“Pretty much,” Aiden said, not wanting to look at the thing lying at their feet again. It no longer appeared human and more closely resembled ground meat.
“He was going to hurt you. I couldn’t let that happen,” she continued. A pleading note entered her voice. “Could I?”
“Of course not,” Aiden said with a nod. “You did the right thing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am. In fact, you probably saved my life,” he said, hoping it would help her calm down. The last thing he needed was a nervous Nellie fluttering around. Not for the first time that night, he missed Dee and her tough as nails attitude. Soon. I’ll see her soon. Even if it is for the last time.
“Your welcome,” Nicky replied in a faint voice before stumbling off to hurl into the nearest pot plant.
Aiden was sorely tempted to join her, but first, he needed to secure the room. He rushed from window to window, checking they were closed before sliding the latch on the door into place. A few well-placed couch cushions hid the worst bits of the bodies from view, and his nausea subsided a little. Though he’d never had a weak stomach, the sight of so much flesh and blood was enough to make anyone sick.
Meanwhile, the other two girls had rushed over to help their injured friend. She was in pretty bad shape; her face, throat, and hands were torn and bleeding. Paper towels from the kitchen provided padding, and they ripped strips from their clothes to bandage the worst of it.
Afterward, they helped her onto a couch where she collapsed with a whimper. One of the girls, the same one who’d tried to call the police earlier, pulled out her phone and dialed the emergency services. She had no luck either and gave up with a cry of disgust. “What do we do now? Nobody’s answering. Neither the police nor the hospital. I can’t even get through to my mom.”
“The networks probably crashed with all the traffic. Keep trying,” Aiden said before he turned to Nicky. “How did they get in? The two guys, I mean.”
She pointed a shaky hand at the injured girl. “Lacy opened up for them when they banged on the door. She thought they were just students, but then they attacked her out of nowhere.”
Aiden paced up and down. “I told you there were zombies about. Why didn’t you listen?”
“Zombies?” Nicky repeated. “There’s no such thing. I told you that already.”
“Then what do you call them?” Aiden asked, flinging a hand at the two corpses lying motionless on the carpet. “Unicorns?”
Nicky didn’t answer, and her glazed eyes reminded him of a goldfish in a bowl. Mindless and stupid.
“Wake up, Nicky,” he said. “We don’t have time for weakness. There’s more of those things out there. A lot more.”
“No, it can’t be. It’s you,” she whispered before her voice rose to a shrill pitch. “You killed Lolly. You killed that boy. You’re a murderer.”
“You killed one of them too,” Aiden pointed out with growing impatience. “So what does that make you? A killer?”
She closed her mouth at that and sat down on a chair with a thump. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”
He ran a hand through his hair, aware that he was trembling. “Look, just try to relax. You didn’t have a choice, and neither did I.”
“Are they really zombies?” the girl with the phone asked in a subdued voice.
“Yes, a thousand times, yes,” he said, throwing his hands in the air. “Why didn’t you watch the bloody news like I’d told you to in the first place?”
“But that means…” She glanced at Lacy. “Is she infected?”
“Yes, unfortunately, she is,” Aiden replied with brutal honesty. “So am I. In a few hours, we’ll both turn into one of them.”
Lacy began to sob, while the other two stared at him in silence. It was clear they didn’t know what to do. After a while, he sighed and asked in a softer tone of voice. “What are your names?”
“I’m Stephanie,” the girl with the phone answered, “and this is Danielle.”
“Do any of you have family or friends nearby? Somewhere you can hide?” he asked.
“My mom lives nearby. We should be okay there. She’s got a gun and everything,” Danielle said.
“What does the house look like? Will it keep these things out?”
She shrugged. “It should. There’s a concrete fence all around it and security bars on the doors and windows.”
“Well, that’s better than nothing. Do you have a car? Can you get there on your own?” Aiden asked. Once again he cursed Eliza for leaving him stranded.
Danielle shook her head. “Sorry, but no.”
Aiden ground his teeth together. He wanted nothing more than to leave. Dee needed him, and time was running out. “This is ridiculous. What am I going to do with you lot?”
“Please don’t leave us,” Lacy said, her wounded hands folded into her chest. Her eyes rested on his, and tears shimmered on her cheeks.
Aiden slumped, knowing he couldn’t abandon someone in need. “Fine, I’ll try and get you all to Danielle’s mom, but after that, I’m leaving.”
“Deal,” Danielle replied.
“And you’ll have to watch her,” he added, pointing at Lacy. “If she turns…”
Silence met his words.
“First things first,” he said, silently cursing Eliza for stealing his car. “We need a vehicle.”
“The girl who lives next to me in the hall has one,” Nicky said, seemingly coming out of her funk. “She went out with friends earlier, so it’s still in the parking lot.”
“Good. Can you get the keys from her room?”
“Of course.” Nicky jumped off the couch. “I’ll be right back.”
“I suggest all of you dress warmly and grab a few things. If there’s anything you can use as a weapon, take that too. We might have to fight our way out of here.”
With those grim words, the girls set off, and Aiden prowled around the living room until he spotted the kitchen. In the drawers, he found a few knives of a good size and a meat cleaver. The cleaver he kept for himself, tucking his pipe into his belt as a backup, instead.
Danielle returned first, dressed in jeans, boots, and a jacket. She waved a tennis racket at him. “This is all I’ve got, sorry.”
Aiden laughed despite himself before handing her a knife. “Here, take this as well. I’m not sure the racket will do much good.”
“Thanks,” she said with a faint smile, hefting the blade. Turning away, she rummaged through the cupboards for food and drink which she loaded into a backpack. “Figured we might need it.”
“Good thinking.”
Nicky walked in next, followed by Stephanie and Lacy. Though injured, Lacy appeared stable for the moment, and Aiden hoped she’d stay that way. I’ll keep both eyes on her at all times, though, just to be safe.
Both Nicky and Stephanie had put on practical outfits, and each carried a small bag. They look scared but determined, which Aiden appreciated. He had a feeling the night was going to get worse before it got better, and they’d need all the courage they possessed. He handed each of them a knife as well, even Lacy, though she hardly looked fit to use it.
“Where’s this car you mentioned? Is it far?” he asked Nicky.
She shook her head. “No, it’s quite close to the dorms. I’ll show you.”
“Right, so here’s the plan. I’ll go out first and make sure it’s safe. Once I give the signal, you all run outside and join me. With me so far?”
Silent nods did the rounds.
“From there on, Nicky will take the lead.”
Nicky nodded her agreement, even though her face was pale. “Okay.”
“I’ll be next in line. Lacy, you stay in the middle. Stephanie, Danielle, you take up the rear. Agreed?”
“Yes,” Stephanie replied.
“I’m in,” Danielle agreed.
“Me too,” Lacy said.
“Once we start, we don’t stop. Keep quiet, and run fast. Got that?” Aiden asked. Wit
hout waiting for an answer, he strode toward the front door. “Let’s go.”
Aiden’s Mark - Chapter 4
Aiden first looked through the windows flanking the front door. The porch light cast a pool of yellow on the steps, and within that pool, nothing moved. The rest of the grounds were cloaked in darkness, though he could see lights shining in the windows of the other buildings around them.
All seemed quiet, and after a moment’s hesitation, he opened the door. When nothing jumped out at him, he slipped outside. With slow steps, he walked across the porch and down the stairs.
Tension coiled within his breast, and his hands grew slick with sweat. He tightened his hold on the meat cleaver as darkness enveloped him. Faint moonlight painted the lawns and shrubbery in silver, and as his eyes adjusted, he could make out finer details in the night.
In the distance, music blared, and he wondered if someone was having a party. The news of the outbreak had yet to spread, and he wondered how many more innocent victims it would claim before word got out.
After scanning their immediate surroundings, Aiden turned toward the waiting girls and gave them the thumbs up. Nicky went first and joined him below the steps. The others followed after a moment’s hesitation until they all stood out in the open.
“Which way?” Aiden asked in a low tone.
“Over there,” Nicky answered, pointing at an open parking lot to the left. The way to it ran past two buildings, each with lights shining in their windows. It was a lot farther than Aiden would have liked.
“What are those?” he asked, pointing at the bulky shapes of the buildings between them and the lot.
“More dormitories.”
“Crap. It’s quiet for now, but we have to hurry. We don’t want to get caught out in the open,” he said.
The girls nodded their agreement, and Nicky took off, leading the way. Aiden fell in behind her, and the rest followed in single file. His head swiveled as they ran, keeping a constant eye out for danger.
Nicky took them along a paved sidewalk, and their shoes made little noise on the layered bricks. They moved at a brisk but steady pace, and at first, all was quiet. The only sounds were those of the crickets in the background, the sawing of their breaths in and out of their chests, and the distant beat of the music.
The first dorm loomed to their left, and Aiden’s muscles tightened in anticipation of trouble. The front doors were closed, though, and the block was silent. No screams. That’s a good sign, right?
He allowed himself a brief moment of relief as they made it past the brooding hulk without incident. “One down.”
The music grew louder as they progressed, and Aiden realized with horror it was coming from the second dormitory they had yet to face. Lights streamed from both the windows and the front door, casting circles of golden light all around the building. Low bushes in the garden obscured his view of the walkway up to the steps, and Aiden slowed automatically as they grew nearer.
“Wait,” he whispered to Nicky, and she slowed to a halt.
“What is it?” she asked, her eyes wide and frightened in the faint moonlight.
“Where’s the car? How far is it?”
She pointed past the dorm. “It’s straight through there; then you turn left. It’s a blue Honda, parked against the wall of the dorm.”
“Against it?” Aiden asked, aghast at the implications. Not only did they have to run past the brightly lit doorway and windows, clearly lit for anyone to see, but the car wasn’t far from the entrance either, parked right by it, in fact. “Crap. This isn’t good. Is there any way around this?”
She hesitated. “We could go back and circle around the tennis courts.”
“But that would take us past one of the boy’s dorms,” Danielle interjected. “And we know they’re infected for sure. Or some of them, at least.”
“Yeah, but this party. The music is sure to draw infected,” Aiden argued.
“Maybe,” Danielle said. “But can we afford the risk? This is a straight shot. Who knows what’s waiting everywhere else on the grounds?”
“She’s right,” Lacy said. “Besides, I don’t know how much further I can go.”
Aiden considered Lacy’s words. “Okay, look. We run as fast as we can, past the doors and straight for the car. Nicky, you unlock it and get it started right away. The rest of you, make sure you get in.”
A murmured chorus of agreement sealed the deal, and Aiden turned back toward the beacon of light the dorm represented. A beacon for people? Or zombies? He had no idea, and could only pray the next few seconds didn’t prove to be the mistake of their lives.
Nicky sprang into action and hurtled past the front of the building. Aiden followed her with his heart bouncing in his chest like a frightened jack rabbit. As he drew level with the front doors, his gaze fell on a knot of people standing on the steps. They’d been hidden from view by the bushes and shrubbery of the gardens, and for a moment, he thought they were just ordinary teens enjoying the party.
But alarm bells went off in his head when he noticed two crucial facts. First off, they weren’t talking and laughing as ordinary people at a party would. The second thing he saw was the blood. It was smeared on the walls, on the windows abutting the doorway, and on the faces of the students. It was pooled on the ground, and a trail led all the way up the steps and inside the dormitory.
He’d been right after all. The music and lights had acted as a signal, drawing in the infected who found the rooms filled with easy victims. Nobody had even heard their screams. Not above the beat of the bass.
As Aiden and his group ran past, several sets of diseased eyes turned their way. A howl went up from the zombie student’s throats. A howl answered by a score or more within the building itself. Dozens of feet sprinted toward them, and bodies spilled from the doorway like maggots from a wound.
The chase was on.
“Run!” Aiden screamed, panic lending an extra burst of speed to his feet.
Nicky was just as fast, racing ahead at a pace he would never have believed her capable of. Behind him, the frightened cries of Lacy, Danielle, and Stephanie added to the chaotic din that blanketed the air, overlaid by predatory growls.
His heart beat a frantic rhythm in time to his footsteps, and the hair on the back of his neck rose as he sensed the nearness of death. He wanted to look over his shoulder but dared not. Not when every step could mean the difference between life and death.
He’d seen how fast the zombies were, how fierce and cruel their hunger. One mistake was all it would take. Not now. Not tonight. I’m already dead, but Dee still needs me. I can’t fail her now.
The walls of the dorm streamed past in a blur. Monstrous faces leered through the windows, followed by falling bodies as the infected students threw themselves at Aiden and his group. Glass rained from the sky, and hollow thumps sounded as they hit the ground.
A girl landed right in front of Aiden, her limbs shattering on the paved sidewalk. Pieces of bones poked through her skin, shining wet with blood beneath the merciless gaze of the distant moon. He never paused and vaulted right over her wriggling form even as she stretched crooked fingers toward his flesh.
He’d scarcely run a few more feet when a wretched scream twisted his head around. Lacy had jumped over the fallen zombie but tripped when the girl’s grasping hands grabbed her ankle and hooked her jeans. Lacy had fallen hard, her chin hitting the ground and blood spilling from her clipped tongue.
The zombie girl was on Lacy within seconds, biting into the flesh of her shoulder with gruesome relish while she screamed in pain. A second zombie crawled toward her, his back twisted and broken by his fall from the window. He sank his teeth into her face while his hands clawed at her scalp.
Stephanie and Danielle ran past Lacy but never slowed, never tried to help their friend. The reason why was pretty obvious. On their heels was a crowd of raging zombies, the front runners within seconds of catching them. It was either them or Lacy, and Lacy was already down.
<
br /> Regret tore at his heart. Regret and guilt, but there was nothing to be done, and he knew it. Lacy stretched a hand toward him, her face contorted with pain. “Help. Help me, please. Aiden!”
The infected fell upon her, and she was lost beneath a mass of writhing bodies. The last Aiden saw of her was one golden brown eye that stared at him through a narrow gap before it closed, and she was lost forever.
Danielle caught up to him first and grabbed his hand. “Come on. It’s too late for her. Move!”
With a last despairing look, Aiden turned to run again, followed by Stephanie. As it turned out, Lacy’s death caused the horde to slow, delaying them for a few precious seconds. It gave the group a slight lead, a small opportunity to get ahead of the monstrous throng, but their reprieve was small as more infected streamed around Lacy and her attackers, still intent on the fleeing prey in front of them. All they knew in their disease riddled brains, all they craved for and cared about, was blood and warm flesh.
They rounded the corner of the building, and Aiden was ecstatic to see that Nicky had made it into the car. Even as he watched, she turned the key in the ignition. The lights flared to life, and the engine roared as she jammed it into reverse.
Aiden gave it his all, his entire focus on the uneven ground beneath his feet and the stony gravel that threatened to bring him to his knees. His foot dipped into a hole, and he stumbled but managed to stay upright even as poisonous fear flooded his veins. Don’t fall! Don’t fall!
Nicky’s mouth was open as she screamed at them, even though he couldn’t hear a word she said. The gap between him and the car closed with agonizing slowness. With a final burst of energy, he flung himself forward and grabbed the handle of the passenger side. He was about to jump inside when another scream caused his stomach to lurch. No! Not again!
He turned and spotted Stephanie on the ground, her leg twisted at an unnatural angle. She’d lost her footing on the shifting stones and fallen hard. The very thing he’d feared would happen to him.
The crowd of chasing zombies swarmed over her like piranhas, stripping the flesh from her bones within seconds. Ripping, tearing, biting, and gorging themselves on the bounty of meat her body provided.
Children of the Apocalypse: Mega Boxed Set Page 107
