A Time to Kill Zombies

by Jill James

  “Look,” he said, pointing ahead for Lila. “There’s the burned-out minivan. The store should be right around the corner.”

  She panted behind him, her feet scraping along the asphalt. He’d had no choice but to make her pack every bit as heavy as his own. Bartering wouldn’t be a level playing field. The only good thing would be their load was lifted and the food would weigh a lot less than what they carried now. Information was worth its weight in gold these days.

  They turned the corner and he spotted the store with plywood instead of glass in its windows. A line spilled out onto the sidewalk. Lila groaned behind him. He turned and gave her a smile. “It won’t be so bad. You can take the pack off once we’re in line.”

  They fell in and dropped their packs to the sidewalk. Lila bent over and he rubbed her shoulders as a teenage boy and a couple of girls came up behind them. A man came out of the store and looked them all over. “We can only take six more today.”

  The people in line mumbled and cursed and started counting among themselves. Jack leaned down and whispered in Lila’s ear. “We’re number six. Watch your back.”

  The boy realized it a second after Jack. “Son of a bitch. You stole our spot.”

  Jack crossed his arms on his chest. “We were here first. You don’t want this fight. Move on, son.”

  The boy shoved Jack and turned and walked away, the girls shooting daggers with their eyes at him. A man in front of them turned. “Watch out for that one. Marco’s a mean little bastard.”

  “Thanks for the warning. But I kind of had that figured out.”

  Silence coated the line of people, desperation oozed out of every pore. Jack could feel it emanating from the men and women in line. Even the children stood silent, their eyes sunken and glazed. The new world didn’t allow children to be kids.

  “You’re the last of it,” the man said as they reached the doorway. He shut the door behind them, the dusk in the room turning to midnight dark until a click sounded and a lantern lit up on the countertop.

  A few canned goods sat on the wooden shelves. The man swept his arm toward them. “It’s not much, but it beats scavenging on your own. Let’s see what you got to trade.”

  Jack grabbed Lila’s pack and flung it up on the counter. He opened it and gently put the glass Mason jars on the wood surface. The jewel tones shimmered in the dim light. The labels proclaimed them Boysenberry and Apricot Jam. The man and the woman behind the counter practically salivated.

  His face sunk as he frowned. “We don’t have enough here to trade for those. Maybe if you come back in a few days. We’ll have collected some more.”

  Shaking his head, Jack reached in and took out two more. “We’ll just take a few cans of whatever you got. More than food we need information.”

  The man nodded at the woman who scooped up the jars in haste as if they would grow feet and run away. She reached for the cans on the shelf and handed him two with the familiar red and white soup label and two with a ragged label of a picture of peaches.

  “We’re looking for Valerie. We’ve heard she can tell us about the Sisterhood of the Earth.”

  The woman nodded her head. “I’m Valerie. What do you want to know?”

  “I need numbers, strengths, weaknesses, and locations.”

  She stared at him, her eyes glowing with anger and hatred. “They killed my husband and took my son. I’ll tell you whatever you need to know.”

  Lila stepped forward. “We think they have our daughter.”

  Valerie shrugged. “At least you’re lucky. They’re keeping the girls alive.”

  “For what?” Lila and Jack asked at the same time.

  “Soldiers.”

  “Soldiers for what?” Jack said.

  “For their war against men.”

  Five minutes later, the man let them out the door and locked it behind them. “It wasn’t a lot of information for those yummy jars of jam. Do you think she was telling the truth?”

  Jack looked down at her as they crossed the street and rounded the corner. “I think she told us what she knew. It’s more than we had before. Now we know they have about fifty or sixty women, they camp near the top of the mountain, and the leader is a woman.”

  A shot rang out and a burning pain torpedoed across his side. It hurt to breathe. The world tilted and he fell to the side, taking Lila with him.

  * * *

  Lila didn’t take time to think as Jack fell to the sidewalk and the asshole laughed and taunted them from the street. She yanked the pistol from Jack’s holster and fired. The first shot hit the boy in the shoulder and shut him up. The second one hit him in the chest and he crumpled to the asphalt.

  The two girls who’d been with Marco at the store ran screaming to his dead body. They threw themselves on him, begging him to move. Then he did. Their screams continued as the thing that had been Marco grabbed them and bit them, tearing into their flesh, the blood spraying across the cracked street.

  She flung Jack’s arm around her shoulder, trying to pull him to his feet. “Don’t leave them there,” he whispered between white-edged lips.

  His eyes stared fiercely into hers. “Too good,” she muttered under her breath.

  She leaned him up against the stone wall and marched across to the zombie teenagers. Three shots rang out and the children lay finally dead in the road. A sob pushed its way past the knot in her throat. They had been kids. The boy didn’t look like he shaved yet and one of the girls wasn’t more than twelve, thirteen at the most.

  If a cure were found tomorrow, none of them would be able to live with what they’d done to survive. She held the gun down at her side and trudged back to Jack on the sidewalk. A puddle was growing under his hip.

  “Bullet,” he mumbled.

  “Of course it was a bullet,” she berated him.

  “Make sure the bullet went through.” His eyes kept fluttering shut, sending her blood pressure into the ozone layer.

  She squatted and pulled up his shirt. A bloody hole marred his side, beside his ribs. She gulped back vomit as she viewed the mess on his back. A much larger hole tore through him.

  “Okay, no bullet in you,” she managed to stammer, feeling light-headed.

  “Stuff in your pack. Front pocket.”

  She ripped it open and pulled out sanitary napkins and duct tape. “Really?”

  He managed to smile at her before a pain appeared to shoot through him and he hunched over and grimaced. “Battlefield first aid. Tampons are better but I haven’t found any yet. Women must have been smart enough to snatch them all up early on.”

  Following his directions, she slapped the pads on him back and front and wrapped the silver tape across his back and stomach. He put his arm across her shoulders and heaved himself up with some grunts and lots of curse words, only some of them from Jack.

  They managed a block at a time. Lila leaned him against a wall and checked out the next area to travel across. The Moon was high in the black sky before they made it to the hunter’s blind and Jack all but fell down the stairs.

  In hours, she’d piled every blanket, every piece of clothing they owned on him. All she could do was sit there beside him as he shivered and his skin grew hot to the touch. By the time the sun came up and light filtered to their bunker, he was out of his head with fever and rambling about her unfaithfulness and betrayal and their little, lost girl. His cries for Selena broke her heart, as he mumbled about losing her and not finding her. Tears ran down his face and mixed with his sweat as he yelled at himself for failing.

  Lila put her head on her knees and cried. She was going to lose Jack, just when she’d found him again. She’d lost Selena. Even when they found her, would she still be the sweet girl she’d known. What was her child going through on her own?

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Paul, Suz, and Josh

  Radio Message from the Capital of California

  Repeating four times a day

  Governor Max Rivers

  My Fellow Ca
lifornians, this great state has weathered many catastrophes. We have survived massive earthquakes, horrific droughts, and devastating wildfires. We have pulled together and come through to the other side of these natural disasters. But there is nothing natural about the abomination of the undead infesting the great state of California.

  Starting today, we are taking back our state, mile by mile and acre by acre, if we must. I am calling on all citizens, all Californians, to step up and defend this great state.

  Beginning on the day after the next full Moon, all men and women between the ages of sixteen and forty-five will be drafted into the Z-E army. Zombie elimination is the only way to take back our state for the living.

  Any eligible citizen refusing to register will be arrested, tried, and executed. If you do not join our army, you will not be joining the zombie army. All traitors will be beheaded.

  This message will be repeated four times a day on all available channels and methods of broadcasting, indefinitely. Failure to hear this broadcast is not an excuse to avoid the draft.

  Connor clicked the channel off and looked up at Paul. What did the kid see in his face? Paul tried to project confidence, but his brow furrowed and his mouth dried out. They’d listened to the message twice last night and again this morning. The message was insane, but the messenger sounded right as rain. How could they make people register for a draft? How could they find the people to register for the draft?

  His gaze swept the room. If they conscripted the eligible people in this room, they would be left with Muncy and the smallest boys and girls of the group. Even Charlie’s youngest was sixteen. Forcing the adults to leave would be a death sentence for Rogue Vantage and the Madison twins.

  His face heated with anger and his fists clenched at his sides. A soft hand grasped his arm. He turned and was enveloped in Suz’s smile. He took a deep breath.

  “They have to find us first,” she said. Her smile widened and she kissed his cheek.

  He couldn’t relax. The zombies. Old John. Now this. Did it never end? All wars ended, why not this one? “We’re right down the river from Sacramento. We could wake up tomorrow to a gunboat tied up at the dock, marching us off to war.”

  Suz nodded her head toward Connor, sitting forgotten at the ham radio. The kid’s face was bleached white and his blue eyes enormous behind his glasses.

  Paul forced a smile on his face and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Thank you for learning to use the radio. Jed taught you well.”

  “Thanks, Mister Paul,” he whispered, his face beet-red with embarrassment. Connor hated attention as much as his brother, Dylan relished it.

  He turned to the group huddled in the doorway of the room. “We will get through this. Just because we have to register doesn’t mean we would have to leave. Any intelligent person would see we need adults to hold this place. As Suz said, they have to find us first.”

  The group broke up and walked away, muttering to themselves. Connor clicked the radio back on and put the headphones on his ears. In seconds, he was hunched over as he turned dials, his head tilted to listen to endless static. He’d tried to get the kid to listen less, but the boy was sure he’d heard some voices on other channels this morning.

  Suz took his hand and pulled him out of the room. “Between you and me, do you think they believed that bullshit you were selling?”

  He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear. “I pray to God they did. We have to hold this group—this family—together.”

  He caught the distant sound of a phone ringing. It still jarred him to hear the normal sound in their abnormal world. Josh came out the door and yelled. He caught the words ‘call’ and ‘Fisher.’

  He jogged across the yard. “Fisher is on the phone. He says he needs to talk to you, now.”

  Paul went into the office. Josh followed and shut the door. He raised an eyebrow at the action, but took the call.

  “Brandon, this is Paul. You have news?”

  “Old John is stirring up trouble. He and a couple of old-timers were here recruiting. Billy told them no one here would help and they left all mad and stuff. Be careful. Old John is mean when he gets mad and he is very mad right now.”

  “Thanks for the news, Brandon. Appreciate it.”

  Paul hung up and looked to Josh. “My day just gets better and better. Old John is gathering followers. Locals aren’t going to take kindly to us stealing the hotel.”

  Josh leaned against the door. “We didn’t steal it. We asked him when we came if we could stay and he agreed. Even when he became an asshole, you gave him every chance. All he had to do was get along with people.”

  He ran a hand over his hair and sighed in frustration. “I don’t need this shit right now.”

  A knock sounded on the door. Josh jumped at the sound, turned, and opened the door. Joseph Jones stood in the doorway, wiping his greasy hands on an old rag. A swipe of grease arched across his forehead.

  “We got trouble, Commander. The generator is broke.”

  It took a second, but Paul realized the repel signal wasn’t broadcasting. The constant hum that set his fillings to aching wasn’t there.

  “Can you fix it?”

  The man nodded. “As soon as I get a replacement for the fuel line that was crushed.”

  It took less than a second for that to register. “That fucker. I’m going to kill him.”

  He looked to Joseph and Josh. “Get everyone together. We need to cover our asses.”

  They left the office, Paul headed to the dining room and the other men to get everyone.

  News traveled fast in their small group and most of them knew what was going on before he opened his mouth, so he got right to their plan of action.

  “The repel signal isn’t working, as I’m sure all of you can tell. I need Charlie and his son, Zach at the north red line. Doctor Shannon, I need you and Joseph at the south red line. Josh will follow you and get the parts we need for the generator from Brandon’s group. Once he has them, you will come back so Joseph can fix the generator. Suz will take the kids upstairs until we have the signal back. As for the rest of it, we will not surrender this place. Not to the government and not to Old John and his cronies. This is our home. Any questions?”

  His family and friends started clapping. The boys of Rogue Vantage cheered.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Cody, Miranda, and April

  Ran’s Journal

  On the river

  Spring, 1 AZ

  April is a bitch. There! I said it. She is sniping at everyone. It isn’t fair. Teddy is doing everything he can to fix the boat, it isn’t his fault the motor stopped running. He is putting the sails up with Seth now, but without wind I don’t know what good it is supposed to do. The only good thing about this day is that the babies have stopped crying and Jed hasn’t ‘died’ for most of last night and all of today. At least someone is in a good mood.

  The boat floated on the smooth-as-glass river, at a standstill with the anchor thrown overboard. Below decks became unbearable with heat and tension. Ran sat in the pilot’s seat, her feet up on the dash and wrote in her journal. Either get the words out or throw April overboard. The woman wasn’t talking to her and Cody, she’d fought with Michelle when the woman only tried to comfort her, and she had everyone on edge.

  She stared to the front of the boat where April now sat frying her pale-white skin. She hadn’t moved in hours. Ran winced at the blisters forming on her arms and neck. But she was damned if she’d help the girl. They had bigger problems than a pouting woman who needed to pull up her big girl panties and move on. Sure, her uncle had died, but so had Ran’s father and Cody’s mother. Hell, Seth had to kill his own mother.

  “She still there?” Michelle’s soft voice carried over the nonexistent breeze and the becalmed boat.

  “Yep. She’s been there since breakfast. If you can call two bites of fish and the last of the bottled water, breakfast.”

  “At least the twins have enough food.”r />
  “Not if we don’t get more food for Emily.”

  Their conversation cut short as April keeled over onto the deck with a thump. She didn’t even cry out. Michelle rushed to her, Ran was a step behind. April’s eyes rolled back in her head, with the whites showing. Incoherent words fell from her split and blistered lips.

  “Teddy, Seth, we need you,” Michelle yelled.

  The boat rocked as the men raced along the deck. Teddy skidded to a stop. Michelle looked up at her husband. “We need to get her under the shade with Emily and babies. We need any buckets or pots you can find.”

  The big man picked up the small woman as if she weighed nothing. Ran bit her lip. Between the church abuse and the lack of food now, April was frail and tiny in Teddy’s large arms. He placed her on the deck beneath the sheet Seth had rigged up to allow Emily and the babies to be out of the oven-heat below.

  Ran rushed down the stairs and scooped up two plastic buckets and two large pots. They clanged as she piled them in her arms and got back on deck as quick as possible. She dropped them on the cushions as Michelle got April’s top and pants off. The young woman looked defenseless, lying there half-naked in front of them.

  “Emily, move the babies back. This is going to get messy.” Michelle turned to Ran and Cody. “We need to cool her best we can. The best we’ve got is river water. Scoop it up and pour it over her as fast as you can.”

  Cody slid overboard and she handed him the buckets and the pots. As fast as he filled them, she hauled them up and handed off to Teddy or Seth who were pouring the water over April. Time passed in a haze as all she did was drag the bucket up and hand it to one of the men. Take the empty bucket and hand it down to Cody. Bend down, drag it up. Turn, hand off. Again and again and again.

  Blisters formed and broke on her palms and still they continued on. She dropped a bucket, the water sloshing onto the deck. Wasted water. They needed it for April. Teddy’s hand came and covered hers on the handle.