Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

  He smiled as he grabbed some beef jerky. “I wouldn’t want you on the other team, that’s for sure.”

  I grabbed two more energy drinks and Kristie stuffed several packs of smokes inside of her shirt.

  ~~~

  We took off again as I sipped from my can. I stared out the window at the houses and businesses we passed and it was hard to imagine the kinds of nightmares that were hidden inside. Everything seemed so…normal. But I knew without a doubt it was a lie. “Normal” was gone forever and we were now only left with zombies and broken hearts.

  When we finally made the turn onto my street, I felt a gnawing fear about what we’d find in my house. My cell phone was completely dead and we hadn’t been in contact with Sara since Bryce left them early this morning.

  “You okay, Cassie?” asked Bryce.

  “I’m okay,” I said, although my palms were sweating and I had to wipe them onto my jeans.

  “I’m sure they’re fine,” Bryce said, knowing my fears. “Sara knows how to use a gun and Hannah seems like a pretty strong woman. They were going to lock themselves in the basement with the kids until I returned.”

  “And…what if you hadn’t returned?” I asked.

  He sighed heavily. “Have a little more faith, Cassie.”

  My faith was pretty brittle at this point. I’d basically lost hope in ever finding my sister, and both of my parents were still missing. Then there was my grandparents, I didn’t even want to consider what kind of hell they were going through.

  “Uh oh, looks like we missed out on your spring neighborhood block party,” mused Kristie.

  We stopped at the end of the block. Several of my neighbors were wandering around the cul-de-sac, some attacking each other while others just looked confused. We’d never been very close to any of them when they were alive, but it was still horrifying to view them now as zombies.

  I shuddered. “I wonder if they smell the others.”

  Bryce nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case.”

  “They are starting to congregate towards us, so you’d better get us out of here,” demanded Eva.

  “We’re not leaving; there are women and children in that house who need us. Kind of like you needed us awhile back!” snapped Paige.

  There were about five zombies approaching the SUV. “Listen, we should go through the garage. There’s a keypad by the side of the house that I can probably get to. Once I enter it, pull in immediately.”

  “I’ll cover you,” said Bryce.

  “Seriously, that’s all you’ve got for a plan?” asked Paige as the zombies closed in around the SUV.

  “You have a better plan?” I asked.

  She shrugged and then sighed deeply. “Nah, I’ve got nothing’.”

  Bryce grabbed the metal bat from Kristie. “When the garage door opens, get this thing in quick. Plow right through any zombies you have to.”

  Kristie’s face grew pale. She nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready, Freddy.”

  “Got your hammer?” he turned and asked me.

  I held it up.

  “Okay, let’s do this,” he said.

  I pushed my door open and quickly kicked one of my neighbors in the stomach. I hurried out of the truck and slammed the door shut, wielding my hammer. “I’m sorry, Mr. Bleechman. No offense.”

  He growled and rushed towards me but I sidestepped him. He slammed into the truck face-first.

  “You things aren’t very graceful, are you?” I said.

  “Cassie! Quit playing and get over to the keypad!” hollered Bryce who was busy holding off two other zombies.

  I took a deep breath and ended Mr. Bleechman’s short life as a zombie with a solid strike to his head with my hammer. As he fell to the ground, I heard an unearthly screech.

  Mrs. Bleechman!

  She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and was now moving towards me with her mouth open and long, red, acrylic fingernails, raised.

  “Wait, Lois, he was cheating on you, I actually just did you a favor!” I yelled, still trying to dislodge the hammer from her husband’s dead skull.

  She snarled and kept barreling towards me.

  “You’re wasting time,” grumbled Bryce as he grabbed her by the back of the hair and swung her to the ground. She twisted around to attack but his bat split her rotted skull in two.

  I shuddered. “Now that…that…was really gross.”

  He motioned towards the house. “Keypad. Now.”

  I ran to the side of the house and punched in the numbers for the garage. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

  “Crap,” I groaned, forgetting about the electricity, being out. Feeling foolish, I ran over to the small door on the side of the garage and squealed with joy when I found that it was unlocked. I pushed it open and manually opened the large garage doors, the way my dad had showed me last summer.

  I could hear the sound of Bryce’s metal bat striking more zombies as it lifted, and cringed. Even though they were now monsters, it still felt wrong to be killing my neighbors.

  The SUV made it inside with only one zombie who managed to follow us, and Bryce took care of him quickly.

  “Can you bag him or something? He’s going to stink up the garage,” I said.

  “Maybe later if there’s time,” said Bryce. “You’re not planning on staying here, are you?”

  “I don’t know what my plans are yet,” I replied.

  “How about this…stick with me, we’re a pretty good team,” he said and slapped me playfully on the butt.

  My jaw dropped but I didn’t say anything.

  Just then everyone else piled out of the SUV. Goldie barked with excitement then began sniffing around the garage.

  Eva got out with Chi Chi still in her dog carrier. “Little Chi Chi needs to make a little wee wee,” she said in her cutesy voice. The dog barked.

  “Are you kidding me?” snorted Paige.

  Kristie rolled her eyes and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

  Chi Chi, who was shaking violently again, moved to a corner of the garage and peed. Goldie peed on the zombie.

  “Good girl,” I said, bending down to pet Goldie’s head.

  Eva flipped her hair and then batted her eyelashes at Bryce. “By the way, Bryce, you were so incredible out there. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

  Bryce, who I’ve learned thrives on gushing females, beamed her one of his dimpled smiles. “Someone’s got to take care of all you women.”

  “Oh, puke,” muttered Paige as she slammed the door to the SUV.

  “Is it safe to go in there?” asked Kristie as she grabbed the doorknob leading into my house.

  “Better let me go in first,” replied Bryce, “just in case there are surprises waiting inside.”

  Kristie looked at Bryce with amusement. “Fine by me, Bruce Lee.”

  Bryce grabbed the bat, then opened the door and stepped inside. After about a minute he stuck his head back into the garage. “It’s clear.”

  I walked in with Goldie, who took off immediately to wander throughout the house. “Looks like Goldie’s giving the ‘all clear’ sign, too.” Although, it seemed much too quiet in the house. “Hello? Anyone home?” I yelled.

  Goldie bolted downstairs and I could hear the squeal of Megan’s laughter.

  Sara raced upstairs, her face full of relief. “Oh, God!” she cried, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m so glad to see you guys!”

  Bobby ran upstairs and flung himself at Bryce. “Yay, Bryce is home!”

  Bryce picked up Bobby and held him tightly in his arms. “Told you I’d be back, Champ,” he said softly.

  “Hi,” Megan said to me as she peeked around the corner of the basement door, “whose puppy?”

  “Ours now,” I replied with a smile. “Her name’s Goldie,”

  Eva was holding Chi Chi who whimpered to get down. She finally released her and Chi Chi trotted after Goldie.

  “Two dogs?!” screamed Megan i
n delight.

  “Err…well, the Chihuahua is mine,” said Eva. “But he’s a nice doggy and loves kids. You can play with him.”

  I was surprised to see Eva acting like a civilized human being, especially after the way she treated most people at school. Then of course we’d just saved her life and she didn’t have anywhere else to go.

  Kristie’s mouth dropped when she saw Hannah. “Oh, my God! I didn’t know you were here, Han. Where’s Paul?”

  Hannah started crying and Kristie went over right away to console her. Then both women went downstairs to catch up and talk about the loss of their husbands. Apparently Kristie and Hannah knew each other well.

  “Have you heard from my parents?” I asked Sara.

  Sara looked at me sadly. “No, neither of them. I take it you didn’t find Allie either?”

  I shook my head and sighed. “Look, I’m really tired. The energy drink didn’t do anything for me. Think I’m going to have a shower and then maybe take a nap,” I said. “We still have water, don’t we?”

  “For now,” replied Sara.

  I still wasn’t sure why the government had shut down the power so quickly. I couldn’t imagine that it would be easier to contain the zombies in the dark.

  My hair was sticky in some places and I fought an urge to puke as I washed it away with shampoo. I’d never felt so incredibly dirty in my life. Although I had to admit, I hadn’t even thought about germs in the last couple of days. Being exposed to so much blood and guts had made me numb to everything, including my phobia.

  When I got out of the shower, I cut the tips off the rest of my fingernails and sighed, wondering if Mae was safe. Then I pushed it away from my mind. It was too horrifying to think about all the victims caught up in this nightmare.

  Where are you, mom? I wondered as I laid my head on my pillow and closed my eyes. It was bad enough not finding my sister and not knowing where my father was. But my mother…she’d promised to come back quickly, and hadn’t. I knew exactly what that meant, I wasn’t naïve or stupid. I just couldn’t allow myself to accept the fact that she was probably gone forever.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Mom, where’ve you been? I was so worried about you,” I cried as she walked into the kitchen. I ran up to her and threw my arms around her.

  Smiling, she stroked my cheek fondly. “I told you I had to take care of that soldier,” she replied. Her hair was a mess and there was blood splattered on her shirt.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, pulling away. She looked pale and tired.

  “I’m fine, honey,” she replied and took me into her arms again. “You know how much I love you, don’t you, my little Wild One?”

  I closed my eyes and laid my head on her shoulder. “I love you, too, mom. God, I missed you so much.”

  She squeezed me harder. “I need you, honey.”

  I could hardly breathe she was squeezing me so tightly in her arms. “Sure, mom. Just don’t hold me so tight. I can…barely breathe.”

  “I really do need you. You understand, don’t you, baby?” she whispered into my ear.

  I gasped for breath, trying to free myself. When I finally pushed her away, our eyes met and my heart screamed out in anguish.

  “Come back to mommy,” she rasped, holding her gray, mottled arms towards me. “I need you so. I love you, Cassie.”

  I nodded. “I love you, too.”

  Then I closed my eyes and sobbed as I let her have me.

  ~~~

  I woke up to someone gently shaking me.

  “Cassie?” whispered Bryce softly.

  Sighing, I opened my eyes and found Bryce staring down at me. His dark wavy hair was damp and he wore nothing but a pair of soft, gray lounge pants. I stared at the dragon tattoos on his forearms. They blazed with fire as did something inside of me.

  “I just stepped out of the shower across the hall, and heard you crying. I was a little worried.”

  “Oh,” I said, sitting up. Remembering that all I had on was a thin tank and boxer shorts, I pulled my blanket up higher.

  He smiled and sat down on the edge of my bed. “Listen, you were really fantastic earlier. It took a lot of courage to do what you did.”

  I shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad once I reminded myself that they were already dead.”

  Bryce chuckled. “Still, it was pretty impressive.”

  “Thanks.”

  He brushed a strand of hair away from my cheek. “I think we make a pretty good team.”

  I stopped breathing when I gazed into his smoldering blue eyes. Bryce slowly leaned towards me and I felt the heat of his breath on my lips.

  “Bryce! Where are you?” hollered Bobby from somewhere else in the house.

  Bryce shut his eyes and swore under his breath. “Hold on, Bobby!” he called.

  With my heart pounding frantically, I released a shaky breath.

  Bryce opened his eyes and licked his lips. “You know, you’re pretty amazing,” he whispered, staring at my mouth.

  “Bryce!” yelled Bobby again.

  Bryce groaned with frustration and then stood up. “Coming, buddy!”

  When he left my bedroom, I felt a mixture of disappointment and relief. I wasn’t sure how I would’ve reacted if he would have kissed me passionately right here, in my bed. Normally I would have been paranoid about my parents walking in. But things had changed, and at this moment, I didn’t have anyone to answer to.

  I got up, slipped a hoodie over my tank top, and pulled on a pair of shorts. I’d slept for almost eight hours; it was well after midnight, and I was starving.

  Sara was feeding Megan dry cereal when I entered the kitchen. “Hi,” I said. Goldie sat at their feet waiting for bits of food to drop.

  She looked up and smiled wearily. “Hi.”

  “Where’s everybody?”

  “Kristie and Hannah are on watch duty, to make sure none of the zombies make it into the house. Kylie, Paige, and Eva are sleeping, I believe.”

  I nodded and then sat down next to her at the table. “I’m sorry, Sara; I haven’t even asked if you’d gotten a hold of Kevin.”

  She paused for a moment and her eyes filled with tears. “No, my cell phone doesn’t work.”

  I covered her hand with mine. “It’s possible he’s getting the medical attention he was promised by the military.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she replied looking away.

  “If you want, we can go look for him later,” I said.

  She wiped her eyes. “You’d come with me?”

  “Of course I would.”

  “Mommy, I want to play with Bobby,” Megan demanded.

  I tickled Megan’s tummy. “Isn’t it a little late for you to be up playing?”

  Megan giggled and shook her head “no.”

  “Her schedule is totally messed up,” said Sara.

  “I’m sure. Mine is too,” I replied. “I can watch her if you want to get some sleep. You’re pregnant and need it more than anyone.”

  She released a deep sigh. “Would you? I could use some sleep. I’m so exhausted.”

  “It’s settled. Go to bed and get some sleep,” I replied with a smile.

  Sara gave Megan and I both a hug, then left the kitchen.

  I had a peanut butter sandwich, gave Goldie some fresh water and dog food, then took Megan downstairs so she could play with Bobby, who I figured was probably still awake. What I actually found stopped me cold. Eva was dressed in a skimpy nightgown with her arms around Bryce’s neck and her lips pressed firmly against his.

  “Hi, Megan!” cried Bobby who was on the floor playing with Legos.

  Bryce turned towards me and sighed.

  “Um, I’m sorry,” I said, backing away.

  “Cassie,” said Bryce, pushing Eva away. “It’s not what it looks like. She was just thanking me for getting a painful kink out of her neck.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Oh, really?”

  Eva’s smile was smug. “Yes,” she said, putting
her arm through his possessively. “He has such an amazing touch.”

  Shame and humiliation twisted inside of me as I saw them standing together, both of them so damn good-looking. I turned around and left quickly.

  “Cassie,” said Bryce, following me up the stairs. “Can you just wait a moment?”

  “Listen,” I said turning to him. “You don’t have to explain anything to me, okay? Even if she was coming on to you, there’s nothing going on between us. You’re free to do whatever you want.”

  Bryce grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. His eyes searched mine. “Really? If I’m free to do whatever I want, then this is it.” His lips came down on mine before I could protest and then the world stopped moving. I felt myself go limp in his arms and as he pulled me in closer, I couldn’t help but kiss him back. A rush of desire swept through me as he held me against the hardness of his body. He moved his tongue into my mouth, caressing and exploring with an urgency that made my head spin. I slid my hands up behind his neck, into his hair and he groaned against my mouth, lighting flames inside of me that I hadn’t known even existed.

  “Excuse me?!”

  Kristie and Hannah stood at the top of the stairs scowling at us. We were in the entryway of the split-level, our hands all over each other. I’d never been so embarrassed in my life.

  “Um, sorry,” I replied as we broke away from each other. My heart was still pounding madly in my chest.

  “You don’t look very sorry,” Kristie said with her hands on her hips. “And you,” she pointed to Bryce, “You definitely don’t look sorry. And please put on a damn T-shirt!”

  Bryce smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Since your parents aren’t around, I’m appointing myself as your personal watchdog, young lady. You both better behave yourselves and control your…raging hormones,” she said with a smirk. I knew Kristie though, she wasn’t being totally serious. Although, if she caught us doing anything more than this, she’d have a conniption.

  “Whew!” she said, turning towards Hannah and fanning herself with her hand. “After witnessing part of that little interlude, I think I need a cigarette!”

  Hannah chuckled and they both walked into the kitchen.