by Siara Brandt
“I don’t know that, but I’ll feel a lot better if I know you made it to the inn in one piece. I don’t think you really want to be out there all alone. Besides that- ” He arched one dark brow. “What are you going to do if you run up against a zombie?”
He had a hard time actually saying the word zombie, but he figured the only way to get her to agree to do this together was to scare her into it.
“You mean as in a coming-back-from-the-dead kind of zombie? You really believe that?”
He nodded soberly. “I saw one of them.”
She was taken aback at his answer. A little. “What did it look like,” she wanted to know.
“Exactly like what you would expect a zombie to look like.”
“What was it doing?”
“Attacking someone.”
“You’re serious,” she breathed in what sounded like disbelief.
The outright savagery of the zombie attack had shocked him. So, yeah. He was serious. Dead serious.
“So? What would you do?”
She looked at him sharply. “Do?”
“Yeah. If you ran into one. To keep it from tearing you to pieces.”
She hadn’t thought that far yet. She hadn’t had time to actually process the idea of zombies. She hadn’t even believed it. But he had a valid point because she already knew there was something dangerous out there. Besides the soldiers. For all she knew, it really was zombies. But did he really have to put her fears into such descriptive words like that?
Eli lifted a bottle of water to his mouth, drained it and then tossed the empty container into a near-by waste basket. He was still waiting for her answer.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
“That’s what I thought.”
He started gathering up food and drinks once again, apparently taking her silence for acquiescence.
“Grab everything you can carry,” he said over one broad shoulder. “And make sure you get something healthy. We want the best fuel for our bodies as possible.”
Like he had to tell her that. What did he think she was going to take? Potato chips and candy bars?
And where was she going to carry anything? She looked down at her clothes. There wasn’t a single pocket.
“Grab a backpack,” she heard. “I saw one behind the counter.”
Ailin stared at the man’s camouflaged back. Despite Rafe’s assurances about the Captain’s character, she wasn’t at all sure she could trust him. What if he had less-than-honorable intentions? Look how big he was. He could easily overpower her. She just had to think back to what he had done to her in Elthea’s yard.
On the plus side, he was carrying a weapon. And since he was a soldier, he would know how to handle guns like a professional.
She slipped the straps of the backpack over her shoulders. She was still undecided. She narrowed her gaze as she continued to watch him. He still looked like he could morph into the big bad wolf at a moment’s notice.
“You ready? We have a lot of miles to cover on foot.”
She sighed and then nodded.
“All right then. Let’s go.”
She didn’t have any choice. Not really. As much as she hated to admit it, everything he had said was true. And more than that, she really didn’t want to be out there all alone.
Chapter 12
_______________
Tessa hung suspended in her seat with gravity pulling her down towards the metal steps. Her seat belt was cutting painfully into her abdomen and chest, but it also stopped her from crashing towards the glass doors below her.
“Is everyone all right?” she managed to call out, almost breathless from the agonizing constriction across her lungs.
She heard muffled cries. And moans. Then Zachary called back, “I’m okay. Sisha is, too, I think.”
“Caleb? Bobby?” Tessa called in a strained voice. She felt disoriented, almost dizzy from her uncomfortable position. But as far as she knew, she wasn’t seriously hurt.
Caleb answered her with a groan and said weakly, “I’m . . . here.”
“Bobby, are you all right?” Tessa called.
Bobby didn’t answer.
She knew that the kids on the right side of the bus would end up being crushed by the kids from the other side when they fell and that they would be against the windows. Bobby had been sitting in a right-hand seat.
She raised her voice as much as she was able. “Bobby, are you all right?”
There was still no reply from Bobby.
Gripping the steering wheel for support, Tessa reached up with one hand to try and slide her side window open. If she could get the window open, she would then be able to hold onto the window frame to keep herself somewhat level and support herself while she unbuckled her seat belt.
She saw that the side mirror had come back and broken the top half of the window out. Since the CB radio’s antenna was on the frame of the mirror, she knew it probably wouldn’t work and she wouldn’t be able to call for help. But right now, all she could think of was getting free of her seat belt so she could see if any of the kids were hurt.
She reached up for the unbroken part of the window and managed to slide it partially open.
“My brother’s hurt,” she heard Caleb’s terrified whimper. “He’s bleeding.”
Dear God. Please let Bobby be all right. Tessa groaned as she reached up for the window again.
The sun had sunk into the trees, but there was still enough daylight to see something moving around out in the trees off to their right. She couldn’t see much in the deepening shadows. Then, in a patch of daylight, there was movement again.
Tessa froze as her heart rose to her throat. Whatever was out there didn’t look right at all. It didn’t look quite human. It shuffled through the forest, alternating through light and shadow, heading straight for the bus.
“Everyone,” she whispered as loud as she dared. “Be quiet.” She didn’t have to tell them twice. Maybe they saw it, too. Or maybe they heard the fear in her voice.
“Please be quiet,” she whispered silently, not daring to take her eyes off the thing that was still heading right for them.
If that wasn’t a human out there, then what was it?
A zombie, she answered herself. That was the face of a zombie. Or someone dressed up to look like one.
There was something horribly wrong with the face. At first she wondered if it might be the driver of the truck who had been badly injured. But whatever this was, it had come from the opposite direction. She let her body sink down as far as possible, and then she went still, hoping that whatever it was wouldn’t see her hanging there helplessly in the bus. And then she prayed.
Branches snapped. She heard a snarl as the thing was caught for a moment in the low- hanging limbs of some trees. Suddenly freed, it disappeared from sight and a long silence followed.
Tessa didn’t know where it was and that terrified her. A sudden breath of air wafted through the forest, scraping the leaves together and carrying with it a foul odor. A horrible, sickening stench that found its way into the bus.
She listened intently. There came a rattling sound, almost too soft to hear at first. The rattling stopped, to be replaced now by long, wheezing breaths. Tessa stayed absolutely still as the snapping of branches grew even louder.
Where was it?
Keeping her head so low made her dizzy. Her right arm hurt and it felt heavy. Her left arm had gone completely numb. Because of the seat belt, she could only draw in shallow breaths through her mouth.
Thump.
The- zombie must have run into the front of the bus.
There was another loud bump. A hideous face appeared in the front window and it was looking right at her. Still hanging in her seat belt, Tessa held her breath and didn’t move.
The thing outside the bus looked exactly like a zombie from a horror movie. It was so close that, if not for the glass, it could have reached out and touched her. She knew that it couldn’t get through the do
or, and she hoped it couldn’t break the big front window out. But her side window was partly open. The opening was small, but if it should push in the broken glass- And if she couldn’t get free of her seat belt-
In the next instant, the zombie was gone. Fully anticipating that it was coming back, Tessa reached for the small axe that she kept on the bus for emergencies. She even thought about using the fire extinguisher if she had to. Without taking her eyes off the window, her fingers tightened around the wooden handle of the axe.
The zombie appeared in the window again. Pressing its face against the glass, it raked its nails down the window. But whatever foothold it had must have had gave way. It slid down the window, nails still clawing along the glass as it slid out of sight. Tessa waited, but it didn’t come back again. She waited for what seemed an eternity. She finally got up the courage to reach for the window again. With a superhuman effort, she held on while she released her seat belt. The sudden drop jerked her shoulder painfully, but she was finally free.
She heard a vehicle approach. Balancing on the armrest of her seat, she peered carefully out the window. She heard the squeal of tires and a loud thump. She saw the zombie lying in the road. It wasn’t moving.
The driver didn’t get out. Neither did the woman in the passenger seat. Tessa stared at the face of the driver, realizing he probably couldn’t see her in the shadowed interior of the bus. Any help was better than nothing, Tessa told herself.
Except that the driver apparently had no intention of stopping to help. The vehicle backed up, made a circle to avoid the zombie and then continued on its way, without even stopping to see if anyone was hurt.
Tesse stared in disbelief. As she watched the red tail lights disappear around the first curve in the road, she wanted to give way to her pent-up tears. But of course she couldn’t do that.
Eli was tuned in to the heartbeat of the forest. All his senses were alert to any signs of danger. Behind him, through the thick tangle of forest, he heard, “We need a machete . . . This is like a bad episode of Naked and Afraid.”
“We need to avoid roads whenever possible.” He had told her this before. She should pay attention so he wouldn’t have to repeat himself unnecessarily.
“Can’t we rest? Just for a minute?”
He stopped and wanted to say “Again?” But he sighed and said, “All right. Make sure you have something to drink.”
She drained half a bottle of water right away. She lowered the bottle and screwed the cap back on. “We haven’t run into anything yet.”
“You mean anyone.” Anything he could handle. A trek through an American forest normally wouldn’t be any big deal. But these weren’t normal circumstances. A lot had changed overnight.
“Are you talking about zombies?”
He shrugged those powerful shoulders. “If not zombies, then there are always people who will try to take advantage of a bad situation. And I think we can both agree that this qualifies as a bad situation.”
“Yes,” she agreed and then sighed. “But I’m trying to look on the bright side.”
“Bright side? You mean you think there is one?”
“I’m just saying that positive thoughts can help.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re sure about that?”
“Actually, yes, I am. I’m positively hoping that this is all a bad dream and I’m going to wake up soon.”
“Well, until you wake up, could you try being a little quieter? You’re making enough noise to wake the dead.” He stopped when he realized what he’d said. “I won’t be able to hear anything that tries to flank us,” he told her, remembering to lower his own voice.
“Flank us? Does that mean coming from the side?”
“Yes, that’s what it means.”
“At least we’re armed,” she reminded him. “So, you see, there actually is a bright side.”
Yes, they were armed. And okay, maybe that could be considered a bright side. They might not know exactly what they were up against or what zombies were capable of, but she was right. At least they had a weapon. Two if he counted his knife.
The brush was so thick here that he had been half tempted to take the sorry excuse for a road that they had been avoiding so far. They needed to make better time. The heavy canopy of trees overhead wasn’t allowing much daylight through and night would set in early. He didn’t want to be out here in the middle of nowhere in the dark.
On the bright side, as she had pointed out to him earlier, if they were having a hard time getting through the thick brush, maybe zombies would have an even harder time.
The ground rose sharply up ahead so they were soon climbing and she was out of breath again. Suddenly they broke through the edge of the forest into a small clearing. A hay field. Ten, maybe fifteen acres. There was also a cornfield bordering the hayfield to their left. Straight ahead, there was a big barn with round bales of hay stacked inside it.
“Why are we stopping here?” she wanted to know.
Now she was asking why they were stopping. She was panting heavily. She should have welcomed the rest.
“We’ll take a minute here, and then we’ll check out that barn.” He wanted to watch the barn first, before they headed blindly for it.
He turned to look at her. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“Well, yes. I have to. Because you have experience with this kind of thing and I don’t.”
He frowned at her as he took a drink. “No one has experience with this kind of thing.”
She took a swallow of water and daintily wiped the water from her mouth with the back of her hand.
“So who’s waiting for you at the hotel?” he asked. “You have kids there?”
“No.”
“A husband?”
She shook her head again.
He told himself that he only asked because he had to know how desperate she might be to find them. But then that didn’t explain why her negative answer make him feel a completely unreasonable sense of relief.
“A boyfriend then?” It was hard for him to think that a woman like her would be unattached.
“I have family staying there. My sister and my sister-in-law were visiting me. I haven’t been able to get in touch with them since this all started.”
After a silence, Ailin heard, “What’s your name?”
“Ailin. I already know your name is Eli. Is that short for Elijah?”
He nodded. After a pause, he said, without looking at her, “We head for the inn, find your relatives, and then you can decide what you want to do from there.”
She was staring in the direction of the barn, too. Just like he was.
After a silence, he heard her say, “Those poor people must be really sick.”
He assumed she meant the zombies. He agreed. They were really sick. And really dangerous. He probably should mention that to her, but-
“At least it has cooled off some,” she said, looking at the bright side again.
She was right. It had cooled off, but it was still pretty warm.
She shifted her body awkwardly. She was sitting on a fallen log and she was having a hard time sitting in the skirt. He frowned at the scratches on her legs.
“We need to get you some decent clothes,” he said. “Something more practical. What you’re wearing isn’t even remotely suited for a hike in the woods.”
“I didn’t expect to be hiking in the woods today.”
He hadn’t expected it either.
She slapped at a bug on her ankle. “What we really need is some bug spray. The flies are eating me alive.”
“Means it’s going to rain,” he said absently.
He scratched the side of his jaw as he watched her pick at something on one of her gym shoes. A cluster of sticktights. His hand went still when she leaned farther forward and her blue top gaped open, giving him a tantalizing view of her softly-rounded breasts and the delicate black lace that cradled them. He couldn’t help staring. What man wouldn’t? When he realized what he was doing
, he looked away before she could catch him. She’d probably lay into him with that big, bad soldier stuff again.
When she looked up, Ailin saw that Eli was scowling down at the ground between his boots. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Wrong?”
“You looked miles away just then. Do you have family that you want to get to, too?”
He shook his head and said no, but he didn’t offer her any more detailed information than that.
“Good,” she said. “Because I wouldn’t want to keep you from going to them.”
“You’re not keeping me from anything. I’m here because I’m your best chance of surviving. I know that and I think you do, too.”
“You’re right. I do know that.”
“Did I heard you right? You’re agreeing with me?”
She shook her long hair out then started to gather it into a braid. Once again, for a few helpless moments, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
He quickly got back on track. With a slight jerk of his head, he asked her, “You got any idea where this road leads to?”
They were straddling the road at the moment. It ran right past the barn and disappeared into the woods.
“I have no idea. It doesn’t look like it’s used much.”
“It’s probably just a farm road.” He scanned the road and the cornfield through narrowed eyes for a few moments, then looked back at her. “You ready to check that barn out?”
As Ailin stood outside the barn door, she couldn’t help thinking that it would be a creepy place to be at night. It was bad enough during the day time.
“Wait here,” Eli said.
He went through the barn like a soldier on a mission, all business and no wasted movements. He climbed the ladder to the loft like a Navy Seal looking for enemy combatants, his boots navigating the rungs with a speed that awed her.
She saw his hand reach down below the loft opening and give her what looked like another military signal. She guessed he wanted her to climb up after him, so she climbed the ladder as best she could in the skirt, taking a considerably longer time than he had.
“These shoes are too big for me,” she explained breathlessly after he grabbed her hand and helped haul her up.
