“Dump you?” He chuckled. “So what is this? We’re fighting like we’re in a relationship. I’ve only known you for three weeks.”
“Three weeks in this world is like two years.”
“Well three years is longer than any relationship I ever had so we might as well shoot for four.” Nick raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, might as well.” I shrugged and held in my smile. I didn’t know what had just happened between us but I didn’t want it to happen again so I just planned on being cool. In this three weeks I had developed real feelings for Nick. They were deeper than I cared to admit. We shared more than I had ever shared with any man. I needed him. I respected him. I was attracted to him. I trusted him with my life.
He smiled at me, like this tiny argument was already wiped from his memory. “You want some water?” I remembered the first bottle of water we shared in the Camaro.
“Yeah, hey Nick, don’t ever threw anything at me ever again.” I said it with conviction. Nick’s face fell glum. His eyes scorched my heart. I had hurt him. That was not my intention by I could never stand for any form of abuse.
“I’m sorry.” He cautiously walked over to me. I wished I would have chosen my words better. “You know I would never hurt you, right.” Nick kissed me on the cheek. “Never… I’ll be right back.” Nick disappeared down the attic stairs. Things were a little weird for the first few hours. I had hurt him. He had hurt me but we got over fairly quickly.
I was alone in the attic when I heard the crash. Shattered glass, it came from downstairs and was quickly followed by a scream. BLAM! A gunshot. I raced down the stairs to the living room and Kait was in hysterics.
“What, Kait?” I screamed.
“They’re coming in through the kitchen window.”
I ran toward the kitchen. I dumped into Michelle in the hall. I sped pass her and made my way to the kitchen. Joe, Nick, Naveen and Doctor Mark were huddled at the window. I could barely see over all their bodies.
“Back up?” Joe yelled. Naveen stepped back. Joe’s voice made you stand at attention.
Malik was standing beside me in the doorway. I almost didn’t notice him.
“Shoot the freak!” Doctor Mark shouted through the melee. I could hear a deadie growling in the background.
“Back up Mark!” Joe shouted before he threw back his elbow and hit Doctor Mark in the face. Mark stumbled backwards falling on the kitchen tile.
I could see the deadies clearly now. There were two of them trying to claw their way through the kitchen window. Michelle had crept into the kitchen holding her mouth. She spotted Doctor Mark on the floor nursing his bloody nose. Michelle went to his aid.
BLAM! BLAM! Joe fired twice hitting the two deadies in the head. Blood and brain matter flew in through the window landing on Nick and Joe. The deadies were dead. Both Nick and Joe were out of breath. Michelle escorted Doctor Mark into the living room.
Nick looked back at us. “Naveen, we got to board the window up and move these dead freaks away from the house.”
“They tried to come through in the day time.” Naveen added.
“Yeah,” Nick wiped the gross mixture of sweat, blood and brains from his forehead.
“I’ll get the hammers and the nails.” Malik said before he jetted off to the hall closet.
The next few hours were used to make the house as secure as possible. It was hard being in a heat box but it was better than the alternative. The deadies had attacked us in the day time and we were all on edge. This intrusion constituted a family meeting. So after we bundled up our fear in down parkas we all convened in the common area.
“I know everyone wants to talk about us all moving to a more secure location? There have been a lot of freaks hovering around in this area.” Nick took the lead.
“I want to go somewhere safe.” The doctor was the first to voice his opinion.
“It’s time to move on but we have to be careful.” Naveen added.
“Careful. Why are we still here? This place is not safe. I have got to get my daughter out of here. Look at what happened today.” The doctor had a point but in this brutal world there was no such thing as a safe place.
“Of course, Mark, I’m going to go out and find a secure location.” Joe said.
“So what you go out and get yourself killed then what? We all need to leave, together.” Doctor Mark was getting upset.
“We’re out in the middle of nowhere. There are more deadies in Chicago. Where would we go?” Naveen asked.
Michelle stood. “We’re not trying to move to Chicago, just somewhere else, secluded but more secure.”
Doctor Mark threw his hands in the air. “Hello, once the freaks realize there is livestock out here. They will flock from the big towns and head out here to feed.”
“We can’t just go off all willy-nilly. We have to be sure. Ray died trying to find us a place. We can’t lose any more people.” It was strange to hear Joe use the words willy-nilly.
“I vote for the mall.” Doctor Mark blurted.
“All those fuckin’ entrances.” Nick countered.
“We can just occupy a portion of the mall.” The doctor was ready with his retort.
Joe walked into the middle of the scattered circle. “Nick is right. It’s dangerous. It’s too much space to wonder around. What if someone gets mistaken for a freak?”
“That’s ridiculous. There’s a vision center in the mall. If you can’t tell the difference between a freak and a human you need trifocals.” Doctor Mark threw his hands up in the air. He was extremely frustrated. “Let’s take a vote. Those in favor of the mall raise your hand.”
The doctor, his daughter and Malik were the only ones with their hands up.
“You guys have got to be kidding me. Those who want to wait here raise your hands.” Doctor Mark asked completely frustrated.
Nick and Joe raised their hands. I hesitated for no reason. I looked around the room hoping for more hands but none rose to veto the move. I already knew I would vote with Nick so my hand shot up last.
Doctor Mark kicked a chair. “Great, if you three would stop sucking each other’s dicks for ten minutes we might live to see another day.” Doctor Mark kicked the chair again and it fell on its side.
Oddly those condescending words didn’t cause Joe or Nick to pop a cap in the doctor’s ass. I wanted to kick him in the balls but their calm washed over me and I viewed him as a pathetic man with no skill of persuasion. Low blows are low even with an M.D. behind your name.
“Mark, calm down,” Naveen was forever the peace maker.
“Michelle do you have an opinion?” Doctor Mark asked. Michelle stayed quiet. Apparently her foul tongue was hibernating. Doc walked over to Michelle. “Are you in there?” He yelled out to her only inches away from her face. He grabbed her arms and began to shake her.
Joe charged over and grabbed the doctor away from Michelle. They were staring each other down when Naveen jumped in between them, putting his hands on both the angry men’s chests.
“Guys, come on.” Naveen said as the rest of the group looked on awestruck.
“Osama get your fucking hands off me.” The doctor hissed as he swatted Naveen’s hand away. Naveen stepped back just in time. Joe cocked his arm back and returned with a huge balled fist. He socked the doctor clean across the jaw. The doctor’s head spun around and his body plummeted to the hardwood floor. Kait grabbed her mouth with both hands before she kneeled down to care for her father.
The doctor shook off the blow and held his jaw. “You defend him? You were just over there killing all his fucking family members.”
Joe took a step toward the doctor and that’s when Nick stood in front of him. Had we come to a point when we were going to fight one another? Or worst were we going to eventually kill each other?
Doctor Mark stood with help from his daughter. He made it to the couch with her assistance. We all lingered around dormant in a broken confused circle. It was much too quiet after all the commotion.
“Ring! Ring! Ring!” A cell phone was ringing. We all looked around the room and then at each other. “Ring! Ring! Ring!” Where is it coming from?
“Dad, it’s your phone.” Kait blurted out and had all our attention. She leapt from the couch and run across the room to the end table filled with open plastic water bottles. She grabbed the cell phone that was ringing underneath the table. The phone was plugged into the wall with a cell phone charger.
“Ring! Ring! Ring!” Kait grabbed the phone so fast it dislodged from the charger, leaving the chord loose in the phone. She hit the talk button and rushed the phone to her father’s ear. He looked at the phone and then took it in his hand. Kait hovered above him.
“Hello, hello.” The doctor listened as his hand trembled.
We all listened, frozen in our steps. My heart started to beat faster as I watched the doctor.
“Oh my god, Joan,” Doctor Mark cried out. The doctor listened for a moment. “Where’s Brandon?”
“Who is Joan?” Malik was bold enough to ask.
“She’s my dad’s ex-wife.” Kait answered.
“Joan just keep all the doors locked. Do you have any weapons?” The doctor asked into his cell. The doctor looked up at Kait. “Kait, Brandon is alive.”
“Who the hell is Brandon?” Malik tactlessly blurted out.
Tears welled in young Kait’s eyes. “My brother.”
Authors Note
As a teen I was mesmerized by fashion magazines. I admired the fashion models in the pages and actually knew all their names. They were my paper dolls. I never wanted to be a model. I was 5’6” and a behind the camera type of girl. As a youth I always love to write. I knew I would write as a profession or as a hobby. I digress. There was something alluring about fashion models. Models are being paid the big bucks to be made and dressed up. The concept for this book came from a very simple question I asked myself while thumbing through the pages of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. What would a supermodel do in a zombie apocalypse? Modeling doesn’t really give you any survival skills that I can think of. So I figured I would surround the model with everyday people, she would probably never come into contact with otherwise and just see where the story takes me. That’s how the character Franjessca Bordeaux (Jesse) materialized. The character Nick came from the fact that I always have car trouble and how nice it would have been to have a boyfriend that was a mechanic. The zombie story has been done time and time again. I felt I could put a different spin on things. As far I know there has never been a swimsuit, lingerie model thrust into a zombie apocalypse. In the world of make believe anything is possible.
*****
About the author:
Krystell Lake is a writer of novels, screenplays and teleplays. She lives near Chicago with her son and daughter. Deadies: Run For Your Life is the first novel in the Deadies series. She is currently writing the second book in the series, Deadies: In Search of Blood, due out June 2012.
Other works by this Author:
Birth: A First Blood Novel
Connect with me online:
www.krystelllake.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/krystelllake
Twitter: http://twitter.com/krystelllake
Deadies: Run for Your Life Page 7
