a stone on the road was interesting before kicking it away, and when I'd nearly caught up
with him he would start walking again.
After another five minutes of walking, the contents from Lane's bag started jingling again.
Jingle-Jingle-Jingle
“What is that noise?”
“What noise?” he asked, his eyes scanning the trees.
“No, it's coming from your bag. Like a little jingly bell.”
“Oh that, it's just my keyring.”
“What?”
“It's a little bell on my keyring.”
“It's annoying! Do you want the zombies to find us?”
“It's not that loud. Anyway, what about you? You're not exactly being that quiet, what have you got
in your bag that keeps rattling around?”
I shifted my bag around. I had grown so used to my own noise I hardly heard them anymore.
“It's just a saucepan.” I snapped.
I took a moment to calm down before I spoke again. I was tired and it was making me cranky.
“Why do you even have a keyring?” I asked in a calmer voice.
“I don't know, it was mine so I kept it.”
“You keep your keys with you?”
“You didn't keep one thing from your old life?”
His eyes drifted down to my faded denim jacket, it was the same one I had worn at high school.
“Yeah, but not keys. Are you planning on going home sometime soon?”
“No, I just wanted to keep them.”
I laughed, but it wasn't a friendly laugh.
“You're different.” he said.
“How the hell would you know if I'm any different? You hung around with those assholes, you
never even spoke to me before Sean's party.”
“What happened to you, Alex?”
“The zombie-fucking-apocalypse that's what. Just keep walking.”
Forty minutes later of walking we reached a crossroad.
“Which way are you going?” he asked.
“The opposite way you're going.”
He stopped in the middle of the road and turned around to look at me.
I didn't say anything, I didn't like this either, but I thought it was for the best. I'd done pretty well on
my own. I didn't need anyone.
Lane looked both ways considering his options.
“Hurry up and choose, it's getting late, I haven't got all day.”
“I owe you a bullet,” he said.
“What?”
“You killed a zombie for me,”
“And?”
“And how about we stay together until I save your life, then we can call it even and go our separate
ways.”
I got the feeling I wasn't going to get rid of him even if I wanted to.
“Don't you think it would be safer if we stuck together?”
“Not really.”
He rolled his eyes at me and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“The only reason I'm going to agree to this is because no matter which way I go you're just going to
follow me anyway.”
Also, I swear I could hear Pip's little voice, begging me not to let him out of my sight.
I looked both ways, to the left there was nothing except an empty road, and to the right I could see
an abandoned car. Every time I passed a vehicle I would first check to see if it was running (which
was rare) then I would search the vehicle from top to bottom for anything useful.
I tilted my head to the right.
“We'll just check that car out then we need to head into the trees.”
“What for?”
“To find somewhere to sleep, and the river's not too far, I want a wash in the morning so I want to
be near the river.”