by Lee, Raymond
“I’ll get her,” Damian said. “You calm him down or we have to leave him.”
Pimjai simply stared at Cruz after Damian ran off to chase Jeremy. “What is wrong with him?”
Raven didn’t answer. The best answer she had was what Damian had come up with. He was bat shit crazy. It wasn’t something she wanted to say though.
Cruz swung around at that moment. “Raven! You spying on me now? You with Damian? I know he wants to leave me. I know every one of you talk about me.”
“Cruz, you know we care about you.” She sheathed her sword and stepped into the room slowly. “And you know I would never leave you. We’re like a family now.”
His nostrils flared. “No, not like family. Family hurts and betrays. They make it look so nice on TV but it isn’t. That’s acting. This.” He spread his arms out. “This is real. Do you know she once locked me in the closet for a week? A week, Raven. She forgot I was in there, thought my screaming was the ghost of my brother.” He started laughing uncontrollably before his face twisted into a mask of rage and he swung the bat again, decapitating his mother’s body with the force of the blow. The rocking chair rocked viciously, dumping her body onto the shag carpet as it rocked forward, and he beat her mercilessly, crunching bone.
“She’s dead, Cruz. She’s gone.”
“She’s still here, laughing. She always laughed at me. Even now, she won’t stop.”
“Cruz. She’s gone.”
“Her spirit is in the mirrors,” Pimjai said, stepping behind her.
Raven turned. “What?”
“Her spirit.” Pimjai looked at her sternly and subtly shook her head. “When the body dies, the spirit goes into the mirrors where it lives on. Cruz, you must break the mirrors and you will hear her no more.”
Cruz stood before them, chest heaving from all the yelling and bat swinging, with a look of pure hope on his face. He turned and bashed the mirror over his mother’s dresser with a roar before leaving the room to smash every other mirror he could find. The last was the mirrored shower door.
He stood there, silent. Raven looked at Pimjai. She shrugged, letting Raven know she’d just taken a chance on something she hoped Cruz’s crazy mind would accept.
“It worked.” He turned around, smiling. “She’s gone.”
Outside, they heard a scream followed by shooting.
“Jeremy and Damian!” Raven ran for the front door, Cruz and Pimjai on her heels.
Damian and Jeremy were by a swingset in a neighbor’s yard, surrounded. Raven quickly counted twenty zombies in various stages of decay.
“There are too many,” Pimjai cried.
“So we pray extra hard and swing fast,” Raven said, running toward the group. Images of Sky’s precious face flashed before her eyes as she reached the outer edge of the mob and started swinging the katana. Blood sprayed and limbs flew as she hacked away, tears momentarily blinding her eyes as she imagined Jeremy meeting the same fate as her sister. Jeremy didn’t like her much at the moment but she was just a kid, an innocent kid too soft for this harsh world, just like Sky. She’d failed Sky. She couldn’t fail Jeremy too.
She heard Cruz yell her name but couldn’t bring herself to turn around. She had to keep swinging, keep chopping away at the wall of monsters between her and Jeremy. Damian had his hands full fighting for himself. Jeremy wouldn’t make it. She was too scared, too young.
“Raven, get down so we can shoot!”
“Raven!”
“Run, Jeremy!”
They all yelled now. She realized that even she was yelling, yelling at the top of her lungs as she sliced another zombie’s head off. “Don’t touch my friends you rotting bastards!”
Bullets whizzed past her head and zombies fell back as dark blood squirted from their heads. One whipped around as a bullet hit its shoulder and grabbed her.
Caught off guard, Raven fell backward, the zombie on top of her, a particularly heavy woman in spandex. The air rushed out of her lungs as she found herself on the ground, trapped under the two-hundred-plus pounds of dead woman. She’d kept her grip on the sword but spread eagle as she was, she couldn’t get a good slice in.
“Raven!” Damian pulled the large woman off of her just in time and stabbed her in the forehead.
A male zombie grabbed him from behind.
“Duck!” Raven warned as she swung, slicing off the top half of its head.
“We have to get to the helicopter!” Damian yelled over the gunshots.
“We have to save Jeremy!” Raven yelled back, shaking off his grasp on her hand and turning.
“Jeremy!” she screamed as she saw the young girl’s legs sticking out under a pile of zombies.
“It’s too late, Raven. I tried.” Damian grabbed her around the waist and tugged. She refused to follow, instead running toward the group of zombies eating Jeremy with her sword raised.
She was lifted in air and for a moment she thought it was over. A zombie had gotten her too and was going to rip her to shreds before her soul escaped to the hell she deserved for allowing two young girls to die but then she heard Cruz yelling for Damian and Pimjai to hurry to the helicopter.
“I’m so sorry, Raven,” he said, running fast despite her weight over his shoulder. “I’m so, so sorry. It’s my fault, I know.”
He dumped her into the helicopter and Damian pulled her all the way in, locking his arms around her when she struggled to break free.
“Jeremy’s out there!”
“She’s dead, baby,” Damian said, crying. “We all tried but there were too many and she got separated from me. We have to get out of here now.”
“No!”
“Everybody hold on tight,” Cruz yelled back to them as the propellers started spinning. “I didn’t want to say earlier but we’re having a bit of engine trouble. We don’t have time to find anything else and we gotta get out of here right now. I’ll land us as soon as I find someplace clear.”
“We have to save Jeremy!” Raven screamed and continued screaming long after they were in the air.
“This one’s out,” Hal announced as the minivan came to a bumpy stop.
Angela groaned. “I can’t believe we didn’t come across another car we could get gas from. Where are we?”
“Kansas,” Hal answered, stepping out of the vehicle. “But close to Colorado. Once we find a running vehicle, it shouldn’t be that much longer until we reach Pimjai.”
“If she’s alive,” Angela muttered, opening the sliding door to exit.
Having already gotten out, Janjai clenched her teeth and refrained from saying anything. She noted the reprimanding look Hal gave the girl, but it wasn’t enough. He was far too lenient with her. She knew Angela wasn’t his child by blood but he treated her as if she were an adult, giving guidance but no discipline.
They grabbed their packs from the back and headed north.
“Keep your eyes open,” Hal warned as they walked toward the closest off ramp. “We haven’t seen any cars in hours on the expressway. Our best bet for a vehicle is in a residential area, although that’s also the most likely place to encounter zombies.”
Angela checked her gun. “We can handle those things.”
“Blades before bullets,” Hal reminded her. “You ok, Janjai?”
She nodded.
“We’re close to Colorado. I promise we’ll get you to your sister, if she’s still there. She may have went to one of the military camps though. The one in Nebraska is the closest so if we don’t find her in Colorado, don’t lose hope.”
“I know she isn’t dead.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How do you know?”
“I would feel it. I don’t know if she is safe or healthy, or if she has turned into one of those things but I know she is still on this earth. I just know it.”
A tear spilled from her eye and she wiped it away. She couldn’t explain where the feeling came from. Pimjai was the one with the gut feelings and the dreams that were more than dreams, not her. She
was just plain Janjai. No skills, no talents. Pimjai was the better of the two. Smarter, prettier, luckier. Maybe Pimjai had sent her the feeling somehow. Janjai wiped another tear away. That sounded like something Pimjai would do.
“We’ll find her, Janjai.”
“I know.”
“Can we find some candy bars?” Angela asked, nodding her head toward a convenience store on the corner.
Hal scanned the area and Janjai followed his eyes, trying to see what he saw. The convenience store sat at the corner of the otherwise residential area. Small houses with little yard space between them lined the street. Some had cars still parked in the driveway.
“Let me see if one of these cars will run,” Hal said, “then we can see about finding you a candy bar.”
“But I’m starved for one. It’s been forever since I had chocolate.”
“I will go with her,” Janjai offered.
Hal sighed. “Fine, but you two be careful.”
“Come on.” Angela split off, headed toward the store.
Janjai followed her, keeping watch on her surroundings. “We need to be careful, Angela.”
“This place is dead,” the girl responded as they reached the store. “As long as we don’t make any loud noises we won’t draw anything out. I don’t think they can smell or anything.”
“You do not know that for sure. It is better to be safe.”
“If I could handle Maura I can handle a dead person.” The girl pushed open the door to the store and stepped inside.
Janjai followed her inside the ransacked store. “Do you miss Maura?”
“I didn’t miss her that night.” Angela laughed. “Oh come on. That was funny.”
“Where I come from we do not laugh at death.”
“Where I come from we shoot traitors and eat candy bars.” Angela headed for the candy aisle. “Oh man! A Snickers. This is my lucky day.”
“Mine too.”
They turned toward the sound of the man’s voice as a dark shadow moved away from the wall. As he came into view, Janjai saw he was very big with a teardrop tattoo beneath his eye. He was scratched up and dirty, but didn’t seem infected.
“That’s close enough,” Angela said, pointing her gun at him.
He laughed, holding his hands up. “Well, lookie there. The little one has a gun. I bet you even know where the trigger is, don’t you sweetheart? Don’t you worry your pretty little head, darlin’. I prefer some China action.”
Nausea rolled through Janjai’s stomach. Her gut was nowhere near as accurate as Pimjai’s but she knew this man was bad and the way he looked at her, licking his lips, reminded her of the way Hank had looked at her on their wedding night. Vomit curdled at the back of her throat.
“I’ll let Johnny have you. Hey Johnny Boy! We got company! All the way from China and preschool!”
A door swung open behind them but Janjai didn’t dare take her eyes off the man in front of her.
“What’s going on Eric?”
“I got us some dates.”
“You’ll have a hole in your head if you step any closer,” Angela warned.
“You shoot me and Johnny shoots you.” Eric smiled, revealing yellowed teeth. “Ain’t that right Johnny Boy?”
“Eric, come on, man. These girls aren’t doing nothing to us. Just let them go.”
“Let them go?” Eric pointed toward the front. “You see what’s out there, little brother? Nothing but dead people walking around. Those Russian bitches came over here and infected every damn thing. These might be the last females we see for a long time and I ain’t goin’ without a woman. These bitches can’t make it on their own so we’re doing them a favor. Ain’t that right sugar?”
Janjai backed away as the man approached her. He only made it three steps before Angela shot him in the face.
“Eric!” Johnny ran to him, falling to his knees at his side, dropping his shotgun. Tears rolled down his face but he didn’t sob. “You stupid idiot. Mom said you’d get yourself killed.” He wiped the tears from his cheeks and looked at them. “He was always a mean drunk and an idiot. This whole apocalypse thing just made him worse. I wouldn’t have let him hurt you.”
Janjai stood there, unsure what to say to the young man as he grieved a brother he obviously knew was too far gone. Despite the tears he seemed a little relieved. Short brown hair and glasses, skinny build. Polo shirt and jeans. He looked like any high school kid.
“You wouldn’t have had a chance,” Angela said, and she pulled the trigger.
Janjai gasped as the top of the boy’s head exploded and his body fell back against the coolers.
Hal burst through the door, gun drawn. “What happened?”
“These men wanted to take us with them,” Angela said without emotion as she walked over to the counter and grabbed a plastic bag. “I’m getting all the Snickers bars. Anybody else want anything? Ooh, Kit-Kats.”
“She killed him,” Janjai said, no longer remaining silent. “He would not have hurt us.”
Angela glared at her. “Janjai, he was threatening to take us and what do you think all that China action stuff was about? He would have raped you and left me for his brother.”
Hal looked between them and at the bodies. “What happened in here?”
“They were going to kidnap and rape us,” Angela said, filling her bag with candy.
“The big man was bad. He may have done that,” Janjai conceded, “but the young one never hurt us. He did not want to. He had dropped his gun and told us he would not hurt us.”
“Of course he said he wouldn’t hurt us, Janjai. I just killed his brother for saying he would.”
“She did not have to kill the young one. It was murder.”
“Murder?” Angela spun around, furious. “Well, that’s a nice thanks for saving your life.”
“Easy, both of you.” Hal raised a hand up, shushing them. “The gunshots could have drawn zombies, or other people if these guys were traveling with anyone. I found a car. Let’s get out of here.”
“You’re just going to let her get by with murder?” Janjai turned for the door and stormed out, done with them. The child was a psychopath.
“Janjai!” Hal ran after her. “Where are you going?”
“Away from her.” Janjai turned to face him. “That girl is crazy. She enjoys killing and she does it when it does not need to be done.”
“That’s a pretty bold claim.”
“The truth often is. She is your friend’s daughter and you think you owe him but she is a killer. Maura did not have to die. That man in there did not have to die. Hank … Hank was a horrible man but she did not need to smile when she shot him.”
Hal turned toward Angela, who stood outside the door to the store watching them. “Angela, we’re taking that blue Taurus across the street. Get in it and wait for us.”
The girl did as told, glaring at her until she reached the end of the small parking lot and had to pay attention to where she was going. Hal scanned the area, looking for threats, before focusing on Janjai again. “She was raised to only take a life when necessary. It may seem strange to you but people like Angela and I, we can see the darkness in people. We know when they have been marked by evil and there is no other choice but to end their life to protect others.”
Janjai shook her head. “If you believe she is an innocent little girl you are blind. She likes to kill.”
“So you’re leaving us?”
“I can’t stay with a killer. It could be my blood spilled next.”
“We would never hurt you, Janjai. You are not evil. Don’t you believe that?”
She searched Hal’s eyes. “I believe you are well intentioned but confused. I believe she is a killer.”
Hal grinned. “Well, at least you have some faith in me. Stay with us, at least until we find your sister. You won’t make it alone.”
A groan came from behind her and she turned to see four dead people walking toward them from around the side of the store.
“Gunshots,” Hal said, sighing. “I’m sure there are more than them headed this way. Let’s go, Janjai. Unless you think you can outrun them all on foot.”
“Fine.” She turned toward Hal. “But when I find my sister I am going with her.”
“Then let’s get you safely to her.”
“Why is it so dark?” Angela asked as they traveled the expressway.
“One of the headlights is out.” Hal slowed down as they approached a wrecked car and carefully avoided hitting it. He checked it out as they passed. No one was inside and the dried blood splashed on the door indicated what had happened to the driver. “So what happened back there? Now that Janjai’s asleep, why don’t you tell me your side?”
“I did. The men were evil. They wanted to make us theirs.”
“Both of them?”
“I did what had to be done, Hal. I know the rules.”
“Who do you follow?”
“You, Hal. I follow you.”
“No. You follow the same leader I follow. A smite is not righteous unless you are doing it for God.”
“I know, Hal. I just meant that I’m doing like I was trained, by you and my dad.”
He looked at the girl out the corner of his eye as he continued driving. Eating the candy bar, she looked like a normal kid, but she’d already smited three people in addition to any zombies she’d had to destroy. But were they smites? Were they righteous? He wanted to believe but he knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving and the devil could whisper into anyone’s ear, influencing them if they were not strong enough to resist. Janjai had no reason to lie, nothing to gain from turning him against Angela. But she was Paul’s daughter. Paul, the closest thing he’d had to a brother. That made her family, his to protect.
“Look out!”
Hal saw the wall of zombies ahead and swerved for the off ramp, scraping the side of the car as he barely made it.
“Hal?” Janjai woke with a start.
“The expressway was blocked by zombies,” Hal explained, turning the wheel hard to keep from going into the guard rail as he maneuvered the curved off ramp. “I had to make a last minute exit. Sorry about the noise.”
