End of Days (Book 2): End of Days, Part 2

by Castle, W. A

  “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here.” Sandy reaches over and pats Diego’s diapered bottom.

  I smile at her and when Diego begins to cry, I decide it is time to put him to bed. “Thank you for watching him, but I think this guy is tired. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Ah, baby boy what’s wrong?” I walk around my room, rocking Diego up and down but he hasn’t stopped crying. He’s normally not a fussy baby. After a while I start to get worried. He’s not feverish and he doesn’t look sick, but it still scares me. Sometimes I really wish momma hadn’t gone back to the bunker. She would know what to do.

  “Okay, a doctor’s checkup never did anyone wrong, right? Vince may be still in the lab.” I mutter as I bundle Diego up and put a jacket on myself.

  I am getting ready to leave when there is an urgent knock on my door. “Maddie? Are you in there?” Trevor’s panicked voice filters through.

  “Trevor?” I rush to the door and open it. “Is everything okay?”

  Trevor and Eli rush in. As if sensing something, Diego stops crying. I look down at Diego curiously just as Trevor blurts out, “We need to leave.”

  “What?” I say in shock. Eli comes to my side and sticks to me like glue, refusing to let go. “What’s happening?”

  “I overheard people talking about killing you and Vince.” Eli blurts out.

  I look up at Trevor in shock. “What?”

  “Eli says that he overheard people saying that ‘your kind is a threat’ whatever that means. He overheard them talking about killing you before you hurt them.”

  “I would never…” then I think back to the group of people that moved into the other city. “No, they wouldn’t.” my voice trembles as I hold Diego closer who begins to fuss again.

  “We need to leave, right now. We can’t risk it.” Trevor paces around the room.

  “We need to tell Vince. And Ram, I highly doubt Ram would allow this.” I say, fiddling with my ear.

  “We’ll tell them on our way out. Start packing.” Trevor kisses me before he leaves to his room to pack his and Eli’s things.

  What is happening? I give Diego to Eli and I start to pack our things.

  I fight off tears as I open my cabinet and throw in my clothes into my bag. I thought this was our home. That we could live in normalcy here. But how can I stay if people want to kill me? I stop and look at Eli and Diego. They’re starting to set roots here. Eli loves it here. And Trevor… he doesn’t deserve to go back to worrying each day. They only want me, they wouldn’t go after them.

  “Eli, go back to Trevor, take Diego with you. There’s something I have to do before we leave. Please?”

  “Where are you going?” Eli asks. “You’re not leaving without us, are you?”

  Eli is more observant than I give him credit for.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.” I ruffle his hair which he ducks away from and then I walk him over to Trevor’s.

  “Who is it?” Ram calls from behind his closed door.

  “It’s Maddie… erm, Maddison.”

  Ram opens the door with a worried expression on his face. “Maddison, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Dad, can we go? This library is so boring, they don’t have any fun books.” Patty whines at my feet, flipping through a thick book as I search for the book I’m looking for.

  “It’ll just be another minute sweetheart.” I tell her patiently. I sigh as the book I’m searching isn’t on this isle. “Listen sweetheart I’m going to go two isles over, do you want to come or wait for me here?”

  “I’ll wait for you here daddy, I don’t feel like standing up,” Patty grins at me. Her smile makes me pause for a second, it is so much like Val’s. I lightly pinch her cheek and walk to another part of the library.

  I have little hopes of finding the book I need in a high school library, but who knows I might –

  “Are we really doing this? This is crazy.”

  I stop when I hear a voice from somewhere. I turn around trying to figure out where the disembodied voice is coming from.

  “What don’t you know? You heard what those freaks said, it’s us or them. Their kind must be taken care of, before they do anything against us.”

  “But Luke, that’s murder!” I hear a voice hiss angrily.

  “It’s self-defense!”

  What in the hell am I hearing right now? Luke, the only Luke that comes to mind is the man in Ram’s security team. Who are they going to kill?

  “That freak referred to that red headed one as a Zlatni? She must be in cahoots with them. They’re all the same, they all must be killed.”

  “And what? Are you going to kill Vince too? You think Ram will allow that? If we do anything against them, us and our families will be kicked out. At best.”

  “Then maybe it’s time for Ram to step down as leader.”

  “We need to do it now or never.”

  “NO. We need to do this right. Plan it right and take them by surprise. Not a word of this to anyone for now, understand?”

  I back up quietly and run back to where Patty is sprawled on the floor, “Come on sweetie, I think we’re done here.”

  Patty squeals with laughter as I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder.

  Damned it! Damned it! If I didn’t have Patty with me, I would stay back and see who those people talking like that are. This was supposed to be a fresh start. But I guess you can’t out run the rot of human kind. Did I truly just hear the assassination plot of Maddie and Dr. Vince? What the hell is going on here? I push the doors open and we walk into the cool evening air.

  “Daddy!” Patty kicks her legs out, “I’m getting nauseous back here.” As I am in the process of bringing her forward, shrill alarms begin blaring. “Dad?” my Patty gasps, wrapping her arms around me.

  There are still people out and about this time of day. Some drop their things, some run off and others quickly start packing their carts. “What’s happening?” I grab the arm of a man that is running past us.

  The man looks at my girl in my arms and then at me. “You better go back to your room and lock yourselves in tight until told otherwise. This hasn’t happened since the first days we took over the school, but if you hear these alarms,” the man pauses to swallow, “it means flesh eaters are close. Real close. Let the security guards deal with it. Be safe man.”

  Patty’s thin arms squeeze my shoulders tighter. I know that nightmares still plague her about that night at the library. I hold my girl tighter, panic squeezing my throat.

  “Where are we going dad? Our room is the other way!” she wails in my ear.

  “We’re going to find Maddie.” I tell her. Maddie will be able to protect my daughter against the flesh eaters far better than any half assed soldier will ever. I included. I’m trained and yet I couldn’t save Val. But I will save our baby, whatever I must do.

  A shriek pierces the air. Then another. Then another. Shrieks are coming from every direction. Shriekers? We are surrounded by Shriekers. Oh God.

  Part Three of End of Days

  Will come out soon.

  Stay tuned for more flesh eater action!

  Don’t forget to also check out more W.A Castle’s books!

  More Books by W.A Castle:

  •End of Days- Part One