Chad sat on the roof of the cab and glared down at Josh. “It’s all still there. For now. Loser.”
Planting his feet apart, Josh crossed his arms across his chest and returned Chad’s look. “We’re not going to let you inside. We’re cramped in there as it is.”
“Throw out the fatty. He takes up the room for two people.”
“Sam is a Zombie Hunter. One of us. You’re not. You can ride in the back until we find you another car. Then you can go wherever you want to go.” In Josh’s head, the plan seemed reasonable, but as he said the words, he realized how unlikely Chad was to agree.
Scoffing, Chad said, “Just let me in the truck.”
“No.”
“When you try to get back inside, I’m going in.”
“Then I’ll ride back here with you.”
“What if I shove you over the side?”
The stark brutality of the comment stunned Josh into silence.
Chad pointed at the younger boy, and broke into loud peals of laughter. “I’m joking! Gawd. You’re such a loser. You’ll believe anything.”
Josh inhaled through his lips, trying to not show how rattled he actually was by Chad’s threat. A few deep breaths helped calm his nerves and he waited for Chad to stop his exaggerated and mocking laughter.
“Look, shorty, I get that you’re trying to impress you loser friends and Corina. I get it. But the reality is that I’m older than you. Smarter than you. And I should be the leader. What you punks pulled back there was bull—”
“We didn’t pull anything. We left to save ourselves. You shut the door on Sam and trapped him outside with the zombies. You look out for only you! And since you look out for only you, you should be on your own, Chad. We’ll help you find a new car, but then you need to leave us alone. We don’t want you with us!”
Chad stared at Josh, his jaw tightened and his mouth a thin line.
An uneasy silence stretched out between them.
“I want to talk to Corina,” the older boy said at last.
“Why?”
“Because we had a thing going that you ruined,” Chad replied, his upper lip in a snarl.
Josh looked toward the passenger door and saw Corina staring back at him. She looked as scared as he felt. “No. She’s not interested in talking to you. She doesn’t even like you.”
“You think she likes you?” Chad scoffed.
“No. I think she’s really sad because her boyfriend, Brad, died and turned into a zombie.”
“Brad? Her boyfriend’s name was Brad? See! I’m totally her next boyfriend. Brad. Chad. It’s fate.”
“That makes no sense.”
“What makes no sense is that you don’t see that I need to be your leader. I’m the oldest. I’m the smartest.”
“No, you’re not!” Sam shouted from inside the pickup.
Still seated on the roof of the car, Chad kicked the window with his heels. “Shut up, fatty!”
Out of the corner of his eyes, Josh saw Corina motioning for him to move onto the side of the road. Tucking his hands into his jean pockets, Josh tried to make his slow drift to the shoulder seem natural.
“Chad, we don’t want to fight with you.”
“Then don’t, shorty. You know what. I think I should drive. Did you see what I did to those zombies back there? Imagine what I could do with this truck!”
“It’s our truck, Chad! Ours! We took it! It has our supplies in it! It’s ours! We’ll help you find your own truck, but then you gotta go!” Josh hated how desperate he sounded. How powerless.
Chad shook his head. “Josh, if I have to beat the snot out of you to prove I’m the one in charge, I’ll do it.”
The pickup roared to life, reversing so fast Josh leaped to one side to make sure he was clear. Chad tumbled backward, losing his balance. Flailing, he tried to catch himself, but he rolled, feet over his head off the roof, sprawled halfway onto the hood, then tumbled onto the road.
Corina shoved the passenger door open. “Get in!”
Josh ran and jumped into the cab. The door wasn’t even shut when Dulce backed up another hundred feet or so. On the road ahead, Chad slowly climbed to his feet.
“Run him over!” Sam urged.
“He mess up the truck,” Dulce replied, then added a comment in Spanish.
“She says his head is so thick it’ll smash the engine,” Danny translated.
“Do what we were going to do earlier. Go on the side of the road,” Josh instructed.
“On shoulder,” Dulce said with a nod.
“Yeah.”
Corina helped Josh with the seat belt. On her lap were the pistol, the loaded magazine, and box of ammunition.
Dulce floored the pickup and it sailed down the road. He took a flying leap at the truck as it roared past him, but Dulce swerved away from him.
The boys in the back laughed with delight as Chad sprawled onto the road again.
“Bye, loser!” Sam shouted.
Gazing into the side mirror, Josh watched Chad clamber to his feet and attempt to sprint after the pickup. He must have hurt his leg, because he skipped more than ran. Corina against into Josh’s side to watch the image in the mirror. When Chad finally disappeared from view, she settled back in her spot with a sigh of relief.
“I hope I never see him again,” she said.
“Me, too. He sucks,” Troy agreed.
“I hate him so much!” Sam growled.
“We know, Sam. We know,” Danny said.
Josh opened the glove compartment, and Corina quickly put the weapon, magazine, and bullets inside. They shut it together and gazed at each other for a long moment. Maybe this time they hadn’t had to use it, but from the look in Corina’s eyes she knew what Josh had come to accept. At some point, they’d have to use the gun to defend themselves.
“I hope zombies eat him,” Sam muttered.
“I just hope we never see him again. Cause next time...” Troy’s voice faded out.
“We’ll have to shoot him,” Danny finished.
“True,” Corina agreed.
“Yeah.” Josh nodded.
For a long time, the only sound in the pickup was the roar of the road.
Chapter 5
The water had a strange mineral taste and was very warm, but Josh gulped it down anyway. The storms were long past and the sun blazed in the clear sky. The sunlight beating down on his head made him feel drowsy. It was mid-afternoon and the kids were still waking up from the hour-long nap they’d taken on the side of the road. Their adrenaline had finally run out, and Dulce had nearly driven off the road while trying to stay awake. The kids had slept in thirty minute shifts except for Dulce, who slept an entire hour. They’d all agreed she needed to be well-rested since she was the one driving. The short nap had helped fight off the worst of Josh’s tiredness, but his body still craved a long decent sleep.
Instead, Josh ate crackers smeared with peanut butter while seated with the others in the truck bed of the pickup, except for Dulce. She’d grabbed her food and water before returning to the driver’s seat, ready to drive if any zombies stumbled across their roadside picnic.
From the location of the sun, Josh had a bad feeling they were heading in the wrong direction. More in a diagonal than in the straight line he’d hope would carry them to a highway leading to San Angelo. Stopping and knocking on the door of one of the houses set back from the road to ask for directions had been tempting, but he didn’t want to risk interacting with adults. During their journey the pickup had glided past a couple of accidents and a few abandoned cars along the way. He wondered where the people were since there weren’t any zombies in sight. The blood-smeared cars had made him very uneasy. Finally, they’d spotted a sign for a town, but it was still fifteen miles away. Josh was still not sure they should enter the town, or try to find a way around it.
Crunching another cracker, Josh watched Corina serve the other boys since she’d volunteered to divide the food and prepare lunch from the rations taken
from the farmhouse. She’d made a makeshift knife out of one of the plastic cups by tearing it apart and made cracker sandwiches for everyone.
“Do we get chips, too, Corina?” Sam asked hopefully.
“For a snack later. Right now we need protein. Protein helps you think and not be hungry. Remember how they taught us that in school?”
“No,” Sam replied a bit grumpy.
“Didn’t you pay attention in health class?” Danny asked.
“No.” Sam shrugged. “It was boring.”
Corina rolled her eyes. “Just eat, Sam, so we can get going again.”
Taking another long swig of water to wash down the dry cracker crumbs and the thick peanut butter, Josh tried not to think of school. He never thought he’d miss it, but now he wished he could have one more day in Mrs. Atkins’s class. Then he could joke around with Arturo and Roger, pass notes to Troy about zombie movies, and look forward to lunch when he’d get a glimpse of Corina. But it was foolish to make wishes. Mrs. Atkins, Arturo, Roger, and most of his class were dead. All that remained of his old life were his friends seated in front of him, and his dad and little brother far away in San Angelo, Texas.
Blinking back sudden tears, he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand to hide he was on the verge of crying.
Corina settled next to him, holding a stack of crackers smeared with peanut butter and a big plastic cup with the faded logo of a fast food restaurant filled with water.
“It’s okay, you know,” she said nibbling on the edge of a cracker.
“What?” Josh asked averting his eyes.
“Crying. My mom is missing, probably dead. It hurts. A lot. I want to cry, but I can’t. It’s like I’m numb inside. So if you can cry, you should. I wish I could.”
Josh pondered her words as tears dropped onto his cheeks. He wiped them away and nodded. “I guess so, but I feel like I need to keep strong to get us to safety.”
“You are strong, Josh. You got us this far.” Tears also sparkled in Troy’s dark eyes.
“I don’t know you that well, dude, but you seem like a good leader since, you know, we’re still alive.” Danny rubbed at his red eyes with one hand. “And I cried when people were taking a nap for a little bit. I don’t know if any of my family is alive. It might be just me and Dulce left.”
Around a mouthful of food, Sam said, “It’s okay to cry cause your mom is dead.”
Sniffling, Josh tried not to let Sam’s words bring on more tears. He didn’t want to think about his mom, Roger, Arturo, or all the kids that probably died after the bus crash. Instead, he focused his thoughts on making it to San Angelo to be with his dad and little brother.
Troy brushed at his wet cheeks. “Anyway, we’re kids. We’re gonna cry sometimes. I miss my dad and mom. I miss Rog, but I’m still mad at him for being so stupid.”
“Yeah. He was totally dumb,” Sam agreed.
Troy shot Sam an annoyed look.
“What did Rog do?” Danny asked.
“He couldn’t accept what was happening,” Corina explained. “So he sneaked away in the middle of the night to find his mom. Sadly, he found her.”
“Oh.” Danny glanced at Troy. “Sorry, Troy. That sucks.”
“Yeah. It totally does. He was a good brother.”
The kids lapsed into silence, eating their food while keeping an eye on their surroundings.
“Are we going through the town?” Corina asked.
Josh shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“We should ask for help.” The cracker crumbs clinging to Sam’s lips rained onto his lap as he spoke.
“I’m not sure about that.” The doubt he felt leaked in his voice.
Danny’s dark eyes studied Josh curiously. “Why not?”
“Adults suck,” Troy answered matter-of-factly. “Haven’t you watched zombie movies? Adults always screw it up.”
“But they might help us get to San Angelo,” Danny said. “I get not stopping at the houses off the road. There could be zombies. Or serial killers. Or people who will steal our stuff. But in a town maybe there are people who could help us?”
“Or zombies. Lots of zombies,” Sam muttered.
“Or adults who won’t like a bunch of kids riding around in a stolen truck,” Troy added.
“They might confiscate the pickup and make us join their group,” Josh agreed.
“Is that why you’re not sure about finding help?” Corina asked Josh.
Nodding, Josh said, “Yeah. I know my dad trusts me. Believes in me. But to other adults we’re just a bunch of kids. They don’t know, or care, that we’ve survived a bunch of stuff other people didn’t.”
“But what about gas?” Danny asked. “We’ll need more soon.”
Josh sighed. “I know. I’ve been thinking about that. We don’t have any money, so if a gas station is open we’ll have to beg. Unless they’re giving it away for free like the truck stop.”
“People charging for gas right now suck.” Troy wiped his hands off on his jeans. “People charging for anything right now suck.”
Corina continued eating while watching their surroundings. There didn’t appear to be any zombies in the area, but being closer to a town meant that danger could be lurking anywhere. Josh felt uneasy being out of the cab of the pickup, but they’d all needed a break from being crammed together.
“I think we should go into the town and try.” Danny stood up and leaned against the cab. “We need a map and gasoline.”
“We have just one gun and a shovel to defend ourselves,” Corina pointed out. “If anything goes wrong, we might all die.”
“I don’t want to get eaten,” Sam declared. “I really don’t.”
Troy took off his cap and ran one hand through his afro before scratching the back of his neck. He was nervous and scared. It was clear in his actions. “In zombie movies, people get really nuts, too. Selfish. Wanting to survive and not caring if other people die. We have to look out for ourselves. Chad wanted our pickup and supplies. Other people might want to take it.”
“Which is a reason to avoid the town,” Corina agreed. “But how do we go around it? We don’t have a map. We don’t even know where we are. I don’t recognize any of the names on the signs around here, do you?”
Silence was the answer.
Josh finished his last cracker and took his time finishing off his water. He was going to need to head into the bushes soon.
Danny broke the quiet. “If we don’t get gas, we don’t get to San Angelo. So we have to risk it. Corina can shoot. She can cover us.”
Corina gave Danny a sharp look, but remained silent.
“I killed a zombie,” Sam said, patting the shovel at his feet. “I can do it again. I think.”
Pulling his cap back on, Troy somberly shook his head, but didn’t say anything.
Josh stood and brushed the crumbs off his shirt. The sun battered his head and back, making the skin between his shoulder blades prickle. Mostly thinking aloud, he said, “We’re kids. Adults are going to either want to help us by making us abandon our quest to get to San Angelo, or they’re going to want to take our stuff. If we see zombies, we can keep driving. But if we see adults, they might chase us. If we have to fight zombies, Corina might be able to shoot enough for us to get gas and get away. But if we have to deal with adults, we can’t expect Corina to shoot them. We’ll end up at their mercy.”
“If we don’t get gas, we run out and then what?” Danny lifted dark eyebrows that reminded Josh of caterpillars. “Huh? Dude, I get what you’re saying about adults, but maybe you watched too many zombie movies.”
“Adults mess things up,” Troy said angrily. “We already saw it. At the school. On both busses. At the truck stop. Adults don’t get it.”
“Maybe we can find a gas station on the side of the road,” Sam said.
“We haven’t seen one yet,” Danny replied.
“But that doesn’t mean we won’t.” Corina abandoned her seat to stand with Josh. “I thi
nk Josh is right. We need to avoid adults.”
“We need gas and a map.” Danny scowled. “We need to fix both of those things.”
“Josh?” Troy glanced up at him. “What do we do?”
Unable to ignore the growing need, Josh answered, “Right now, I gotta pee. So I guess I’ll go into those bushes.”
“I need to go first!” Sam started to crawl over the tailgate. “Corina, cover me!”
Rolling her eyes, Corina pulled the pistol from her belt. The safety was on, but the sight of it made the situation feel so much more dangerous.
Troy gave Sam a disapproving look. “Sam, no fair! Josh said he has to go first!”
“I gotta do more than pee, and I can’t hold it.” Sam set his feet onto the road. “Give me the shovel.”
Josh handed it to the other boy. “Sam, hurry. There might be zombies around.”
Hoisting the shovel up into a defensive stance, Sam nodded. “I’ll hurry.” The boy trudged toward a thick gnarl of bushes.
“I can’t hold it. I gotta pee,” Josh said, slightly blushing. He didn’t like talking about his bodily functions in front of Corina. He was pretty sure it made him look less cool in her eyes. “I’ll go to the other side where those bushes are. Can you cover us both?”
Corina sighed with exasperation. “Just hurry. I’m nervous just being out in the open.”
Josh clambered over the tailgate, and Troy handed him a pair of gardening shears.
“This is all that’s left to fight with, Josh. Aim for the eye socket.”
“Thanks, Troy.”
Jogging across the road, Josh tried to ignore the gnawing fear in his gut. He’d do his business, and get back to the truck. Then he’d figure out what they needed to do next.
Once hidden, he stuck the blades of the garden shears in the dark earth and fumbled with his jeans. The bushes were sparse, so he made sure to aim toward the pasture on the other side of the fence. He didn’t want to expose himself to Corina and the others. There was a strong wind blowing and it carried away the sound of his friends talking. It made him uneasy. The last thing he needed was a zombie showing up while he was unzipped.
“Josh!” Corina shouted. “Josh! Come back! Hurry!”
The Living Dead Boy (Book 3): Journey Across Zombie Texas Page 3
