Zombie Girl (The Zombie Girl Saga Book 1)

by A. Giacomi

  We stay while Cam dials. When the phone begins to ring, we hold our breaths.

  “Hello, this is Cameron Jackson. I received a call.” He pauses to listen for a moment and then replies, “Yes, that’s my father…mmm hmm…yes.”

  It sure does suck only hearing half of a conversation.

  “What do you mean, gone?” Cam asks the officer on the phone, and then he shuts his eyes and looks unsteady.

  His next words explain it all. “Why would anyone let him out on bail anyway? He’s a danger to himself and others!” Then Cam slams the phone down with venom.

  We wait while he takes a few deep breaths. I know he will tell us what the hell is going on, but he needs to calm down first.

  After a few more big breaths, Cam blurts, “He’s out. Someone paid his bail. I don’t know who because he doesn’t exactly have friends. And the best part…he’s gone missing. Yup, disappeared, right under their incompetent noses!”

  I think my mouth drops open to the floor. “What?” is all I can piece together to say in my growing tornado of anger.

  Alex approaches to give Cam a hug, but he brushes her away. I get the message and take Alex’s arm, leading her towards the door.

  Before we leave, she looks back at Cam. “We’ll call you tomorrow, Cam. So sorry about all this. We love you.” Alex sort of squeaks the last part, clearly hurt about her hug being rejected, as I shut Cam’s door.

  I get angrier and angrier as we walk to our dorm. My legs somehow pick up speed, and I don’t realize it until I hear Alex, who is very far behind me.

  “Eve, slow down. I can’t keep up!”

  When we arrive back at our dorm room, I throw myself onto the bed. I know I can’t do much for Cam right now, so I force my eyes shut and try to calm down.

  I hear Alex get in the shower after awhile and hope we can both relax soon.

  Sleep comes quickly, but so do my nightmares. I dream that I am a lion, ripping crowds of people into pieces until my hunger is satisfied.

  The bizarre thing about my nightmares is that they seem so real. Often times I wake to the taste of blood in my mouth.

  I never dreamed much before the trip to Egypt, and I never really experienced recurring nightmares, but these vivid dreams have now become part of my new sleep ritual.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ALEX

  I wake in the middle of the night to Eve growling. Her snarls sound like a wolf gnawing at something. I decide to tiptoe over to her and poke her shoulder.

  “Eve? You awake?” She doesn’t answer, but the growling grows a bit quieter now.

  It still terrifies me, and I can’t really get back to sleep. I escape to the washroom to pee, glad for the moment of silence. I wash my face, which still aches with sleep, and I feel some relief.

  When I return to bed, Eve is gone.

  I panic and call her name a few times, knowing full well she can’t hide in such a small space. It is very obvious she isn’t here. I look around for clues.

  “The window!” I pant as I notice that it’s wide open.

  My mind skips to the worst-case scenario.

  “Oh my God! She jumped out the fucking window?”

  I am afraid to look down but force myself to glance after counting to ten.

  When I stick my head out the window, there is no body lying below in the bushes, but I can see a large dent in the bush directly below our window.

  “Oh no! What is she doing?”

  I know she survived the jump since she heals so quickly now, but why wouldn’t she just use the door? Perhaps she is testing her new skills? I think it more likely that she has gone completely insane.

  I don’t know what else to do, so I call Cam.

  “Cam…Cam…it’s me, Alex. I need your help. I think Eve jumped out the window, and I don’t know where she’s gone to. I’m going to go look for her. Please come along. I’m scared.”

  I can hear his voice tremble on the other end. “Okay, meet me outside your dorm building. I’m coming now.”

  I get off the phone and dress quickly. I know I have a flashlight packed somewhere, so I rummage around until I find it. Then I run for the stairs and descend as quickly as I can.

  Cam is there in record time, and I can see why. He is shirtless with his pajama pants on. The only item he’d managed to slip on were his running shoes.

  “Really? You couldn’t find a second to throw a shirt on?”

  He shrugs. He knows his outfit is a bit ridiculous and apologizes but adds, “Hey, we have bigger things to worry about than a missing shirt. Let’s have a look at the bushes below the window. We can start there.”

  The bush is almost completely flattened. Dark spots cover a few of the leaves, and there are trickles of a dark substance on the ground. I gasp, unable to conceal my dread; a trail of blood lay directly under our dorm window. This is going to be pretty hard to explain.

  “Al, let’s follow the blood. Maybe we’ll find Eve at the end of it.”

  “Sounds like a good idea, Cam, but what if what we find isn’t Eve anymore?” It hurts me to say it, but it might be true.

  “Alex, that’s ridiculous!” he retorts, but I don’t think I’m being unreasonable with my claim. She might end up hurting us.

  “Cam, you’ve seen what I’ve seen. She’s changing.”

  Cam shakes his head furiously. “So what are you saying? That we don’t bother looking for her? That we hide out in our rooms? This is Eve we’re talking about. We need to find her. Come on…” He begins to follow the blood trail, and I have no choice but to follow.

  We follow drips of blood for about five minutes, which leads us to the parking lot. I notice this is where the blood trail stops.

  “Eve must have fully healed by the time she got here.” Cam nods, looking on with despair. Well, this makes the search and rescue mission more difficult.

  Somehow I am wrong; another obstacle appears out of nowhere.

  “Cam? Oh my God, where is your shirt? Did you get mugged?” Claire quickly has her concerned and lust-filled fingers all over Cam.

  Claire is our dorm leader and Cam’s crazed stalker. She’s not afraid to show her affection for Cam, and Cam has no trouble showing his disgust for her. Yet it never deters her, not once. What horrible, horrible timing for her to be out and about.

  Claire is not known for keeping her mouth shut, and who knows what state we might find Eve in out here. We do not need this right now! But wait! What is she doing out here anyway at this time? Claire isn’t exactly a party animal, so I decide to ask her just that.

  “Claire, what brings you out here at this time of night? You okay? Cam’s fine. We just decided to go for a walk, couldn’t sleep.”

  She eyes me suspiciously. Damn Eve for telling her that I am Cam’s girlfriend. She probably would like to see me drop dead. Claire probably thinks we’re on a lovers stroll and most likely won’t leave because she’s just so nosy and jealous.

  “Oh, I’m just checking out a noise complaint,” she says smugly. I’m not sure I believe her. She always seems to know where Cam is at any given moment. I often wonder if she implanted a tracker on him when he was sleeping.

  Once she’s answered my question, she turns her attention back to Cam.

  “Hey, Cam, since you’re here, I just wanted to let you know that they are showing some old sci-fi flicks for movie night next week. I thought you would love that. Wanna go?”

  Man, she’s blunt! How did she know Cam liked sci-fi movies? Weird.

  Cam just gazes on in horror; he needs to say something to get her off our backs. He looks at me, and we start having an eye conversation. I’m trying to smile and hint that he should say yes to her proposal, and then maybe she’ll leave satisfied.

  Cam is staring daggers at me, showing me how much he does not want to do this. He eventually starts to p
lead with his eyes, almost like he’s saying, “Find another way,” but I can’t think of another way.

  I pinch some of his exposed skin, and he yells, “Yeaaaahsss.”

  He rubs the sore spot I’ve created and continues, “I mean yes, Claire, that would be nice.”

  Claire gives us a bigger grin than I think her mouth is capable of; it’s a little creepy, to be honest.

  “That’s great! I’m so excited. I will pop by your dorm and pick you up next week. The movie marathon starts at 7 pm.”

  With that, Claire is off. I suppose she doesn’t want to leave any opportunity for Cam to change his mind. She prances away victorious, and I try not to laugh at Cam’s misfortune. I should just be thankful she’s gone.

  “Well, that was close.” I look at Cam, and he looks about ready to throw up. “Sorry, Cam, what else could we do? Maybe the date won’t be too bad.”

  We sit in the parking lot for a few silent moments after that, trying to hatch a plan.

  “What do we do next?” I shrug in defeat. I can’t think of anything other than continuing to sit here, waiting for Eve to hopefully appear.

  After a few more silent moments, Cam comes up with a plan. “I think we should get in your car and drive around campus for clues.”

  I grab the keys out of my pocket, and we run towards my car. Maybe we can still find Eve before she decides to do anything stupid. What if she gets curious about healing after a train hits her? Maybe she went to the tracks to try it out? But I keep those thoughts to myself. There is no need for Cam to deal with my epic paranoia too. He’s been through enough already tonight. I giggle to myself, thinking about his upcoming date with Claire; I can’t help it even though it’s not the best time.

  “Shut up, Alex,” he snorts, and I comply.

  We drive around for what seems like hours. We stopped a few times to check out some noises we heard. None of the noises were Eve, though. We did, however, find a really cute bunny and a really awful-smelling skunk.

  We return to park my car and, without any further ideas, head back to our dorms in defeat. I pray Eve will return to her bed on her own.

  As I lock the doors to my car, I hear something that sounds like a growl.

  “Cam, do you hear that?” I look over at him, and he is staring at something in the distance that I can’t see.

  “Yup, I heard that alright.”

  I grab my flashlight and point it in the direction of the noise. Something speeds out of view hastily, not wanting to be seen by the light.

  “Holy shit, what was that?” Cam yells as he returns to my side.

  But I don’t know what it is. “Cam, let’s get a closer look. It could be her.”

  Cam remains right behind me; he knows we can’t forgive ourselves if we don’t at least check it out.

  The snarling gets louder as we approach, which makes the flashlight shake in my hands.

  Finally, we reach a car where the noise seems to originate from. Whatever “it” is decided to hide behind a pretty sexy-looking BMW.

  Cam grabs the flashlight out of my hand, and I don’t put up a fight. I don’t want to be the one to do the big reveal anyway. He puts his finger to his lips to signal silence. Then he starts to count up with his fingers.

  “One…two…three…” and Cam quickly shines the light around the car.

  My heartbeat picks up speed and then relaxes when I see that nothing is there.

  I am a little confused and even more afraid because now it is silent again. Where did this thing go?

  I shine the light around the parking lot a few more times but find nothing.

  “Fine!” I scream and kick the stupid BMW out of frustration, exhaustion, and just plain worry.

  Cam takes my arm and leads me back to my dorm as I sob the whole way. He can tell I’ve reached my limits.

  I halt when I notice someone sitting slumped against the building’s main doors. I grab Cam’s arm to steady myself. The figure looks contorted and motionless. I can’t see a face in the darkness. Cam decides to shine the flashlight towards the figure. When the light rests on Eve’s face, I lose it. Tears roll down my face. I feel joy since we’ve found her, but terror since I have no idea what is wrong with her or if I can even help.

  As I glance at her face, I know it’s her, but something’s off. Her skin is a purple hue, and all the veins in her face appear swollen. Her mouth and clothing are covered in blood, but I’m not sure if it’s hers.

  Eve’s eyes roll into the back of her head, and she begins spitting blood out of her mouth and breathing heavily as if she’s been chased for miles.

  My first thought is, Oh my God, she’s dying! I want to hold her, but Cam restrains me.

  “What the hell, Cam! Let me see if she’s okay!” I push back.

  “I’m worried you’ll get hurt too. So excuse me if I’m being cautious,” he spits back at me.

  Suddenly, Eve flops lifelessly to the ground. I force my way out of Cam’s arms and run to her. I grab her by the shoulders and pull her back to a seated position.

  “Eve, look at me. What happened?” I’m tapping her cheek, pleading that she snap out of it, but she won’t speak or look at me.

  Her blank stare reminds me of something out of a horror movie. She looks into my eyes, but it’s as if she doesn’t know me. Her eyes look hungry, and her mouth contorts as more blood pours out of it. Before she can lunge at me, she goes limp and slumps to the ground once more. I don’t know what to do, so I simply burst into tears.

  “Alex, it’s not that I’m insensitive, but this is not the best place for this. Quick, help me bring her to your room.”

  I nod and slide under one of Eve’s armpits while Cam slides under the other.

  Eve’s feet barely touch the ground, and her head flops backward, giving the effect of a broken neck. I force myself to look away or I’ll sob harder.

  In the stairwell, Cam puts his ear to her chest, and his eyes grow wide.

  “No heartbeat,” he says with a whimper. He looks so tragic as he sweeps her into his arms and continues up to our room. I’m wearing a similar look as I stumble after them.

  Once in the dorm room, he places Eve carefully in the bathtub and begins to wipe away the blood in her hair and her face and on her clothes. He does this gently like he’s bathing a child.

  Once Eve is cleaner, her face seems to settle into a more peaceful state. Cam tells me, “She’s breathing.” Eve is alive. Now all we have to do is wait.

  Cam places her on her bed, and soon after that, we are all asleep. I hope this is all a nightmare and I’ll wake up in the morning and find everything completely normal again, but I’m not sure normal is something I will ever experience again.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  EVE

  I wake up with my eyelids feeling light as a feather and my body feeling energized and better than it has in weeks! I jump out of bed and stretch, ready for my day. As I look for some fresh clothes, I stumble upon Cam. He is sitting on the floor sleeping against the wall.

  “Cam? What are you doing here?” My question makes him bolt upright, and he looks absolutely awestruck.

  “Okay, really weird reaction, Camy. What the hell? Will you relax?”

  Alex is now awake too, and she has much the same look on her face as Cam has.

  “Okay guys, you’re freaking me out.” I give a fake shiver. “What’s going on?”

  Cam comes closer to me and, without a word, grabs my shirt and lifts it into my field of vision. I see that the shirt is stained crimson. A shriek of repulsion emerges from my chest, and I flee to the washroom.

  “Oh my God, my clothes are covered in it. What the hell happened?”

  I crouch into a corner of the bathroom and begin to rock back and forth, hoping it will jog my memory, but nothing is coming to me.

  I feel Cam’s big ar
ms around me, and I ask him again, “What did I do?”

  He whispers back, very gently patting my hand, “We were hoping you could tell us that.”

  I don’t like being talked to like a kid.

  “Why are you whispering? Speak up and bring me up to speed.”

  Cam rolls his eyes and continues. “We found you outside of the building covered in blood, and you had been gone for hours. We think you might have jumped out of your dorm room window to escape somewhere.”

  Oh no, this is getting bad.

  I wish I can blame the memory loss on an entire bottle of vodka, but I haven’t touched a drink since last term. Even then, I don’t think I ever drank enough to erase an entire evening. I can’t remember anything from when I shut my eyes last night to when I opened them this morning. I start to shake.

  “Cam, I’m scared,” is all I can say because I can’t quite put everything I’m feeling into words right now. I sob and rock back and forth while Cam holds me.

  ***

  When I have enough courage to rise from the bathroom floor, I notice Alex looking out the window at a huge crowd gathered below.

  “I guess they found all that blood from last night,” Alex says through some nail biting.

  I glance outside to observe a rather large puddle of blood and many splatters that form a trail towards the campus entrance.

  “Oh, sweet Jesus! Please tell me that’s all mine.”

  Alex looks at me. “We believe it’s all yours. There wasn’t anyone else with you. I think you ought to go shower and burn those clothes, Eve. The less evidence there is, the less there is to worry about.”

  Alex is right as usual, so I suck it up and try to pull myself together. I am starting to look forward to seeing Dr. August as soon as possible; this is getting out of hand now.

  I head for the shower and throw my clothes into the metal garbage bin. I light a match that I normally use for my aromatherapy candles. Sweet Serenity Lavender sure won’t help me now.

  I gaze at the lit match and have an insatiable thought. I give into it. The match is now under one of my fingers, and I just let it burn. I cringe because I can still feel pain, even though I heal super well.