A Time to Kill Zombies

by Jill James

  She let the tears come. This was the last time she’d allow herself the luxury. She would find Selena, or die trying. A million pictures flashed through her mind. Selena learning to walk with determination on a face that so looked like Jack’s it’d taken her breath away. Her daughter saying her first words. The little girl saying ‘dada’ to Juan, bringing tears to Lila’s eyes at all Jack was missing. To that last moment, with the little girl’s screams echoing in her head as she fought unconsciousness trying to reach her.

  Jack’s voice brought her back to the present. “Have a protein bar,” he said, handing her one as he chewed on his own. “We can eat as we go.”

  The man’s eagerness to get started matched her own, so she said nothing as he hefted the pack to his shoulders and strode out the opening, jumping with ease over the fallen cinderblocks. Random strands of hair got in her eyes as she tried to imitate his easy movements over the obstacles. A breeze blew a lock in her face. She swiped it back and cursed under her breath. Her lost long hair another strike against the man she’d called husband. Before he’d chopped it all off she had been able to put it in a ponytail or braid to get it out of the way. The hair was finally growing back, but the strands seemed to come back in odd spots and textures, with some long, some still short, and some curly when she’d had no curls before.

  Jack stopped and pulled a bandana out of a pocket of the backpack. He whipped it into a band and tied it across her forehead. His fingers ran over the short hair at her neck, raising goose bumps on her arms. Other than when she’d stumbled into the camp, he hadn’t touched her in nine long years. Not even when he found them in the abandoned car on the freeway months ago.

  Her breath caught as his fingers trailed down her cheek. His brown eyes warmed as he gazed at her. Warmth filled her chest and face as he pulled her in close to his chest.

  “I’m so sorry he hurt you.”

  She pushed him away. “I don’t need your pity, Jack. In the old world I would have left him for the bastard he was. But in this world I knew I couldn’t take care of Selena and myself. It is what it is.” She shrugged and moved away, walking toward the concrete freeway.

  She called back over her shoulder. “I’m going to get my daughter. Are you coming, or not?”

  Chapter Five

  Paul, Suz, and Josh

  Suz’s Notes

  Antioch Bridge

  Spring, 1 AZ

  Just a quick note while we wait for Paul to check in at the far end of the bridge. Wish we could just drive on but too many cars to deal with, especially with our depleted numbers. After the surprise outbreak of the mysterious virus at the RV Park, we were left with no choice but to leave. Fingers crossed for Emily and baby and those we left behind.

  She shoved the pencil and paper into her backpack as the echo of a gunshot came from the end of the bridge. The end of the bridge where Paul and the boys were. Only silence followed the dissipating sound, the echoes disappearing in diminishing waves. Grabbing the walkie-talkie off her belt she smashed the SEND button.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, we are fine. A skinbag grabbed Bryant but he took care of it.”

  Suz took a long, even breath and slowly exhaled.

  “As long as everyone is okay.”

  Paul’s voice came through again. “Suz, we found some vehicles. Can you send Josh our way? The bridge should be clear but tell him to keep a look out anyway.”

  She looked over at her brother to make sure he caught their husband’s words. “Will do. Over and out.”

  She put the walkie-talkie back on her belt as Josh strolled over. Josh grabbed a couple of waters from a truck and put them in his small pack. As he hefted it onto his back, Suz ran her hand over his hair. “He said it should be safe, but be careful anyway. Give him a kiss for me.”

  “Suz,” he whined. “The boys are there.”

  She laughed as she hadn’t been able to laugh in a long time. “The boys know about me, you, and Paul.”

  Even with sunburn, she spotted her brother’s telltale blush. She cut him some slack and let him go without another word.

  Their relationship was still new to Josh; the first serious relationship in his life. It should have been awkward to share a man with her brother, but Paul made it work. She sighed. She’d thought she was so independent before Paul came into her life. She could kick ass and take names with the best of them. And if she couldn’t, her brother had her back. It had been enough after the influenza epidemic and the Z virus to at least have her brother left of all their big family. Until Paul showed her there was more than just survival in the zombie apocalypse.

  Showed her and Josh that life went on in new and amazing ways. She brought her head out of the clouds as Doctor Shannon walked up to her and pulled her to the side of the bridge. Suz looked over the woman’s shoulder to see her husband Jim slumped in a chair, his large hands hiding his face, his shoulders shaking.

  Her heart sank and then broke as Shannon’s words confirmed it. “I used the long-range walkie-talkie to see if the RV yard knew anything yet.” Her voice trembled and her grip on Suz’s shoulder tightened. “Beth and Jed didn’t make it.”

  “What about the RV yard group we left?”

  Shannon gave her a shaky smile. “Emily had twins. Michelle, Teddy, Miranda, and Cody made it back.”

  “Twins?” She shook her head. “They have a rough journey ahead.”

  Shannon hugged her. “Don’t we all?”

  Suz stood stock-still as Shannon went back to comfort her husband. The quietly-spoken words took the breath from her lungs. She turned to stare after her brother as he crested the peak of the bridge and disappeared over the other side. Everyone she loved was hidden from sight.

  * * *

  The upsetting blush still heated Josh’s face. He and his sister might look a lot alike with their blonde hair and blue eyes, a gift from their Nordic ancestors, but inside they were as different as the undead and the living. He let his actions speak for him. Making the undead finally dead and pulling his own weight with the group. Those were the things he knew how to do. Talking about his feelings or showing them for all to see was not his thing. Suz could share her deepest, darkest secrets and then laugh it off.

  He smiled to himself. He’d been as surprised as anyone in the RV group to not only fall for Paul, but to have his feelings returned. In the beginning he’d been stupid about it, fighting with Suz and avoiding Paul, until his sister and her lover pointed out what he’d been too blind to see; he and Suz both loved Paul and he loved them.

  Any awkwardness left was all on him. To Suz and Paul and the rest of the group, they were a romantic unit. He sighed. Maybe those fundamental Mormons out in Utah had it right all along. Maybe multiple husbands and wives was the way to go. Maybe jealousy was a relic of the past, just like frozen food, television, and professional sports.

  He left the deep thoughts behind as he reached the first of the crashed and crushed cars and trucks. Quickly reaching a blue truck with a chalked X on the door, he leaned over and spotted the cases of water and boxes of supplies. He smiled. They could use all the food and water they found. Thirst and hunger killed as easily as the zombs.

  Spotting the Humvee and the boys of Rogue Vantage at the bottom of the bridge, he rushed forward. Determined to get his awkwardness behind him, he hugged Paul quickly and stepped back. Paul’s smile said he appreciated the effort. Just as Suz said, the young boys were more interested in the turret gun on the Humvee than anything he and Paul did or said.

  Paul turned at the creak of the gun. “Aidan, point it north. Remember?”

  “Yes, sir,” the boy replied. “Away from civilians.”

  Josh laughed. “You’re a great teacher. I don’t remember my dad and uncle having such an easy time teaching Suz and I to follow the rules.”

  Paul looked up at him. “Rules are important, but they seem a little more important now, don’t they?”

  He stared at the young boys who should be playing on swi
ng sets and riding bikes instead of learning to operate turret guns and kill zombies. Thinking back on his childhood, he wished these kids could have that again but in his heart he knew it wasn’t going to happen. Even if they did fight back the tide of undead and the living taking advantage of the utter chaos, it wouldn’t happen for years, maybe generations. Their best hope was for the children of the children of the kids in front of him.

  “Bryant, Aidan,” he called over. “I’ve brought water.” As he squatted down to open his pack, Aidan slid down from view and reappeared at the vehicle’s door. Bryant’s dark head popped up beside him. The two rushed over and gulped down a bottle each in seconds.

  “You should have seen it, Josh,” Aidan said as he put the empty bottle into his own backpack. “The zomb’ had Bryant’s foot and he just flipped over and POW.” The boy mimed a gun with his finger and thumb. “Right in the head.”

  Josh put his hand on Bryant’s head, noting the boy had grown a few inches recently. “Glad you’re all right.”

  “Sure, bro.” The boy grinned. “Mister Paul wouldn’t let anything happen to us.”

  He was going to laugh, but the boy was right. Paul wouldn’t let anything happen to them. At least, not if he could help it, but every day was a struggle against hunger, thirst, disease, and the skinbags, and Paul wasn’t GI Joe, he was just a man.

  Chapter Six

  Jack and Lila

  Commander’s Log

  Dow Chemical Plant/The Wetlands

  Antioch, California

  Spring, 1 AZ

  The wetlands in front of the chemical factory exploded with wildlife. The absence of humans let the mammals and birds and reptiles and insects take back their natural habitats. More than a year after civilization fell; nature was taking her world back. They’d left the highway by the burned down County East Mall, a victim of the early days of the Z virus outbreak. Jack meant to take them to a back road, but passing by the forgotten Auto Mall dealerships had been an unexpected bonus.

  With only three undead in sight, he’d taken the time to let Lila hone her killing skills. By the third skinbag, her swing had strengthened and it only took one swing to decapitate the last zomb’.

  A kit fox mama and babies trotted across the road as he pulled into the facility with their new SUV. He wrapped a chain around the gate. It wouldn’t keep out a car or a horde of the undead, but it would rattle enough to warn them. The wetlands stretched out in front of them in untouched splendor. If not for the gray building at the end of the road, the land looked like it had more than a hundred years ago.

  Jack held his breath. No moans or sounds other than the noisy cries of blue jays. He breathed deeply. No smells except for the pungent scent of marshes. This kind of place could lull you into false security. He stayed alert as Lila hopped out of the vehicle and shut her door with an almost silence nudge.

  He smiled. She was learning. Slamming the door at the dealership and seeing a small group of zombs running for their SUV could do that to you. His smile died. He would have to give Lila some survival skills if they were going to rescue Selena. The woman had been too protected for someone living in the ZA. Protected behind cement walls in the RV yard and then the oppressive confines of the church had left her totally unprepared for killing the undead and staying away from them in the first place, not to mention the dangers of the living.

  “Lila,” he called to her in a low tone.

  She came to his side. “Why don’t you whisper? Something might hear us.”

  “Lesson one,” he intoned in the same low voice. “It is better to talk quietly than to whisper. Whispering causes your s endings in words to slur and carry.”

  “Was that an army lesson?”

  “Yes it was. One of many.”

  “Was it hard? The army,” she asked. “You never said much about it.”

  “It kept me sane when the world turned upside down.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  His jaw tightened. “Thanks for that. But I meant the zombie apocalypse. The end of the world as we know it.”

  “Oh,” she whispered and stopped. “Oh,” she intoned in a deep low voice to match his.

  A smile broke out on his face. “Good job.”

  “Why did we stop here? Shouldn’t we keep going?”

  He pointed to the large chemical complex down the road. “This place was abandoned early on after the Z virus. It has potential to be a fallback location. Look at all the land for crops. The fence encloses the whole facility.”

  Lila crossed her arms on her chest and glared at him. “How does that get Selena back? Anything could be happening to her, and we are scouting future homes.”

  He stepped up and put his hands on her shoulders. “We will get her back, but we have to always look to the future. Overlooked food locations. Compounds that are friendly and especially ones that are not. We were almost wiped out by General Peters and we had to leave a perfectly good place because of the Reverend. I won’t have that happen again. We will always have two, three, or more locations to retreat to if we must.”

  Lila stepped back and his hands fell off her shoulders. She straightened her spine and took a deep breath. “Okay, so show me how to scout a location and how to see what is right and what is wrong. I have a lot of catching up to do and I don’t have nine weeks for boot camp.”

  He smiled. “Okay, first lesson. What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you see?”

  Lila turned slowly, taking in their surroundings. “I hear the birds and probably small creatures in the tall grass and weeds. Not loud enough for zombies. I smell green things growing and dirt, nothing yucky like dead people.”

  She stared at the building down the road. “I don’t see any cars so people probably left during the pandemic, or they didn’t come to work at all. There is fire damage on the wall to the left, but ivy is growing over it, so it was probably long ago, not recently.”

  His smile grew. “We’ll make a soldier of you yet. Put your rifle on the SUV hood and get out your knife.”

  “But,” she started to say, as he put his hand on her shoulder and pointed to the zomb’ crawling out of the marshy field. Its body was covered with mud and missing an arm and a leg. Jack strode over and planted his foot on its back. The skinbag hissed and moaned, its fingers digging into the dirt, trying to pull forward. His chomping teeth rattled and broke.

  Lila came over, a grimace marring her face. “Why don’t they just fall apart and die already?”

  “The brain doesn’t send the message to the body that life is over. The virus killed the finer functions of the brain, the things that make us human. All that was left was the basics of search for food and eat. So they continue on.”

  He pointed to the other side of the creature. Lila moved to the spot. “You have to finish the death of their brains. You don’t want to know how many guys I saw die in the beginning because they kept shooting in the chest and guts until they ran out of bullets. Decapitation is the best. Swift and clean and allows you some distance. But you won’t always have a machete or a sword. Sometimes they will sneak up on you and all you have is your hands, your feet, and a knife.

  “The ones who have been around a while have grown soft, so you can usually pierce the skull. But you can’t guarantee that, and there is nothing worse than fighting for your life and breaking the knife blade on a hard head.”

  He stepped back and loosened the zomb’. “Go for the spine at the base of the skull. Sever the brain from the body.”

  She stabbed it several times, jumping back as she missed and the undead snapped its jaw full of rancid teeth at her.

  “Hold the head still, stab, and more on,” he instructed. “Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Don’t let anything sneak up on you.”

  With a grunt, Lila pressed down on the creature’s head, stabbed between the vertebrae with a resounding crunch, and jumped back, turning with the knife at the ready in front of her.

  Jack walked up to her and gave her
a soft, silent high five. He took the knife and wiped it off on the zomb’s threadbare shirt and handed it back to her. “Always take care of your weapons and they will take care of you. Only put the knife back in the sheath dirty if you are on the run. One small cut pulling it out and you have infected yourself.”

  “But I thought we were all infected,” she asked. “Didn’t Miranda save Seth when he got bit?”

  He nodded. “She did. But I wouldn’t want to have to cut off some body part of yours to save you.”

  “I wouldn’t want that either,” she spoke in a low tone, staring at him.

  “But we would do it if we had to, understand?”

  She nodded, tears forming in her eyes. “I hate this. Why did the world have to get so ugly?”

  “Maybe because we thought we could play God and He said no.”

  * * *

  Lila sobered at that thought. The man was right. They’d played havoc with the world around them and the world had said, ‘enough.’ The president deciding to vaccinate the entire country in one fell swoop was just the last in a long list of mistakes humankind had made and now the bill had come due as her father would have said. Rest his filthy soul.

  Thinking of family brought her full circle back to Selena. A sob caught in her throat at the thought of her little girl in the clutches of Juan. When had the man she’d married changed so much? When had he let his machismo overrule his common sense? When had he turned into a monster who forgot Selena called him daddy?

  She pulled herself together. The sooner she learned survival skills, the sooner they could rescue her baby. Refusing to face the option of not finding her, Lila turned to her former lover and absorbed all he knew of how to get along in this scary new world.