With a nod, the girl accelerated.
“He needs to fall off,” Troy muttered. “He’s bad news. Totally bad news.”
Josh held his breath while he waited. He could just make out Chad’s fingers clutching the rear of the truck and his hair fanning in the wind shear. Was it wrong of him to want the teenager to fall off? At the speed they were going, Chad would probably break some bones. Guilt nearly compelled him to tell Dulce to slow down, but then Josh caught sight of the bruises on Corina’s wrists.
“Go faster,” Josh said to Dulce.
She obeyed.
The zombie herd was far behind now. That danger was past, but another loomed. The kids fell silent as the waited.
“I can’t see. Did he fall yet?” Corina asked, craning her head this way and that trying to see past Sam.
Josh lost sight of Chad as Troy shifted on the back seat. “Not sure.”
The three boys staring out the rear window all gasped at the same time.
Heart thudding hard in his chest, Josh waited to hear the news.
“He can’t come with us! He can’t!” Sam yelled, his round face flushed with fury.
“No,” Corina whispered.
With a frown, Troy flopped down in his seat, arms folded across his chest. “He’s in the back, Josh. Turd for brains is back.”
With Troy out of the way, Josh could clearly see Chad in the truck bed. His black eye looked even worse after Josh had struck it when escaping earlier with Corina. His chin had an ugly abrasion and one knee looked painfully scraped up. When Chad saw Josh looking at him, the teenage boy tossed back his blonde hair and grinned before gleefully flipping him off.
“This is bad,” Josh muttered. “Really bad.”
Chapter 3
“You can’t let him stay, Josh,” Sam said, his face growing even redder. “You can’t!”
“What can we do?” Troy glowered out the rear window. “It’s not like we can pull over and make him get out.”
“Yes we can. Right, Josh?” Sam looked at Josh with a desperate look in his blue eyes. “Right?”
Chad crawled to the rear window and mockingly grinned at the boys staring at him in horror. His voice was barely audible. “Thought you could ditch me, shorties? Ha!”
“If I had a gun, I’d shoot him,” Danny grumbled.
“So would I,” Corina muttered under her breath.
“Let me in!” Chad ordered. “Pull over and let me in!”
Sam whirled around and shouted. “No! You suck! You’re stupid! Your face is dumb! I hate you! You have turd breath!”
“Fatty, how are you still alive? How’d you avoid tripping over your fat when you were running?”
“Ignore him, Sam. Maybe if we ignore him he’ll shut up.” Josh gave Sam a stern look.
Bottom lip trembling, Sam nodded. “Okay, Josh.”
“Are you crying, fatty? Did I hurt your big baby feelings?” Chad shouted, his forehead pressed to the glass of the window. “Aw, look at the big, fat baby!”
“I killed a zombie!” Sam yelled, spittle flecking his lips. “I killed a zombie! I can kill you!”
“Sam, he ain’t worth it.” Troy patted his friend’s arm.
“I killed a zombie with a shovel!”
Chad abruptly banged his fist on the rear window.
Sam jumped in surprise.
“Sure you did, fatty!” Chad howled with laughter. He started to slap his palms against the glass over and over again.
All at once, Dulce slammed on the brakes. The seat belt Josh was sharing with Corina caught both of them painfully about the waist as they were pitched forward. The boys in the back grunted as their seatbelts unexpectedly tightened. The tires squealed and the pickup slid to a stop on the rain slick blacktop.
“He fall?” Dulce asked.
Before anyone could answer, Chad reappeared. This time he was holding a shovel from the pile of tools in the back.
With a shout of fury, he slammed it into the rear window.
The boys in the back seat shouted in fear, but only a small crack formed on the thick glass.
Cursing and calling Dulce terrible names that Josh had been taught to never use, Chad lifted the shovel, ready to strike again.
Dulce punched down the accelerator with her foot, knocking Chad backward and out of sight.
“Is he gone?” Corina asked excitedly.
Sam craned his head to view the truck bed. With a sad shake of his head, he replied, “No.”
A long string of what was probably Spanish swear words flowed from Dulce.
Danny laughed. “Good one, Dulce.”
“What she say?” Troy asked.
“She said he eats the stuff that comes out of a donkey’s butt,” Danny answered.
“He is the stuff that comes out of a donkey’s butt!” Sam exclaimed. “I hate him!”
Josh tried to twist his body into a shape that would allow him to see Chad in the back of the pickup, but it was impossible. When Corina yelped as he accidentally struck her chin with his elbow, he gave up.
“Sorry. Trying to see what he’s doing.”
From his much better vantage point, Troy answered, “He’s on his knees and trying to pick up another shovel. I think he dropped the other one over the side.”
“He’s going to try to kill us. I know it,” Sam wailed. Tears brimmed in his eyes. “He’s gonna break out the window and kill us. Me first.”
“Everyone, look for the map again,” Josh ordered. “This time look everywhere.” Earlier, they’d done a cursory search. Now things were much direr.
“Why? You going to hit him with it? Because I don’t think that will work,” Corina said.
“No. I want to know what will happen if we turn around and go back to where the zombies are then take that side road,” Josh replied.
“Why go back to the zombies?” Danny asked. “Isn’t that a bad thing?”
“Not if we stop long enough to make a drop off,” Josh answered. The words made him shiver with unease.
“You mean let the zombies get him?” Corina’s eyes widened.
“He’s dangerous.” Josh stared at her, imploring her to understand.
She didn’t protest. Instead, she unbuckled their seatbelt and started searching the seat with her fingertips. Josh leaned over and began to feel around under the bench again. There was an empty coke bottle, a packet of cigarettes, a package of disposal wipes, and a lighter.
“I can’t see,” Sam muttered.
“Let me do it. I’m smaller.” Troy’s voice was muffled. “There’s stinky boots under here, a jacket, and some beer.”
“Beer is bad for kids,” Sam said automatically. He had a tendency to parrot whatever lessons his dad had taught him. “But my dad can drink two a day. The doctor said so.”
“I got something!” Corina gasped.
Josh sat upright and his gaze locked onto the small, slim plastic box clutched in Corina’s grip.
“Bullets!” Danny gasped leaning over the seat to see.
“Are those for the pistol?” Josh asked.
Corina nodded. Her hand was trembling.
“We can kill him!” Sam shouted with joy. “Yes!”
“We can’t kill him, can we?” Troy asked, resting his chin on the back of Josh’s seat.
“Killing is against the Bible,” Danny said thoughtfully. “But I think self-defense is okay.”
“Is it self-defense?” Troy looked doubtful.
“You know we have to kill him!” Sam glared at Troy. “He’s dangerous.”
“What would your dad say about killing, Sam?” Troy shot back.
Sam sputtered, not able to answer.
“It’s him or us. Probably. I think. Right, Josh?” Danny’s dark eyes darted toward the back window.
Josh swallowed the hard lump forming in his throat. “What’s he doing?”
Troy checked. “He’s about to hit the window again.”
Without warning, Dulce hit the brakes, not to bring the truck to a full stop, bu
t to jostle Chad.
This time Josh fell onto the floorboard while Corina struck the dashboard. The boys hit the back of the front seat, grunting on impact. Chad hit the back window, and the shovel sailed over the roof of the pickup to strike the hood and leave a big dent in it before flying off onto the road.
“Stop doing that!” Chad shouted, slapping the window with his hand.
“Stop trying to break the window!” Sam screamed back.
Forehead pressed to the glass, Chad yelled, “I’m going to feed you to the zombies, you fat fu—”
Dulce hit the brakes again.
Blood spouted against the glass.
“You broke my nose!” Chad wailed before disappearing from view.
“He’s rolling around in the back holding his nose,” Troy said with satisfaction.
“He’s crying like a stupid baby,” Sam said mockingly while wiping away his own tears of frustration and fear. “Who’s the big baby now, Chad?”
With a grin, Dulce drove on.
Pulling his bruised body back onto the front seat, Josh rubbed his knotted stomach. He had a bad feeling about what was going to happen. Chad was like a wild force of nature. There really wasn’t a way to deal with him other than to try to get away from him. They’d failed once, but they had to try again.
“That’ll stop him for a little bit. Good job, Dulce.” Troy patted the teenager’s shoulder.
“He’s stupid,” Dulce replied.
Corina picked up the box of ammunition from where it had fallen on the floor. She tucked it between her knees while she pulled the seatbelt around Josh and her again. Stretched to nearly its full length, it clicked into the buckle.
“Josh, we should load the gun,” she whispered.
“Who’s going to shoot him?” Josh didn’t like the idea of killing someone. Even someone as dangerous as Chad.
“Maybe we should shoot him in the leg and slow him down?” Corina’s fingers flexed around the plastic box.
“Shoot him in the head,” Sam urged. “Like a zombie.”
“Is that self-defense? I’m Catholic. We’re not supposed to kill people,” Danny said with concern.
“Do we really want to kill a human being?” Josh asked his friends in disbelief. Though he was considering it, it horrified him that he had to even consider it as an option. That his friends were so ready to agree to it bothered him more than he thought it would.
“You were talking about feeding him to the zombies, Josh,” Troy pointed out.
Guiltily, Josh nodded. “But that wasn’t us shooting him.”
“But that was us making him zombie chow,” Danny said. “It’s still killing him.”
“He’d have a chance to get away,” Josh muttered.
“Then he’d come after us again and we’d still have to shoot him,” Sam said with exasperation.
“Guns feel so much more personal,” Corina admitted. “But he’s dangerous. We all know it. Back at the house, I know he would have...” She stopped, her mouth moving, but no sounds coming out. Tears welled in her eyes.
“He would’ve what?” Sam asked.
“Done bad things to her,” Troy said, sounding like he was trying to be tactful.
“Like what?” Sam probably had no idea what they were talking about. His dad seemed to treat him like he was still a little kid.
“You know… bad things.” Troy was failing at explaining.
Dulce started muttering in Spanish again. Josh had a feeling he was in total agreement with her.
“I don’t get it. What bad things? Like punching her? Or something?” Sam was clearly peeved at being left out of the loop.
“Sometimes guys do stuff to girls without getting permission. And that’s bad,” Danny attempted to explain.
“Stuff?” Sam poked Corina’s shoulder. “What stuff?”
Corina’s fingers clutched the ammunition box. “Adult stuff. Parent stuff.”
“Kissing?” Sam looked horrified. “Wow! That’s not good!”
There was a quick exchange of looks among the kids, and there was a silent agreement not to explain to Sam in full detail what Chad had probably planned to do to Corina. Josh still remembered how embarrassing it had been to have his father explain what the word consent meant.
You never touch another person’s body without their permission, his dad had explained. And no one should ever touch yours without permission either.
You mean when we play fight and wrestle? Josh had asked.
With a surrendering sigh, his dad had explained how babies were made, and that Josh had a little brother on the way. It had been a hard discussion to get through, and it was clear that it was one Sam hadn’t had with his father.
“Josh, we need to load the gun,” Corina whispered. “We all know it.”
“I know how to shoot. So do you. What about everyone else?” Josh swept his gaze over the other kids.
“My dad is going to teach me when I’m thirteen and give me a hunting rifle!” Sam was clearly excited about this proposition, but then his smile faded. “I mean... he was gonna. Before zombies.”
“My dad didn’t believe in guns,” Troy confessed.
“I no shoot,” Dulce said. “But I learn.”
“I can’t shoot either,” Danny admitted.
“No one touches the gun but me and Corina then,” Josh said firmly. “I’ll teach you how to handle it later when we’re somewhere safe. But for right now, don’t touch it. It’s dangerous if you haven’t been taught. You need to respect it as a deadly weapon.”
“Like truck,” Dulce said, grinning. She tapped the brakes again.
There was a loud thump as Chad hit the rear of the cab.
“If we load it, it means we might use it,” Josh said to Corina.
Her large gray eyes stared solemnly into his. “I know.”
“Uh, guys. Chad is trying to push our water supply over the back of the truck!” Troy called out.
With a sigh, Josh accepted the truth. Chad wasn’t going to give them much of a choice.
Chances were high that Josh would have to use the pistol.
Chapter 4
“Dulce, stop the pickup. Slowly,” Josh ordered. “Troy, tell Chad we’re stopping. Sam, take off your seatbelt and block Chad’s view while we load the gun.”
It was easy to take on the leadership role now. The words came easy. Josh didn’t doubt himself anymore. They’d made it this far under his leadership, and it was a lot further than some adults had managed since the zombie apocalypse had started.
“My dad said to never take off my seatbelt in a moving car,” Sam complained.
“Dude, you just did it earlier,” Troy pointed out.
“Oh.” Sam unbuckled himself, slid to his feet, and stooped over the front seat to provide cover.
While the two kids carried out his commands, Josh carefully extracted the pistol from the glove compartment. Though he’d seen Corina remove the empty magazine and pull back the slide to make sure it wasn’t loaded, his father had taught him to always treat any firearm with caution. The weight of the deadly weapon was heavy in his hands. His heart sped up with dread.
Corina reached past him to grab the magazine. She was trembling, and Josh wished he could console her. The decision to load the pistol was momentous. He felt it in his gut. From the expression on her face, Corina did, too. With nimble fingers, she started to shove the bullets into the magazine.
Dulce slowed the pickup, but made sure to stretch out the process as long as she possibly could to give them more time. The vehicle rolled to a stop between two vast fields that were empty of any signs of life.
“Let me in, losers!” Chad shouted, punctuating each word by slapping his hand against the back window.
“Are you going to shoot him, Josh?” Sam whispered, breathing heavily.
“No. I’m going to try to reason with him.”
“If you don’t let me in, losers, I’m gonna dump the water!”
“Reason with stupidity?” Tr
oy clearly had doubts about Josh’s approach.
“Look. We have to give him a chance to live,” Josh said firmly.
Back at the house Chad had declared as his personal safe haven, Josh had seen how desperate and unreasonable Chad could be. Most likely Chad would shoot down any suggestion offered, but Josh knew he had to try. Otherwise, how could he call it self-defense if he was forced to kill Chad?
“I think we should just shoot him,” Sam muttered.
“You mean Josh or me have to shoot him,” Corina corrected him. Her trembling, sweaty fingers interfered with her loading the magazine.
“Yeah...” Sam replied, obviously not sure what her point actually was.
“You’re asking Josh or Corina to kill someone,” Troy said in a hushed voice.
“Show me how and I will do it.” Sam tried to sound brave, but his voice cracked. “I mean... I think I can do it.”
“It’s not like video games.” Danny’s face pinched with worry. “This is real life.”
“What are you losers doing? Open the door!” Chad kicked the back window.
The crack now spanned the entire width of the window. Eventually Chad would break it.
“Get down and we’ll talk!” Josh shouted over his shoulder.
“I’m not stupid. If I get down, you’ll drive off. Open the back door and I can climb in!”
Corina stopped her task. “Josh, if he gets into the truck and manages to get the gun...” She started to empty the magazine.
“No. Don’t do that. Load it. I’m getting out to deal with him. If he...” Josh hesitated, realizing what he was asking of Corina.
After a long tense moment, she said, “I’ll shoot his leg. To start with.”
Josh nodded, unlocked the door, and slid out.
Chad started to scoot across the roof, but Josh slammed the door shut. The audible click of the locks followed. The teenager glared down at Josh, his black eye swollen and the gash near it oozing.
Doing his very best to appear calm and in control, Josh walked along the side of the pickup to the tailgate. He stood on his toes and was relieved to see that the cooler holding the water was still intact. It was very, very heavy, so Chad hadn’t been able to lift it over the edge. But if he got smart, he’d open the top and pour it out.
The Living Dead Boy (Book 3): Journey Across Zombie Texas Page 2
