Zombie Games Book Five (End Zone) (5 page)

Bryce’s eyebrows shot up.
“How? Travis is
dead
. We moved his body outside, and I’m pretty sure it’s still there with a big hole in the center.”

“I’m sure it is still out there. That’s not what I meant,” said Paige, glaring at him.

“Then
please explain,” said Bryce, folding his arms under his chest.

She
noticed that all eyes were upon her, even Justice’s and smiled weakly. “Well, if he really is a demon, than he could have jumped into Billie’s body after the other one was destroyed.”

“
You seriously think that Billie is being possessed by a demon?” asked Bryce, incredulously. He turned back to me. “What about you, Wild. Do you believe all of that stuff about demons and the ‘End of Days?”

“I don’t know,” I replied
, staring down at my left boot. I bent down and tied laces. “I mean, we did see Travis do some crazy stuff.”

“Exactly,” said Paige. “And don’t forget about the earthquakes and the red lake water.
Those were some of the signs that Billie mentioned. You know, in the ‘End of Days’.”

“He was just obsessed with that,” said Kristie. “And you were no help, Paige.”

“Well, he made some really good points,” she said.

“Excuse me but the lake water is
pink,” corrected Bryce. “Not red.”

“Close enough,” said Paige
, talking faster. “And don’t forget about the St. Croix, which was pink too, and the zombies wading around in it. I’ll bet they were attracted to the blood in the water.”

Nora
grimaced. “Okay, that’s disturbing.”

“You weren’t there,” said Paige. “It was worse than disturbing.”

Bryce groaned loudly. “You can’t be serious? We’re back to that old theory again?”

“
Now wait a second, I think Paige might be on to something,” said Henry.

We all turned to him in stunned silence.
Henry was the last person to believe in anything supernatural.

“
Don’t look at me like that. You have to admit, Travis used some kind of mind control with those zombies. And remember that ball of fire he threw at the church? Even the nuns were convinced that he was a demon.” He frowned. “No, I think Paige is on the right track and we need to high-tail it back to the mall before he kills that baby.”

Kristie’s eyes widened in horror. “
Henry, you really think he’s planning on killing Adria?”

“It’s what he wants,” said Justice, speaking
up for the first time. “Travis isn’t human. He had some kind of control over me that I still can’t explain. I think they’re absolutely right and Billie is being controlled by Travis.”

Tiny sighed.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked, turning to Bryce. “It couldn’t hurt to check it out again.”

His lips curled under and then he sighed.
“I guess we have too. I still don’t believe he’s possessed, but obviously we have to start somewhere.”

“I think
you
should start by having a more open mind, young feller,” chastised Henry. “It might end up saving your life.”

“He’s right,” I said, grabbing Bryce’s hand. “We all need to be ready for anything.”

“Wild,” he said, squeezing my fingers. “You’ve already taught me that lesson.”

I grinned.

Allie and Kylie

“Retribution?” repeated Allie after Billie and the woman left. “What is he talking about?”

“Revenge,” said Kylie
, who was now holding Adria.

“I know that. What I mean is ‘why’?”

“He’s obviously crazy.”

Allie stared down at the pizza
with longing. “I’m so hungry. Maybe if we just had a few bites? To give us the energy to get out of this place.”

Kylie’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t you
dare
eat that; he’s trying to tempt us into helping him. Don’t give in.”

“I know,
” Allie sighed, turning away from the food. She walked over to the bedroom window and looked out into the darkness. There was a tall wrought iron fence surrounding the house and six vehicles parked in the driveway below. Shortly after Billie had left the room, he’d taken off into the night with the seventh. “I just wish we could get out of here, before he returns from wherever he went.” She tapped her fingers on the window panel. “Too bad we’re so high up, or we could try climbing down.”

“Here,” said Kylie
, moving towards her. “Take Adria for a while. I’m going to try and figure out a way out of here.”

Allie turned
back around and took the baby, who was thankfully, still dry. She smiled down at Adria, who was sucking on her fingers. “Looks like wrapping that T-shirt around her bottom is working. She’s a lot happier now.”

“
I know. I learned that in my babysitting class. Well, I learned about cloth diapers and this is close enough.”

They’d managed to find some old shirts in one of the dresser drawers and had tied one around Adria, like a cloth diaper.

Allie kissed her on the forehead. “You must be starving though, you poor little thing. I wish there was something we could give you.”

“Maybe you should give her some of that soda?”
said Kylie, pointing to the cans sitting next to the pizza.

Her eyes widened.
“That can’t be good for a baby. Didn’t you learn
that
in babysitting class?”

“Soda never came up. Look, w
e have nothing else and she’s going to be dangerously dehydrated.”

“I know
, but soda?”

K
ylie rubbed her eyes. “Well, I don’t know what else to do. If we don’t get something for her to drink and get the heck out of here, they’re going to kill us, one way or another.”

Allie bit her lower lip.
“You really think Billie would hurt us?”

“
You saw the way he was acting. Something’s definitely very wrong with him.” Kylie opened the bedroom window, removed the screen, and stuck her head out into the darkness.

“What are you doing?” asked Allie
, nervously.

She looked
back over her shoulder. “There’s an open window  a few feet away. It’s kind of small, but I think I might be able squeeze through it.”

“
You’re actually going to crawl onto the roof?” gasped Allie. “What if you fall or someone sees you?”

“
Don’t
jinx me.” She stuck her leg out the window. “Just wish me luck.”

“
Oh my God, be careful,” she replied, lowering her voice. “And… good luck.”

“Just be ready to go
,” said Kylie, pulling her other leg out.

Allie moved over to the window and her
heart pounded loudly in her chest as she watched Kylie crawl across the shingles in her baggy pink shorts. They’d both lost so much weight in the last few weeks that Kylie reminded her of a prisoner of war trying to escape.  

“Be careful,” whispered Allie, terrified that she’d slip and go tumbling off of the roof. But Kylie had always been fearless and daring. She’d have made a good daredevil.

If anyone can do this successfully
, she thought,
it’s her.

When
Kylie made it to the other window, she raised her head and peeked inside. A few seconds later, she turned back to Allie, giving her the thumbs up.

“Thank God,” whispered Allie, releasing a ragged breath as Kylie
pulled the window open the rest of the way and removed the screen. She then watched as her lanky friend wiggled her way inside, head first. When Kylie was all the way in, Allie went to the bedroom door, with Adria, and waited on pins and needles.

“Oh my God,”
groaned Kylie a few seconds later from the outside of the doorway. “I need a key to get it open!”

Allie’s heart sank. “
Great. Now what are we going to do?”

“You
are going to have to climb out of the window,” stated Kylie. “With Adria. It’s the only way.”

She stared down at the baby.
“I can’t do that. What… what if I drop her?”

Kylie
paused for several seconds. “Okay, I’m going to climb back outside and you can hand her to me.”

“Okay. Just hurry before someone catches
you.”

“Yeah, I know,” replied Kylie.
‘Hang tight. I’ll be back in less than a minute.”

Allie walked back over to the window
and waited nervously until Kylie climbed back out onto the roof and began crawling back. When she reached the window, Allie handed her Adria and then pulled herself out of the window. She looked down at the grass below and swallowed hard. “Um, so do you want me to take her?”

“No, I’ve got her. We just have to move slowly,” Kylie whispered, scooting back towards the other window as she clutched the baby.

Allie positioned herself below Kylie as they crept along the side of the roof and reached the window, which led to a small bathroom.

“
Here, take Adria,” said Kylie, holding her out.

A
llie grabbed the baby.

K
ylie crawled back through the window, which looked incredibly small.

“I don’
t know if I can fit through there,” said Allie, handing Adria to Kylie.

“You have to,” whispered Kylie.

“You could barely fit through it yourself, and you’re like a string bean.”

Kylie put Adria down on the floor and then turned back.  “Come on, I’ll help pull you through.”

Just then, Allie noticed a pair of headlights in the distance and began to panic. “Oh God… someone’s coming!”

Kylie
grabbed her arm. “Get in here before they see you!”

Panicking, Allie
wriggled her way through the window, wincing from the tight fit. “Crap.”

“
Are you okay?” whispered Kylie, pulling her up from the tub, where she’d landed, head first.

“Yeah. Let’s
just hurry up and get out of here.”

Kylie picked up Adria and they snuck
out the door and down the hallway to the tall staircase leading to the foyer.

Allie stopped. “Wait, we can’t just go out the front door.  Whoever is out there will catch us.”

Before she could reply, the doorbell rang.

The girls ducked behind the banister above.
A few seconds later, Billie walked into the house, followed by Jenny and a stranger.

Allie peaked over the railing quickly
and then ducked back down, shocked to see a priest standing in the entryway.”

“
So,
where is the child?” asked the priest.

“We’ve locked her in a bedroom upstairs, with the other girls,” said Billie.

“
When do you expect the gates to open?” he asked.

Kylie and Allie looked at each other.

Gates?

“
Soon. Now that the hole has opened, it shouldn’t be very long. We need to bring the child there, now.”

The priest let out a rattling cough.
When he was finished, he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “Excuse me.” He cleared his throat. “Could I get a drink of water before we return to the mall? I need to take my pills.”

“
Sure, the kitchen is this way and there is some bottled water. Jenny, why don’t you prepare a bottle for the baby, so the girls will be more compliant,” replied Billie.

“
Ah, a ‘Last Supper’,” replied the priest, chuckling in amusement as they walked down the hall. “How appropriate.”

Billie
chuckled. “Isn’t it, though?”

After their footsteps faded, the girls fled down the staircase.

“I
just can’t believe our escape was that easy,” whispered Kylie, as they opened the front door and snuck outside. “We are so lucky.”

“We haven’t escaped yet,” said Allie
, feeling as if something scary was going to jump out of the darkness and attack them. Something much scarier than zombies.

“
Come on,” said Kylie, who was still holding Adria. “Let’s see if the fence is locked.”

They ran pa
st the parked cars and up to the wrought iron fence, which was about five-feet tall with dark pointy spikes.

Allie stopped at the
doorway and tried pushing it open, but it was locked. “This is locked and I don’t know how to open it. I think we need a key. Crap, what in the heck do we do now?”

Kylie looked along the
long fence line that wrapped around the estate, biting her lip nervously. “Maybe we could climb over it. It’s not that tall.”