Logan stood at the trees watching Farrah walk away. “How is that fair? I deserve that kiss. He wouldn’t have known what happened to you if it wasn’t for me!”
“Boy. I love you, but man you have got to get a grip,” I replied as I patted his shoulder while passing by him.
“Well it’s true,” Logan replied as he followed behind me. “I’m better looking than you. I have a better charm. I even have a bigger.”
“Don’t say it,” I interrupted.
“I was going to say boot size. Big feet means big,” Logan replied.
“Yea, yea, yea we all know what it means. Bigger socks,” I interrupted.
As I approached camp, Farrah began setting up to fix our lunch.
“We should probably pack up and move further into the woods,” I said as I pulled a dry shirt from my bag.
“Can we eat first,” Farrah asked.
“It is likely that there are more zombies in the river. If one of them snags the shore, then they can climb out of the river. We should move further in,” I explained.
“Understandable,” Farrah replied. “I’ll pack up the sleeping bags.”
I began packing up the tents as Farrah gathered the remaining essentials.
“Atlas, tell me your story,” Farrah said.
“I don’t have a story,” I replied.
“Everyone has a story. All I know about you is that you have a daughter. What else is to the man behind the rescue,” Farrah asked.
“Well, I am an ex-Army Ranger,” I replied.
“Ah, I knew you were military. It explains your entire demeanor,” Farrah interrupted.
“Yeah. Once you adapt it, you can’t turn it off,” I replied. “I grew up in Tompkinsville, which is a small town not too far from here actually. I have four brothers and a beautiful woman back home.”
“What’s her name,” Farrah asked as she placed the sleeping bag into its carrying case.
“Aurora,” I replied.
“You guys married?”
Under a heavy breath I replied, “No.”
“How did you meet her,” Farrah asked.
“When all of this started, me and my team were on a mission to rescue who and what we could. After we encountered some weird behavior from a base erected out of nowhere, we got a S.O.S. over the radio. It was a woman’s voice. She was trapped in a church surrounded by flesh eaters,” I explained. “So, we went to rescue her from the church. Once we cleared a way for her to escape, she busted through the church’s basement door and wrapped her arms around me without actually knowing me. Once I saw her face, I instantly fell in love with her.”
“So, you two met after the apocalypse started,” Farrah replied.
“Yes. Ever since then we have been inseparable, until now,” I explained.
“So, she isn’t Kiere’s mother. The way you talk, Kiere is older than yours and Aurora’s relationship,” Farrah asked.
“I’m not actually Kiere’s father,” I replied.
Farrah had a confused look on her face.
“I found Kiere when I went to rescue my parents,” I explained. “She was a little girl then. Her actual dad was bitten and near the end. Kiere was scared and alone. So, after I laid her dad to rest, I took her in as my own. Aurora did the same when she met us.”
“Wow. That is amazing,” Farrah said.
“What is,” I asked.
“You took in a little girl that had lost her dad without any thought. No plans for the future. You were just thinking about Kiere,” Farrah explained.
“That is basically the summary of it,” I said.
“Hey, I think she is getting the hots for you,” Logan whispered.
“If you weren’t already with someone, I believe I would try to get those wet clothes off of you and throw you to the ground,” Farrah said.
“Well that’s highly inappropriate,” I replied.
“Truth is truth. No matter when or how it’s said,” Farrah said behind a smile. “Don’t worry. I respect the sanctity of relationships. But my mind will play a different story.”
“Ok. Pack it up. Time to move,” I said.
Farrah grabbed my wrist and said, “I’m joking. Sort of. Only about the stripping you naked and throwing you to the ground part. There’s too much mud.”
“You are worse than Logan,” I said.
“Hey! Don’t bring my name into this. Well you can if it’s going to help me. But the way you said it gives me no shot,” Logan yelled.
“In all seriousness, thank you for saving me back there,” Farrah said before placing another kiss to my cheek and walking back to load our belongings.
“Unbelievable,” Logan yelled. “You know, I’m going to tell God that you can’t have any women on the naked woman cloud in Heaven. They are all mine. You have more than enough down here.”
“There’s a cloud of naked women in Heaven,” I asked.
Logan’s deceptive smile quickly turned to a frown. “No. But man it would be amazing if there was.”
“Shut up,” I said as I laughed.
Chapter 15
“Tell me something Atlas, why do you believe you were supposed to live this long in the zombie apocalypse,” Farrah asked as we enjoyed burnt squirrel over an open camp flame.
“I’ve never really asked myself that question. It has to be dumb luck with a mixture of army training,” I answered.
“I’m not asking how you survived; I’m asking why you survived,” Farrah replied.
“Why do you believe you have survived for this long,” I answered with a question.
Farrah brushed her fingers through her hair while placing her food on the single sheet of paper on the ground.
“I have never been the religious type. Although my grandmother believed in spirit animals, a greater power, and I learned more from her than anyone; her teachings of our ancestry seemed farfetched. That’s not to say that I don’t believe in something because I do. I just don’t know what it is called,” Farrah explained.
“So. you’re telling me that it is because of the higher power, that is possibly there, believes you need to be here,” I asked.
“In a way yes. Everything that happens to us is to be the product of some type of reason. No coincidences, no random acts, but an actual plan. It does not unfold without some setbacks, but the end will always be there,” Farrah replied. “I may not be a special person. I could have just had dumb luck myself, but I don’t think that it is possible. I believe I have survived this long because I am supposed to. There is a reason for it.”
I stared into the fire listening to its crackle wondering what the plan was for Kiere to be taken away from me. Why did I have to hear her scream for me only to see her be dragged away? Why was it me that had to find her in the house in the field with her dad as he lay dying in that bed?
“So, tell me Atlas, why do you believe you have survived this long,” Farrah asked again.
The flames pressed heat against my face. My eyes seared amongst the bright orange. I could feel the anguish, the pain; I could hear the screams.
“I didn’t survive,” I replied.
“What do you mean,” Farrah asked.
“This life that we supposedly have no control over isn’t surviving. I believe we are all dead and this is Hell. Our minds aren’t ready to accept the reality of what we have done to earn a one-way ticket to the Devil’s home, yet we fight every day to find something worth holding on to,” I replied. “I grew up Baptist. I always believed that God watched over this world with no hesitation to intervene when he needed to. If you do right by him, you go to Heaven. If you do wrong by him, you are sent to Hell. Burning of the soul, no release from pain, only your worst nightmares relived repeatedly with no ending. As I sit here amongst the burning logs and remember what all I have seen, I realize it is pure torture. My sins placed before me in an everlasting loop.”
“What sins,” Farrah asked.
I poked the fire with a stick and forced the embers to float amongst the night sky. “My
brothers have died before my eyes. My family disappeared. My daughter vanished as I couldn’t do anything. When all of this started, me and my friends were prepared for it. We trained for it like an obsession. We thought we knew what we had to do, needed to do in order to outlive this type of apocalypse. And yet, most of them are gone. Logan died in my arms after the explosion that cremated my hometown. Zora gave her life to help us all. Tyler was lost in the flames of our home when Warren Cross first came known. I am being toyed with. This is my Hell. I have no life. There is no surviving if there is nothing to live for,” I explained.
Farrah rose from her seat and sat next to me. She placed her hands between her knees and stared directly at me as my gaze didn’t leave the fire. “You can’t save everyone. You are not in Hell. You are escaping it with every breath you take. We both have lost people. We have even lost our lives that we grew cushion too. I was a kiosk operator in a mall before this happened. I shouldn’t have survived any of this when it started. I had no training for survival. I believed zombies were a bull shit horror story for peoples’ sick entertainment, but here I am. There is a meaning to all of us. I’m sorry for your losses, but I believe that is part of some plan…”
I rose from my seat throwing the stick into the fire. “Part of some plan! Do you not realize that everything around us is dead? Even the people I swore to protect are gone! My entire life was shattered when this started. I prepared for it, but I didn’t want to live it. I thought I gained my life back with Kiere, with Aurora. But because of some sick joke Kiere was ripped from my arms and for what reason? What part of the plan is it that my daughter is out there terrified at the hands of a psychopath?” I walked towards a shadowed area and stared off into the darkness.
“Atlas, you can’t protect everyone from everything. As much as you try, there are certain things you can’t predict or even prepare for,” Farrah said.
“Aurora will never be able to forgive me for losing Kiere. If this is some part of grand plan, then I don’t want to be a part of it. I just want my daughter back,” I said before falling to my knees. “I need my daughter back. I want us to be home with Aurora.”
Farrah walked to me once more and wrapped her arms around me. “Part of the grand plan is to find Kiere. The grand plan is to live like the yester years in which life was proud to have.” Farrah placed her hands on both sides of my face and lifted my head. “Kiere is your grand plan. Without her you are broken, without you she is lost. If you stand and keep fighting, then she won’t be lost anymore. You are here for a reason Atlas. It is a reason I want to understand but I’m not meant to. I believe the reason I am here is to help you. It was no coincidence that our paths crossed. I needed you on that day more than you needed me. I am a link in a chain that follows to an end with you, but you are the entire chain.” Farrah wiped the tears from my eyes. “Look at me. That day you found me in the church wasn’t pure luck. I had told myself that day that I was going to end it all. I know my father is dead along with my little brother. I went back and found them hugged together in a pile of ash days after he snuck me into the woods. I know it was them because the locket around his neck survived the flames and still contained my picture. I spent days in that church hoping God would speak to me. I figured if there was any place, he could hear me, it would be in a church. After nothing but silence and one-way conversations, I decided that enough was enough. If God or a higher power didn’t exist, then what was the point in me being here. So, I began searching for a rope. As I searched the last room there laid a single knotted rope tied to the statue of Jesus. Before I could get my hands on it you busted in the door and held me at gun point.” Farrah took a deep breath. There was a stilled silence amongst us with only the crackling of the fire to hear. “You are meant for something. You could be meant for everything. The moment you doubt that, I am right here to place you back on your path. You are my reason I am here.” Farrah’s arms wrapped around me as tears soaked her shoulder. “Your purpose is higher than you believe. We will find Kiere. We will get her home.”
Farrah helped me stand from the dirt and walked with me towards our sleeping bags laid across the ground near the fire. The fire began to die as we lay in silence. The stars grew brighter in the sky while the trees stood still waiting for their next breeze. Farrah slept next to my pile with her hand on my wrist. Logan remained quiet the entire night just watching over us. If Farrah was right and I was a part of some grand plan, then my faith would need to find something to hold on to because it was fading.
Chapter 16
On nights like this night I missed the weather channel. When I was younger, storms terrified me. Anytime mother nature decided to unleash fury with high winds and bolts of lightning, I was on the computer or my phone searching the path of the storm. I looked for hook echoes, which indicated tornadoes and purple shades inside the radar for hail. I thought about going to college to be a meteorologist, but my doomsday prepping became more important. I’m thankful that I had a change of heart considering the current situation we were in; Zombies roaming the earth, people killing one another, and lack of guidance for mankind. I’m considerably happy for how my career choice took a nice shift.
The rain was hammering down on what seemed like an abandoned house Logan, Farrah and I found. The wind howled through the trees, and its intensity shook the old structure. The windows vibrated with every sound of thunder; lightning lit up the night sky transforming it to appear like day. My hand began to shake as the wind became stronger while I stared out of the window. My stomach turned into knots, and I could feel the dizziness beginning to set in.
“What’s wrong?” Farrah asked as she sat on the dusty couch behind me.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and turned to her, “I have a bad feeling about this storm. This house isn’t going to survive it.”
Farrah stood and walked towards the window, “What do you mean? It’s just a thunderstorm.”
While keeping my eyes set on the outside I said, “You don’t understand. When I was a kid, I had a sixth sense about this kind of thing. When I was younger, I helped my brothers paint a house down in Sparta, Tennessee and there was some horrible weather coming through. They chalked it up to me being a scared teenager, but I knew something bad was going to happen. Later that day, a twister came through and tore down the town close to Sparta. I had the same feeling then as I have now. Something is coming.”
Farrah placed her hand on my shoulder and said, “Are you sure you aren’t just expecting the worst?”
“I saw a storm cellar just a couple of feet away from this house. We need to make a run for it,” I suggested while grabbing my bag from the floor.
Farrah looked out the window as lightening lit up the sky. In the distance, wrapped in rain, there was a frightening sight. The clouds were rotating, and trees began to lift from their roots.
“Oh my God,” Farrah said as she looked at me.
“You guys should run now,” Logan said as he stood next to me.
I grabbed Farrah by the hand and pulled her with me as I ran towards the door. I handed her a mag light from my bag and she turned it on. As soon as I turned the knob the door flew off its hinges. The wind carried it into the darkness and rain beat heavily down on us.
“Are you ready” I yelled.
Farrah squeezed my hand and as I began to lead her out of the house a drenched roamer appeared reaching for us. I stepped back for a moment pulling Farrah with me and extended my leg into its chest. It fell to the wet grass and moaned uncontrollably.
“Don’t let go of my hand,” I demanded.
As the rain coated her face, she agreed and clamped my hand tighter. The wet grass sloshed beneath our shoes. The wind pushed hard towards us. I could hear grunts and moans streaming past us but seemed too fast for them to come from walking drifters. Farrah shined the flashlight in every direction. She looked up and the beam of light projected why the noises were moving fast around us. They were being lifted and thrown by the whirlwind. Not all were
being carried in the air when Farrah shined the flashlight ahead of us, we could see there were more walking around in the rain.
As we continued to run, I gripped my gun from its holster and aimed towards the zombies that I could see. Logan was running next to us shouting where I needed to shoot. The glare from the bullets leaving the barrel showed them like flashes from a strobe light. Farrah’s hand slipped my grip as something pulled her from me. The flashlight fell to the grass and she vanished.
I turned around and yelled for her. “Farrah!”
“Atlas,” Farrah’s voice echoed.
I gripped the mag light from the grass and shined it around me. The wind became stronger as the tornado was coming closer. I felt a grip on my shoulder which caused a sudden swing with the light. I turned and Logan pushed me. The flashlight glared in the dark.
“Atlas,” Farrah yelled again, but this time it wasn’t an echo. She was closer to me.
“Farrah,” I yelled back.
“Help,” I heard her scream.
“Atlas! Behind you,” Logan yelled.
I turned around and illuminated the ground in front of me. Farrah was tussling with a drifter. I ran towards them with my gun and fired two shots. One bullet entered its leg but the other missed. The rain was pounding my face as I sprinted. I leaped towards Farrah and the zombie, wrapped my arms around it, and slammed it to the ground. We glided across the wet grass for a couple of feet. It moaned and groaned as I wrestled with it. Its fingers latched to my tactical vest and I couldn’t raise my body from it. My gun had slipped from my hand and was resting just out of reach. Its teeth were chomping towards me. I grunted and pushed with everything I had to free myself from its grip. The mag light shined bright on my face as it came closer.
“Atlas,” I heard Farrah yell.
I began slamming my elbow harder into its forehead and the zombie began to lose its grip. I could hear the snap and crackle of its fingers. One last strike with my arm forced it to the grass. Farrah’s leg appeared as her foot embedded into its skull over and over again.
Z.E.D.S. Series (Book 2): Z.E.D.S. Wayward Son Page 13
