This is the End (Book 2): Not Dead Yet (21 page)

“Donny we haven’t eaten-“ Austin started to say before one of the men cuffed his ears.

“Shut up fucker, you’ll eat when I say you eat.”

The ogre, whom I was enjoying fantasizing about all the different ways I would kill, grabbed me and started to push me towards the door.  “Lovely family you have there, Austin.” I murmured under my breath, giving the Ogre a dirty look when he grabbed me hard enough to leave bruises.

“Bitch!” The one Austin had called ‘Donny’ reached up to hit me when another one grabbed his arm and shook his head.  “The Preacher said not to,” he said, casting a nervous glance at me.

Donny yanked his arm back, spit on the ground and pushed me to keep walking.  So there were orders not to hurt me which was a good thing and at least one of the men was scared of me, which may or may not be good.

Stepping through the barn door, the sun assaulted my eyes in the most unpleasant of ways.  With no sunglasses, I had no protection from the glaring orb.  I couldn’t reach the lip balm in my pocket and my sunblock was in my bag they’d taken which meant there was a good chance I was about to get a lovely burn.  This just kept getting better and better.

Fresh dew sparkled at me from the grass as we were led over to the gated entrance.  We stopped and waited.  Those around us argued in hushed whispers about who was going with who and once that was decided, they picked up some rope and started to tie us up.

I didn’t say anything, just watched casually as they looped the rope around my waist and neck and my hands, which would prevent me from untying myself but left my feet free.  Once they were done, Austin and I looked like dogs at the end of a very long leash.

I started to look around and almost fainted with relief to see my friends being led out of the underground prison in a chain gang and into the barn I’d just left; that could only mean they were being brought up to speed.  They were a good distance from me but they didn’t look any worse off than they’d sounded the day before.  I wanted to wave, but the ropes around my wrists pulled tighter every time I moved my arms.

“Move!” Donny shoved a gun barrel into my back and I took that as my cue.  Tearing my gaze away from my friends, I shuffled out the gates with Austin next to me into the forest.

The men spoke in whispers the 20 feet behind us they were at the other end of the rope and it left me and Austin to do nothing but shuffle along side by side. “So what exactly do they expect us to do?” I whispered at him.

“We’re going for supplies.  If there are zombies, they’ll attack us first, which will give them warning.  They kill the zombies and we live.  Hopefully.”

I looked over at him in shock.  “Is that what they’ve been using you for?”

He shrugged his shoulders.  “More or less.  I made the mistake of coming here and telling them all about the Dome.”

“And me.” I finished for him, looking down at the leaves and twigs under my sneakers.

“Yeah.  And you.”

“How did you even make it out?  The last time I saw you, you were, well… ya know.”

Austin took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “Yeah.  That was bad.  I fought them off and ran after you hoping I could catch you but then the bombs started going off and I had to go another way.  I found a sight-seeing place and stole a helicopter and came here, knowing about this place and thinking it was probably safe.  I should’ve known better; Donny may be my cousin, but that’s never stopped him from hating me and being an asshole.”

I let his words sink in as we walked.  I felt bad that Austin had been alone this whole time and even worse that he’d been betrayed by his family, but that didn’t make up for him betraying me.  “I’m sorry that happened to you, and I’m glad you’re alive, but I still hate you and given the chance, I can’t say I won’t kill you.” I looked him straight in the eye.

He smiled at me which threw me completely off guard.  “I would expect no less from you, Angie Thompson.”

I sneered at his big dimply smile that would drop a weaker girl to her knees and focused on not tripping over tree roots.

“That doesn’t tell me how you got injected,” I continued.  I still wasn’t about to trust him, but there were a lot of things that didn’t sit well with me about his story.

“When I saw how fast you healed after that guard attacked you, I stole a vial and injected myself before anyone found out.  I was hoping it would make me strong enough to break you out.”  He sounded genuine, but so did all liars.

“How did you know how fast I healed?  I didn’t see you until after the breach,” I started suspiciously, listening for any change in the rhythm of his heart rate.

“You didn’t see me, but I saw you.  I had clearance in the labs so I snuck in and checked on you while you were asleep after the doctor left.  I wanted to make sure you were ok.” He turned and looked at me with a pained expression. “Angie, if I’d known what he was going to do to you I would’ve killed him before he’d had a chance, please believe me.  I’d never wish that on anyone, least of all you.”  His heart rate remained steady and my doubt was fading.  He seemed legit, but then again…

“So why didn’t you try to rescue me when you saw what happened?”

He sighed in irritation.  “Come on Angie, I wasn’t strong enough to take them all on and you know it.  That’s why I stole the serum only all hell broke loose before I had a chance to do anything but stay alive.  Just like you I didn’t know the full effects until much later.  Besides, did I or did I not sacrifice myself to save you at the last minute?”  Austin met my gaze with unwavering conviction.

“Fine, your story is plausible, I’ll give you that.  But how on earth did you manage to get a helicopter all the way out here?”

With a chuckle he just shook his head.  “Did you forget I’m a Marine?  I do know how to fly, thank you very much.”

I stopped short and grabbed his arm, “Where’s the chopper now?” Excitement filled me with possibilities.

He gestured with his eyes behind us and pushed me gently to keep walking.  “Not an option.  It was a rough landing and I burnt out the engine.” 

The hope I’d felt momentarily died only to be replaced with the familiar fear and dread.  “So what are they going to do with my friends?”

“The Preacher keeps civilians like slaves to fortify the fences and take care of the farm.  As long as they do what they’re told, nothing will happen to them.”

I sighed internally, relieved that I at least didn’t need to immediately worry for their safety.  Of course, with Chloe’s mouth that wouldn’t last long.  “So who is this Preacher guy?  What’s his agenda?”

“Before the apocalypse he was just a really devout preacher.  I’ve only been here a couple of times when I was young, but from what I remember it’s kind of culty and he’s real Old Testament.  I think he thinks he’s leading the war against evil with his merry flock of followers.  They treat him like some sort of Prophet.”

For fuck’s sake
.  Not only did I have to worry about zombies but I had a cult leader enslaving what was left of humanity convinced he was a Prophet?  There wasn’t enough weed left on the planet to get me high enough to be able to deal with this.

I let out a defeated sigh.  “I never did like religion.”

Austin looked surprised.  “What’s wrong with religion?”

“Nothing when it’s used to better yourself, but everything when used to control others.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment.  “So you don’t have a faith?”

“Nope.”

“Why?  You really don’t believe in anything?  Even with all of this?”  He tried to make a sweeping motion to encompass the forest around us.

I looked at him steadily.  “It’s not required to believe whole-heartedly in something.  I think leaving room for ideas to be questioned is a good thing; it helps us grow intellectually and individually.  Beliefs should always be questioned and challenged.  When you find yourself no longer doing so, you’ve stunted your growth as a human being.”

Austin smiled and bumped me with his shoulder.  “I missed you and your convictions.”

I snorted at him and kept walking. 

Chapter 10:

The morning went by without much excitement; that which I was grateful for.  Austin hadn’t said much and the only real conversation between us was the growling in our stomachs.  Since the outbreak I was pretty sure I was down about 20 pounds, which I was choosing to see as a good thing.

Donny and his goons had been leading Austin and me through the woods for a few hours while looking for homes to scavenge.  It was nearing noon and the heat was unbearable.  I was fine with heat, but it turns out the south is humid and my skin felt like it was suffocating under the sweat that wouldn’t stop dripping into my eyes.

The trees gave way and I started to catch glimpses of what looked like a rundown farm ahead.  I stopped and waited for Austin to see what I did.  He noticed and stopped too.

“Fuck you stop for?” Donny growled at me as he caught up to us.

Motioning my head past the clearing, “There’s a farmhouse up ahead.”

Donny squinted in the direction I’d indicated and spit on the ground.  He scratched his chin and nodded before turning back to the others. “House up ahead, let’s go.”

He pushed me into Austin, which I took as my cue to keep walking.  Austin raised his eyebrows at me and I just shrugged.  It wasn’t like we had a whole lot of choice; I just hoped we were alone out here.

Wiping my forehead on my shoulder for the umpteenth time, I started trudging through the brush towards the house.  I wanted to keep an eye out for anything I could use to cut the ropes when they weren’t looking and escape, but if I did, what about the others back at the compound?  I wasn’t about to leave Jack and the kids behind, but I wasn’t too keen on being used as bait, either.

A sagging front porch was coming into view, which wrapped around what I was sure used to be a house before it was condemned; or at least I hoped it had been condemned; anyone trying to live there would’ve been out of their minds.

A section of the roof had collapsed on the side of the house where a branch had fallen on it; must have happened in the storm.  It was dead quiet except for the sound of mine and Austin’s careful footsteps, the rope dragging through the pine needles behind us and the heavy boots of the men following.

I looked over my shoulder at Donny, who nodded towards the front door with his head and aimed his gun at me.

Taking a deep breath, I put one hesitant foot on the bottom step and bounced a couple of times to make sure it would hold my weight.  Once I was almost certain I wasn’t going to fall through the stairs, I continued up the few feet to the top, cringing at every creaking board the whole way.  Peeking at Austin from the corner of my eye, I could see him holding his breath with every creak, too.  Apparently I wasn’t alone in being scared shitless.

Reaching the top of the landing, I paused and waited for the others to catch up.  Feeling vibrations in the floorboards, I looked to Austin to make sure I wasn’t crazy, but the color draining from his face was a dead giveaway that we were definitely not alone.

Bracing myself, I barely had time to steady myself before the front door was flung open and a zombie was barreling out the door right for us.  I waited for it to get closer, trying not to gag at the rotting flesh falling as it ran.  He wasn’t wearing a shirt and most of his chest cavity was exposed, leaving a horde of feasting maggots in clear view. 

When he got close enough to reach, I fisted my hands and swung at his face as hard as I could as Austin kicked his knee sideways, causing his femur to shatter and the zombie to crash to the ground.

Looking down, I noticed the zombie beared a striking resemblance to a guy I used to sleep with who turned out to be a colossal asshole.  Seeing Jacob’s likeness leering up at me from the ground fanned the flames of old anger and I couldn’t help but raise my knee and stomp down on the half-detached jaw of the zombie, effectively crushing what was left of his skull.  I pulled my foot out of its cranium and stomped down a few more times just for good measure.

“I think you got him…”

I looked up at the amusement on Austin’s face and blew a stray curl out of my eyes as I shook the brain matter from my sneaker.  Looking back down at the face that was so familiar, I felt vindicated.  “Serves you right, dick.”

Austin’s eyes got wider as he just stared at me.

I met his gaze without hesitation.  “Reminded me of someone.” I shrugged and continued wiping bits of gore from my shoe onto the wooden banister and waited for the guys at the other end of our leash to catch up.

Donny ran up the stairs and stared down at what was left of the zombie.  He whistled with mild appreciation before jabbing me with his rifle and nodding towards the door that was swinging half of its hinges.

I shot him a death glare and stepped over the corpse, making my way slowly into the house.  I could hear the foundation settling, but that was all.  There was no movement inside save for whatever critters had been hiding and waiting for the corpse to drop which eased the tension in my shoulders a bit.