Zombie Games (Book 4): Road Kill (3 page)

“
Yes, you are. Come on, you have to eat something,” said Luke. “We all do.”

Fortunately, the
kitchen was free of zombies and didn’t smell quite as bad as the rest of the house.

“Here’s the pantry,” said Justice, opening up a door on the other side of the kitchen.
“Check all of this out.”

“Oh my God!” squealed Allie,
picking up a box of Cocoa Pops. She turned to Kylie. “Didn’t this used to be your favorite cereal?”

“
Yeah. I guess this farm didn’t care about added sugar and artificial flavoring,” joked Kylie. “Looks like they’ve got Pop-tarts, too.”

“Oh, I love those,” moaned Allie
, grabbing the box from her.

“And that’s not all,” said Justice, lifting u
p a jug of apple juice. “Don’t know about you guys, but this is the closest I’ve come to real fruit in a long time.”

“Nice,” said Allie,
biting into a Pop Tart. “Mm…this is so good.”

“
Wow, look at all of this stuff…cans of tuna and chicken,” said Luke, pulling them off of the shelf. “peanuts and pretzels. We hit the mother-load.”

“
Lucky for us, must be one of the few places around here that hasn’t been looted yet. Let’s put everything on the counter,” said Justice. “Then we’ll sort it all out and go from there.”

They cleaned out the pantry,
pulling out boxes of graham crackers, canned veggies and soup, and more boxes of cereal.

“Here’s a can opener,” said Luke, pulling it out of a drawer.
“I call dibs on the Spaghettios.”

“Eat sparingly,” said Justice. “You’re going to need to save some for later.

Although, it had been awhile since any of them had eaten anything other than chips, they all agreed.

“It’s hard to find food now,” said Justice, filling a small glass of apple juice. “Other survivors are raiding homes and stores, hoarding everything. I haven’t eaten anything in two days.”

“Are you alone?” asked Allie.

“Yep,” he said, raising the glass to his lips.

“
So, where are you heading?” asked Luke.

He shrugged.
“Nowhere in particular. Just trying to survive, man.”

“You can come with us,” said Allie
, her eyes lighting up. “We’re going to Minnesota, to find my sister.”

“Oh yeah?
You sure she’s alive?”

She nodded. “My sister and Nora are bad-asses. They’re both alive.”

Justice smiled. “Oh, is that right?”

Allie nodded
, solemnly. “Cassie has a Black belt in karate and has killed
hundreds
of zombies already. If anyone is still alive, it’s her.”

“
A bad-ass-martial –arts-zombie killer, huh? Well, although I wouldn’t mind meeting your sister or her friend, gas is getting harder to come by these days,” said Justice. “Going to have to pass.”

“
Dude, you can always siphon gas or just hot-wire another vehicle,” said Luke.

He shrugged.
“Yeah, I could, but it’s a pain in the ass.”

“So,
what, you’re just going to hang out in this town?” asked Allie.

“No.
Actually, I’m heading to Atlanta,” he said. “See if they’ve found a cure yet.”

“Don’t waste your time,” said Luke. “We were just there.”

Justice frowned. “They haven’t figured this shit out yet?”

“
Not yet. The CDC has shut down and relocated,” said Allie. “My sister said that most of the scientists are even zombies now and the few that are working on a cure aren’t having much luck.”

“Dammi
t,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. “What the hell are we supposed to do now?”

“Hey, I’m sure they’ll fin
d a cure eventually,” said Luke. “They just need more time.” 

Justice
stood up and began to pace. “Well, I don’t have time,” he said. “I don’t have
any
time. Shit!” he growled, kicking one of the lower cupboards with his boot.

“Simmer down, man,” said Luke.

“You don’t have time for what?” asked Allie.

He raised his black T
-shirt, exposing his lower stomach, and what appeared to be- human teeth marks. “One of those bitches got a little too close to me in the last town.”

“
Oh my God, you were bitten by a zombie?” gasped Kyle, taking a step back.

Justice dropped his shirt back down.
“It certainly isn’t a hickie,” he answered with a cold smile.

“Seriously, though, it’s not
that
bad,” said Luke, amazed to have seen the individual teeth marks embedded on his bruised skin. “Did the zombie even draw blood?”

“Yeah,
just a little. Enough to taint my blood, I’m sure.”

“
So, when did it happen?” asked Allie.

“Last night.”

Allie bit her lower lip. “Do you feel any different- feverish or dizzy?”

He shrugged.
“Had a temperature this morning. Luckily, I found some aspirin.”

“
If you’re up and walking, you’re doing pretty good, I think. My sister and I were both bitten and lived.”

His eyes widened.

“Seriously
,” she said. “We even went into comas and came out of it. Seems to me that if you’re still running around and killing zombies, you’re doing pretty good.

Justice sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

“See, you could join us now,” smiled Allie. “If you really wanted to.”

He leaned back against the counter.
“You say you’re heading towards Minnesota?”

“Yeah, then back
to Atlanta to our new home, the Ritz Carlton. You join us and we’ll make sure you get a suite with a view,” said Luke.

“The Ritz, huh
?”

Luke
nodded. “Yeah. That’s where the rest of our group is. We have a stockpile of food, weapons, and… the beds,
man
I miss those pillowtops.”

“
We could always use extra help against the zombies and thieves trolling the streets,” said Allie. “I’m sure Tiny and Bryce would gladly let you in, especially if you help us.”

“Tiny?” asked Justice.

“Yeah,” said Kylie. “He’s a famous wrestler. Have you ever heard of him?”

He nodded.
“Yeah, that big guy with the small voice?”

“
Yep. He has a little bit of a lisp,” said Kylie. “But don’t mention it.
Ever.
He’s a little sensitive.”

Justice’s lip twitched.
“I wouldn’t.”

“So, you coming with?” asked Allie.

“What you’re really asking is if I’ll drive,” said Justice.

Allie giggled. “Yeah, okay. Well?”

He paused for a few seconds and then nodded. “Okay, fine, I’ll drive but it means that
I’m
in charge. When I say ‘run’, you
run
like the wind. When I say ‘get down’, you
get down
as quick as possible- no questions asked.”

“No problem,”
said Kylie. “We’ll do whatever you say.”

“Yeah, dude,” said Luke.
“Just as long as you don’t start foaming at the mouth or drool when you look at us.”

“Same goes to you,” said Justice
, walking towards the kitchen door. “Any drooling and I’m kicking your asses out of my truck.”

“Too late,” whispered
Allie, staring at him with moon-eyes. “That guy is hot, Kylie. Don’t know about you but I’m already drooling.”

Kylie just smiled. Even she had to admit, Justice was pretty cute.

“
Well, it doesn’t look like anyone’s been back here,” said Bryce, stepping over two zombies lying on Cassie’s blood-stained driveway. It was hot and the stench from the fly-infested bodies lying around was enough to make him gag. It was nothing, however, compared to the restless angst knotted in the pit of his stomach. He’d driven like a mad-man trying to catch up to her, hoping that they’d somehow cross paths before reaching Minnesota. But the road back home had been pretty uneventful and there’d been no sign of anyone else.

Where in the hell was Cassie?

“What in the hell do we do now?” he thought out-loud.

“
I think we should go back inside and look for an address book or something,” said Paige. “Maybe even a phone book, to see if we can find their grandparent’s address.”

“
Yeah, but, do you even know their names?” asked Billie.

Paige shrugged. “The name
Wild
would be a good start. They live somewhere in Willow Springs.”

Kr
istie looked towards the road and shook her head. “Dammit, where are those kids?”

The five of them, Bryce, Billie, Kristie, Tiny, and Paige, had made it back to Minnesota in record time
- two days. Twice they’d had to switch vehicles and a few times they’d had some harrowing encounters with zombies, but their determination to reach their friends and family had made them vigilant.

“What about your house?” asked
Tiny. “Do you think they might have stopped there?”

Kristie’s shrugged. “I guess it’s possible.”

“Mom, they’re probably not even in town yet,” said Paige. “I’m actually surprised we made it back here so quickly.”

Kristie’s eyes filled with tears. “
What if something happened to them? They’re just children and to be out there, somewhere, in this godforsaken zombie shit!” She turned to Tiny. “I don’t know if I could handle it if Kylie was hurt. Or any of them for that matter.”

He
grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms. “We’ll find them, babe,” he murmured, holding her against his chest. “All of them.”

“
Shit, looks like
we’ve
been found. Heads up, everyone- zombies, approaching,” said Bryce, raising his rifle.

More than a dozen of them
were staggering in their direction, from throughout the neighborhood.

Paige tightened her hold on the
metal bat. “How do they do that?”

“They must smell us or something
,” said Bryce. “Let’s get back inside and search the house before we attract more trouble than we can actually handle.”

They
quickly moved the SUV into the garage and then pulled the door down, but not before one of the zombies made it inside. The creature stared at the group as if he’d won the lottery and began to advance.

“Wow, did you see that?” asked Tiny as he shoved his machete into t
he zombie’s skull and twisted. “He actually had enough sense to duck underneath the garage-door.”

Paige scowled.
“Just what we need- zombies with common sense. What
is
the world coming to?”

“As long as they don’t start talking to us,” said Kristie.

“Yeah, could you imagine? ‘Give me your brains,’” chuckled Tiny as he kicked the zombie’s torso to the side.

“
You’ll
never hear that from a zombie,” smirked Paige.

Kristie scowled. “Paige…
”

Paige’s eyes widened innocently
. “What?”

“It’s okay,” said Tiny. “Paige
is just doing it to blow off steam. If harassing me makes life easier for her to handle right now, so be it. I’m not going to take it personally.”

“It’s
not
okay,” said Kristie. “Paige, you need to treat Tiny with more respect. He’s saved our lives at least a dozen times and all I’ve heard from your mouth are smart-assed comments.”

“Oh, lighten up, mom,” mumbled Paige.
“It’s your fault anyways.
You
raised me this way.”

Kristie sighed. “I guess it
is
my fault. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” said Tiny. “I’d rather be surrounded with brave smart
-asses then feel like I’m too intimidating to tease.”

A loud banging on the
outside of the garage door startled the group. As it grew louder and more intense, Paige covered her ears. “Who the hell is doing that?!” she hollered.

“Zombies,” said Bryce. “They know we’re in here.”

“They’re aggressiveness is obviously growing,” said Billie, shutting the door of the Expedition

“
I didn’t think they were
that
alert,” said Kristie. “Usually they forget about us the moment we’re out of sight.”