Plague of the Dead (Book 2): Plague of the Desert

by Rayfield, Alli

I shook my head, “Surely he saw the rain coming down.”

  “Not an excuse,” He said. “This is it Cate. This should be the last one.”

  I shook my head, “Not this one. The next one, let’s just do what we need to this time.”

  He looked irritated but nodded in agreement, “Okay.”

  I sighed, “I need to get Milo from the Martinez’s. I can’t leave him with Emma anymore.”

  Ian nodded. “He’s always good to have around. I’ll get the Nissan ready. It has more fuel than the Mustang.”

  I nodded in agreement and headed towards the Martinez’s place. I passed by the office and continued on. I was still so mad at Emma and began to get even more upset that we had to go back out again.

  I turned back around and headed into the office. Aaron was alone looking at paperwork which I thought was a little odd.

  He looked up and saw me, “Hi Cate. Glad to see you made it back alive since you didn’t bother to check in.”

  “Really? You’re happy to see me alive. You’re sending us right back out into the fire, seems you have a death wish for the two of us.”

  He smirked at me. “It’s not my fault you two didn’t do your job. I can guess what you did do but I’d rather not picture it.”

  “Aaron, we did our job. This shit has been going on for six months. Finding resources is getting more difficult. Not to mention the constant threat of having our throats ripped out by the undead.”

  “Cate, I don’t like excuses.”

  I laughed at his idiocy. “Excuses? Aaron it must be very nice to live in your cushy world. Ordering us around and delegating jobs for everyone but never actually doing any real work. Never tasting and seeing the danger that is the world now. You have all this power but you have no idea what’s really going on.”

  I could see the anger on his face but he said nothing.

  The office door opened behind me. I turned to see Laura walking in.

  “Cate, to what do we owe the pleasure?” She asked.

  “Cate was just telling me how I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

  “Oh,” Laura said, “Well she’s entitled to her opinion. Though honestly Cate based on how little resources you got on your last run, I wouldn’t be telling anyone else they can’t do their job.”

  I laughed.

  “Was that a joke?” Laura asked.

  “Yeah, it was. You both are. I don’t do these runs for the two of you; I do them for the other people here who need food. The food that you find ways to not give them because you have gone crazy with power.”

  I went to walk out the door when Laura grabbed my arm.

  “I’d be very careful how you spoke to people Cate,” She spat.

  “Or you’ll do what? Laura, when’s the last time you wrestled with one of the zombies?”

  She said nothing but didn’t let go of me.

  “That’s what I thought. After that, the living doesn’t offer much of a fight. If you’re going to threaten me, you better be able to back it up and neither you nor your joke of a son can. So I suggest you take your hand off me right now before you get your arm broke.”

  She released me from her grip and I walked out of the office. I knew that fight was pointless and stupid but I was at my breaking point. I’d had enough of it.

  I realized though why I hadn’t left and why I couldn’t leave. The people here needed help and I couldn’t leave them high and dry. I didn’t want to leave them. I wanted to help them survive and help them get everything they needed.

  I stopped by the Martinez’s and got Milo. Maria kept trying to get me to stay and eat something but I couldn’t stay. Plus I couldn’t eat their food. Maria was one of the sweet people who felt she needed to always feed her guests. She didn’t understand that things were different now and that wasn’t the best thing to do. I loved that about her though. Someone who was a touch of the world prior to all this.

  I met up with Ian. I opened the back door and Milo hopped into the back seat, almost taking up the whole thing.

  After we left the gates, I told Ian about my fight.

  “Not smart Cate,” He said and laughed.

  “I know. It’s just ridiculous.”

  He nodded, “I know. But you’re not going to knock any sense into those two. They’ve gone mad with power. They’re great architects. What they’ve done for everyone in setting up the place has been great but they’re not leaders. You can’t tell them that though, they’ll never get it.”

  I nodded, “What do you think they’ll do to me?”

  He looked at me with a curious expression, “You scared?”

  “No, I just wonder what they would even try.”

  “Probably put you on garden duty or something.”

  I laughed, “Yeah. So what’s the plan?”

  Ian sighed, “I don’t know. I’m running out of ideas.”

  “Um, there’s this antique place in Goodyear that had a bunch of vending machines. We could check that out because who’s really going to think of that. Plus there are a few restaurants around too. Worse comes to worse we can raid them and hope for the best.”

  Ian nodded. “I just don’t get how we didn’t get enough. We’ve brought back less than that before. I mean if we’re going to have metrics like a damn call center or some other job like that, can we at least be told what our metrics are?”

  “Ian, there’s no fun in that. They want to keep us guessing.”

  “More like they want to keep us failing,” He said.

  “Like a real low paying life sucking job that never gives you a promotion.”

  Ian laughed.

  The drive took a while as we had to stick to the back roads. I-10 was a car graveyard and impossible to drive. There were cars lined up for miles. People had abandoned them in panic. There were also zombies walking aimlessly between the wreckage looking for food. Ian and I had decided to try to raid the vehicles for fuel. We made out pretty good but almost died in the process. We had discussed going back there for another raid in a different spot but hadn’t done it yet.

  The parking lot was mostly deserted except for a car or two. I told Ian we should check for fuel until I noticed that the gas caps were missing on both vehicles.

  There were a few zombies walking around the parking lot towards the other stores but they were paying no attention to us. We learned that unless they’re trying to attack you, it’s best not to engage.

  We headed to the front doors with Milo following behind. They were shut and the glass was still intact. That was unusual to find but promising. No one probably thought about going into an antique store. Though it had potential for more than just vending machines since they’re could be weapons in there or things that could be turned into weapons. It was something I had thought of before. I spent a lot of time thinking about places that might be good to raid. I even made a list in a notebook. The list had gotten very long. When all you do is survive, thinking about the long and end games of your survival is what you spent the majority of your time thinking about. Maybe Emma was right, I needed to get a man and not obsess over surviving all the time.

  “Should we bust it?” Ian asked.

  “Maybe there’s a back door? I don’t want to bust the glass unless we have too. I don’t want to bring attention to our mission,” I said pointing to the stragglers.

  Ian nodded and led the way to the back of the building. There was a door that said employees only. Ian tried the door and it was unlocked.

  Ian looked at me with a look of confusion and a bit of worry. I shrugged. It was just as unusual as seeing glass doors not busted, finding a door unlocked and unbolted or not blocked by something.

  Ian led the way slowly inside. I shut the door behind us, careful not to make any noise. We listened before heading forwards but didn’t hear any shuffling or growling.

  “Where are the vending machines?” Ian asked.

  “Upstairs,” I said.

  Ian led the way up the flight of stairs to the right. T
he upstairs had an open view of the down stairs which I took the opportunity to look and see if I could see anything moving but I didn’t.

  Ian had me lead the way to the little rest area where the vending machines were.

  When we got there, Milo immediately laid down next to one of the tables while we got to work.

  The machine with the food still has a ton of snacks in there. Probably most somewhat out of date but stale chips were better than no chips. The machine also had a little bit of blood on the door flap where you reach in to get the snacks after paying. I looked closely at it. It looked fresh and it was of a live human. The zombie blood had an odd black color to it and seemed to be thicker.

  “Should that be concerning?” I asked Ian pointing to the blood.

  “Whoever it belongs too, I don’t think they’re here anymore. The good news if there were any zombies they’d be on this.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  I handed the crow bar to Ian. He used it to pry the vending machine open. I went about adding the food into my bag. There were tons of chips, peanut butter crackers, and candy.

  “This was a good idea Cate,” Ian said.

  “Thank you. I have them occasionally,” I said and laughed.

  “What about the soda?” Ian asked pointing to the machine to the right.

  “Mmm, warm soda? That sounds fantastic,” I said sarcastically.

  “It’s better than no soda.”

  I nodded, “The water in there is more important but we can get some soda. But we can’t take a lot. Too heavy.”

  Ian began to pry open the soda machine.

  Milo began to growl. I looked at him. He had his head up but was still lying down. He was beginning to growl more aggressively.

  “What is it boy?” I asked.

  He stood up and began to bark.

  “Shh,” I said.

  Ian had stopped trying to pry open the machine. We were both listening hard to figure out what was causing Milo's sudden annoyance.

  There was a crash from downstairs. Ian and I looked at each other and without a word knew what to do next.

  Chapter 3

  Ian led the way downstairs and Milo was behind me. When we reached the ground floor, there was a noise that sounded like a bunch of things scattering on the floor followed by a glass breaking.

  Ian looked back at me.

  “Do you think it’s a friend or foe?” He asked.

  “Most likely foe but we’ll be alright. Milo will go for the throat.”

  Ian gave a little laugh and started to move towards the noise that had come from the other side. Ian had his gun at the ready, I had my knife out.

  We didn’t hear anything else as we continued forward.

  “Maybe they’re gone now,” I whispered.

  Ian shook his head, “No, they’re still here.”

  Ian put his hand up for me to stop. We were quiet as we listened. There was a shuffling sound that reminded me of the dead.

  “Is there a zombie in here?” I asked.

  “It’s not growling, “Ian said.

  “They don’t always growl,” I pointed out.

  “They do though, they really do,” he said.

  There was more shuffling. Ian began to walk forward.

  As we past one of the aisles, I saw a vase fall off a table.

  I patted Ian on the shoulder and pointed down the aisle. We slowly made our way down the aisle when this blur of red came out from behind a couch lunging at Ian.

  It took a minute for me to realize it was a girl of no more than 15, maybe 16. She was dressed in jeans and had a red coat on. She was screaming and started kicking and punching on Ian. Though I doubted she could inflict much pain on him.

  I put my knife away and grabbed her arm mid swing. She then tried to turn her rage on me but I managed to catch her other arm before she made contact.

  She was still screaming and yelling causing Milo to bark. Her long black hair was wild and in her face. Her brown eyes were wild and puffy with a lack of sleep.

  “Calm down,” I said. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

  She was still struggling to try and fight me. The yelling was getting louder.

  “Put a cork in it!” I yelled.

  She looked momentarily stunned and stopped yelling.

  “You’ll attract the dead; you don’t want that, I don’t want that, okay? Calm down.”

  She didn’t say anything but she seemed to have calmed down. I let her go. She immediately made a run for it down the aisle.

  “Stop,” I called out to her and began to follow after her.

  “Cate, let her go,” Ian said.

  “She’s a kid Ian. We can’t leave her,” I said.

  “She doesn’t want our help,” He argued.

  “She’s scared and alone. We have to try and help,” I said and began to run after her again.

  She turned to the left running down the hall between aisles.

  She knocked a table down in front of me trying to block me. I managed to jump over it.

  She suddenly stopped in her tracks. It didn’t take long to see why. There were two zombies in our path. They were walking towards her. She seemed to freeze in panic. Something told me she could take care of herself since she had obviously made it for a little while on her own. She must’ve been in shock from everything that had transpired.

  “Down,” I said as I moved in front of her.

  I took the first zombie out with a stab to the left temple. The next one I put the knife through the front of the forehead.

  When I was done I turned to face the girl who was still standing there frozen in fear.

  “Look, I’m not chasing you anymore,” I told her. “We’re not going to hurt you; we’ll help you but don’t take off running. It’s dangerous.”

  She nodded and had a look of terror.

  “You got a name?” I asked.

  Ian and Milo were making their way down the hall over to us.

  “Natalie,” She said.

  “Nice to meet you Natalie. I’m Cate. That’s Ian and that’s Milo.”

  She nodded and gave a small wave to Ian.

  “I’m sorry,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I was just really scared.”

  “It’s okay,” I said and put a hand on her shoulder. “How old are you?”

  She sniffled a little bit. “Fifteen,” she finally said after taking a beat or two.

  “Are you all by yourself?”

  She didn’t say anything but she nodded.

  I sighed and looked at Ian. He looked both concerned and astonished.

  I looked down and saw the cuts on her hand. They looked fresh and were still bleeding.

  “When was the last time you had anything to eat?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “I don’t remember. It’s been a while.”

  “We got some snacks in this bag. I’ll give you some but we got to go back upstairs and get some things out of the other vending machine.”

  She nodded and followed us upstairs.

  Ian set back to work on the vending machine with the drinks. I gave Natalie a bag of chips and some candy. She scarfed both down before Ian had finished prying open the machine.

  “Do you want something else?” I asked her.

  She nodded shyly.

  I handed her some peanut butter crackers. She took them and said “thank you.”

  She opened the bag and began to eat them more slowly than her previous snacks.

  “Shit,” Ian said.

  I looked over and saw that he was bleeding from his arm.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  He nodded, “Yeah, just a flesh wound.”

  “I’ll go get the first ad kit,” I said putting down my bag.

  “No, Cate it’s fine.”

  “It’s not for you jackass. Natalie is still bleeding,” I said pointing to her hand.

  She looked down at her hand. “It’s bad isn’t it?”

  I shrugged, “Not that bad.
You’ll probably need to be stitched up but that’s okay. Ian may need to be stitched up too.”

  She looked concerned, “Can you do that?”

  I nodded, “Yeah. My dad was real big on teaching my sister and me a lot of survival stuff and he was a doctor so he taught us how to do stitches in an emergency situation.”

  She smiled weakly, “That’s handy to know.”

  I smiled back, “Yeah, it is. I’ll be right back.”

  I put down the bag of food and began to make my way towards the back stair case.

  “Cate,” Ian called out.

  I turned to face him, “Yeah?”

  “Be careful,” He said.

  I smiled, “I always am.”

  I started on my way again to the staircase. I made my way downstairs to the back door where we had come in. There was nothing of incident outside the door.

  I headed around the building. Things had changed dramatically out in the parking lot. The zombies that were far off from this part of the parking lot had managed to not only make their way to this part of the parking lot but they were surrounding the Nissan.

  “Shit,” I said under my breath.

  Luckily there were only five of them but I didn’t understand their fascination with our car. When we pulled in, they paid no mind to the engine noise or anything. We’d never hit a coyote on the road or any other animal so there would be no blood to attract them to the car.

  I decided not to worry about it and headed over to the car to kill the zombies.

  A man that was near the passenger side back door turned towards me first. He had ugly rotting teeth that he showed to me as he snarled.

  I put the knife in his temple quickly enough. The knife got stuck though and I couldn’t get it out in time for the next zombie. Luckily I carried more than one knife.

  I let go of the one still in the zombie’s skull just before the next zombie got my hand. Her teeth were literally within inches of my fingers. She looked angry that I managed to move away before she bit down on her next meal. Well, she looked as angry as an emotionless undead creature could.

  I got my other knife out and put it through her head. It was easier to get out than the other one and I made quick work of the next three.

  When I was done I got my hunting knife out of the first zombie. It took a couple minutes to remove. It was really stuck inside the zombie’s head.