CHAPTER TEN
All Jessica wanted to do was sit in her room and do nothing. She was still frustrated at the way Will had acted but, deep down, she was also thankful to have a bed for at least one more day. With the group about to head back out onto the road, she didn’t know when—or if—she would have a bed to lie in again.
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to lie there all day. Any moment now, Holly would be bringing the kids over and it would be her time to watch them.
She lay on her back for a few more minutes, and then, as expected, a knock came at her door. She pushed out a breath as it opened and Teresa appeared in the doorway.
“Holly’s on the porch with the kids,” Teresa said.
“All right,” Jessica said. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
Teresa smiled and shut the door. Jessica swung her feet over the side of the bed and put on her pants. Then she headed out the door.
At the bottom of the stairs, Teresa waited.
“You need anything?” she asked.
Jessica shook her head. “I’m good, thanks.” The woman looked away, and Jessica could see the hurt in her eyes. She knew Teresa’s husband was out there with Will and Charlie. “Are you doing all right?”
Sniffing and wiping her forehead, Teresa said, “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just not easy with him being out there.”
“I know it’s not. But I can promise you that he’s in good hands.”
Teresa looked back to Jessica, her eyes red, and nodded.
“It goes both ways: you let me know if you need anything, too, okay?”
“Thanks,” Teresa said.
Jessica opened the front door and Holly turned around, having been standing near the steps while watching the kids play in the yard.
“Hey,” Holly said, sounding reserved.
“Hi,” Jessica said back. She shut the door behind her and stepped onto the porch.
“Get enough rest?” Holly asked, a sarcastic tone in her voice.
Ignoring it, Jessica said, “I did. Thanks. Is Will back yet?”
Holly shook her head. “Sorry to tell you he’s not.”
Again, Holly sounded frustrated, and Jessica narrowed her eyes.
“Is everything all right?”
Holly scoffed. “You’re really gonna ask that?”
“I’m sorry,” Jessica said. “You just sound like you’re pissed at me about something.”
“Oh, you mean about how you treated Will like shit?”
Jessica looked out into the yard. The kids continued to play, apparently not having heard Holly curse Jessica.
“Can we not do this in front of the kids?” Jessica asked.
“Do what?” Holly said. “I know Gabriel has a reason to be upset with Will, but why you?”
“Hey, you got up and left that dinner, too,” Jessica said. “He shouldn’t have just made the decision for us to stay here another day.”
“Who said you had to stay?”
Jessica glared into Holly’s eyes. Holly seemed proud of herself for getting a rise out of Jessica, and Jessica tried not to show it.
“Gabriel’s been out there by himself already and it didn’t turn out well. So maybe he just doesn’t wanna do that again. But why are you staying, Jessica? Why are you really staying?”
Jessica shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know, Holly. What is it exactly that you want me to say?”
“I know why you’re still around. I see it in your eyes every time you look at him. You think I’m really buying that you were mad at Will because he’s the only one with enough guts to make a decision?”
“Holly, listen, I—”
“No, you listen,” Holly said, cutting the distance in half between the two of them. “Will is mine, do you understand that? I want you and I to be friends, I really do. But I warned you about this before, and I’m not going to tell you again.”
“Are you threatening me?”
Holly moved right in front of Jessica and pointed her finger at her chest.
“Don’t be mad at him just because you’re jealous.”
Jessica didn’t even know how to respond. And before she could figure it out, Holly turned around and headed out of the yard. Halfway to the street, she looked back at Jessica once more with the same scowl, but then she flipped it to a smile when she looked to Dylan and Mary Beth.
“Have fun with Jessica, guys.”
“We will,” the two kids said simultaneously.
Jessica bit her lip and watched Holly cross the street, imagining herself running after her, throwing her to the ground, and stomping her face into the concrete.
Then the children looked up at her, breaking her away from her fantasy.
She smiled. “You guys ready to play?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sunlight poured in through the window, giving Will enough light to see the dead creature lying in the middle of the room. A knife had been driven into its eye and it lay on its back, arms sprawled out and its blood staining the carpet around it.
Jen made her way into the room, standing beside Will. She jerked away from the sight of the fallen Empty and Will had to remind himself that she’d been sheltered, and hadn’t seen all the things he’d seen.
Gunshots continued to go off outside. Hurrying to the window now that the room was clear, Will looked out into the street. “There’s more Empties coming.” He closed the blinds and turned back around. “We have to go. There’s nothing h—”
The firefight outside ceased long enough for Will to hear something, stopping him mid-sentence and halting his steps toward Jen.
“What is it?” Jen asked.
Will put his finger to his mouth, urging her to be quiet.
The gunfight had started again, but Will was sure he’d heard something: shallow breathing and a gurgling sound.
Looking to the floor, he saw the sun shining in enough for him to see the trail of blood on the carpet. It led from the Empty’s feet to the closet with its door ajar.
Will readied his .45 and crept toward the door. Gripping the edge of it, he licked his lips, preparing for anything on the other side. He threw it open, the pistol pointed inside, before narrowing his eyes and dropping the weapon to his side.
“Adam?”
The man sat against the wall, inside the closet, with fallen clothes on top of him. Shirts and pants covered him from his stomach up to his neck, but Will could see in his face and eyes that he had been injured.
Will kneeled down. “What happened?” he asked.
Adam drew in a labored breath that carried a weeping gasp with it, sounding almost like a pressure valve loosening. He slowly lifted his bloody hand and removed the shirt from his throat.
Will shifted to allow light into the closet.
Adam’s throat had been torn apart, skin pulled open and blood seeping from the wound. When Will saw the opening, he grabbed the shirt and pressed it against Adam’s throat again.
“Shit,” he said, looking back to Jen. “I need you to grab me a fresh shirt or a towel. I’ve gotta keep pressure on this to stop the—”
Will felt a grip on his arm and he looked back to see Adam holding onto him, shaking his head.
“We might be able to stop the bleeding,” Will said.
Adam continued to shake his head. He lifted his quaking hands and used an imaginary pen to write on a nonexistent sheet of paper in the air.
“Never mind,” Will said, calling back to Jen. “Find a piece of paper and something to write with.”
Jen went to a desk on the other side of the room while Will held onto Adam’s bloody hand. She returned with an open spiral notebook and a fine-point black marker.
Adam took the items and began to write. He could hardly control his trembling hands, but he managed to scribble. When he was done, he held up the notebook.
Everyone left or died. Nothing left. Run.
“You want us to run?” Will asked. He shook his head, not thinking clearly. “No, we can’t.”
&nbs
p; Adam’s arms fell, dropping the paper and the marker. His mouth fell open, eyes still wide and staring into the nothing beyond Will.
Reaching down, Will checked Adam’s pulse.
Nothing.
Will sighed and shook his head. He reached out and rolled his hand over Adam’s eyes, closing them, and then he stood.
“We have to go,” Will said.
“Shouldn’t we at least look around for some of the stuff we need?” Jen asked.
“No,” Will said. “You saw his note. He said ‘nothing left’. Whoever was able to escape took everything with them.”
Will jerked his head toward the window when he heard a scream.
He yelled, “Come on!” and ran for the door.
Shuffling down the stairs, he went straight for the front door, unlocking it and hurrying outside.
He stopped on the porch when he saw the small horde of Empties in the yard. Drawing his hand gun, he stood at the top of the steps and took aim at the creatures. Jen stood alongside him and fired at the beasts.
They had taken down all but two of the creatures when they both ran out of ammo. Another scream came from near the van. Jen was about to reload, but Will grabbed her wrist.
“No time. Let’s make a run for it.”
Will hurried down the stairs and rushed across the yard the same way they’d come to the house. Empty bodies lay everywhere, along with human corpses. Though many Empties had been taken down by Charlie and the others, more had shown up. An Empty stood in his path, and Will barreled his shoulder into the beast, sending it to the pavement.
Ahead, Charlie and Shawna were out front of the vehicle, shooting at the horde.
Waving toward the van, Will shouted, “Go—we’ve gotta get out of here!”
But Charlie and Shawna didn’t move. Charlie continued to fire at the Empties coming down the street while Shawna faced the other way and aimed at the creatures coming from the woods.
When Will and Jen got closer to the van, Will saw why Charlie hadn’t moved. On the ground between he and Shawna was Franklin. Steve was kneeled down beside him, pressing a T-shirt against his leg. Another piece of a shirt or some type of clothing was also tied around his leg.
“We can’t go yet,” Charlie said. “He’s been bit.”
Will looked to Franklin and could see in his grimace just how much pain he was in. Will had been bit by one of the Empties himself, so he knew how much it burned.
“You two help Steve get him into the van,” Shawna called back.
Will looked to Charlie. “We can’t. We have to leave him and—”
“Just do it, Will,” Charlie said, cutting him off.
Will exhaled and shook his head. Looking back to Jen, he said, “Come on.”
Will kneeled down next to Franklin as Charlie and Steve continued to fire.
“It’s just the one leg,” Steve said. “If we can get him up then he should be able to move the other while we hold him up.”
Together, the three lifted Franklin, who cried out as his injured leg shifted. The bite was gruesome. His thigh had been torn apart above the knee. The white T-shirt Steve held against the wound had been dyed completely crimson. But they managed to get him onto his good leg. Will stood on one side of him while Steve braced him from the other.
“Jen, help them keep those things away from us,” Will said.
Jen collected more ammo from the van, then went to help Shawna fend off all of the creatures coming from the woods as Will and Steve hauled Franklin to the van. Will slid open the panel door and they helped a limping Franklin in, easing him onto one of the seats.
“Charlie, get this thing started,” Will said. “I’ll cover for you.”
Charlie took one last shot, hitting an Empty in the chest and knocking it to the ground, then turned around and loaded into the driver’s seat. Will took his own spot, using the assault rifle to take aim at the creatures.
The van came to life.
The Empty Charlie had last shot had almost made it back to its feet when Will put a round into its head, sending it back down onto the ground.
“Let’s get out of here!”
Shawna unloaded another couple of rounds before turning around and heading back to the van. Jen had started to turn around when she stopped suddenly. She seemed focused on a vehicle sitting in the middle of the road, some twenty yards away.
“Jen, come on!” Will yelled.
“What the hell is she doing?” Shawna asked as she got into the van.
“I think I see someone in that car,” Jen said.
“No,” Will said. “You need to—”
She took off toward the car.
“Oh, shit,” Will mumbled. He looked back to the van. “Stay inside!”
Jen reached the car and pulled on the handle, unable to open it. Just as Will approached, she ran around to the other side of the car, and Will watched as she yelled out and fell forward. She screamed.
“Jen!”
Will ran around to the opposite side of the car, where he saw two Empties on the ground tearing into Jen’s face. One of the creatures was missing its leg from below the knee, and the other only had half a foot at the end of one of its legs.
Without hesitation, Will drew his pistol. He pressed the barrel against the side of the head of one of the Empties and pulled the trigger. The other creature looked up from Jen’s face and snapped at Will, who just barely pulled his arm away in time.
Using the butt-end of the handgun, Will struck the Empty upside the head, knocking it back. He then pulled the trigger and unloaded a bullet into the thing’s brain.
He turned around and looked down at Jen. Her face was covered in blood. Her nose was gone, and he could see the innards of her cheeks. Eyes wide, she continued to scream as blood seeped from the wounds. Will kneeled down next to her and took her hand.
“Just hang in there, all right? We’re going to get you help.”
Jen continued to yell, and she squeezed Will’s hand tight.
“I promise, we’re going to—”
Jen’s big eyes looked past Will, and before he could turn around, he was startled by a gunshot. The bullet entered Jen’s cheek, splashing blood onto Will. Her eyes remained open, but she ceased all movement.
Will looked back to see Shawna standing there with her pistol aimed firmly down at Jen.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Will demanded, standing up.
“She was already dead and you know it.”
“It’s not your decision to choose who lives and dies,” Will said.
Shawna lowered the gun and moved closer to him. “It is when my life is on the line. Did you not see that girl? I put her out of her goddamn misery. She was going to suffer, bleed out from her face, and then turn into one of those motherfuckers. So don’t you tell me I don’t get to choose who dies, because she was already dead.”
“And what about Franklin, huh?” Will asked. “You gonna kill him, too?”
“He’s at least got a little bit longer to live,” Shawna said. “We don’t have to make that decision now. But you know as well as I do how things end with him. It’s just a matter of how it’s done.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw Charlie step out of the van.
“We’ve gotta go now.”
Will looked back to Shawna. Sticking his finger in her face, he said, “Don’t pull that shit again. You understand me?”
Shawna cracked a crooked smile. She then saluted Will in a mocking fashion and said, “Aye, Captain.”
Then she turned from him and headed back for the van.
Will looked back down at Jen for a moment before he averted his eyes. There was no way they could travel back with the body. Not in its condition, her face mangled and unrecognizable. She would have to lie here with the Empties and the humans who hadn’t made it out with the rest of the survivors from Adam’s group.
After he put aside the thought of taking her home to bury her, Will realized he was looking into the car. He nar
rowed his eyes.
There was a blanket laying across the back seat, but no sign of a body. Scanning the entire inside of the vehicle, there was nothing that he felt could’ve been mistaken for a person. What the hell had she seen to make her run over here?
Heading up the street, Empties snarled.
Will shook his head and hurried back to the van.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Charlie sped through the front gates of the neighborhood as Franklin moaned in the back seat. Steve sat with him, applying pressure to the wound with a T-shirt. Between that and the makeshift tourniquet, they had stopped most of the bleeding. But Will knew it wasn’t going to save him.
He shot a glance over to Shawna, who was staring down at Franklin. She caught Will’s gaze and met his eyes. They remained looking at each other for a moment before Will looked back down to Franklin. His eyes were open and bloodshot, and his lips quivered as he bit back the pain.
“We’ve just about got the bleeding stopped,” Will said. “Just hang on.”
Franklin didn’t look at Will. He stared up at the roof of the van, taking in heavy breaths. Will had seen this look too many times before. Though Franklin was strong, his fate was inevitable. He would turn Empty in only a matter of time. There would be no stopping it.
“Will,” Charlie said.
Will looked up to the driver’s seat, where Charlie was gesturing for him to join him. Will got up from the seat behind Franklin and made his way up front. He didn’t have to look at Shawna to know she was staring at him.
When he arrived up front, he leaned in between the seats.
“What’s up?”
“What are we gonna do about him?” Charlie asked, whispering.
Will looked back. Steve was still focused on a groaning Franklin, and Shawna was looking up front, listening in.
“We can’t do anything here,” Will said. “We just need to get him home.”
“Who’s to say he’ll make it all the way back home?”
“We have to try,” Will said.
“Stop the van,” Steve said.
Will looked back. “What?”
“Just stop the fucking van.”
Empty Bodies 6: Revelation (Empty Bodies Series Book 6) Page 6
