“Don’t do that again, okay. You call out for us if you need help.” He says as he wraps his arms around me and holds me tight.
I nod, “Yes, sir.”
Adam looks at me, “Yeah, don’t try and do that alone again. We’re here to help. Like he said, we’re in this together.”
I nod and smile at him, “Thank you.”
Chase looks around, “Okay, I didn’t see Zombies, so hopefully this was the only one. Should we grab a cart and grab a few things?”
Adam and I both nod in agreement. “I think that we each grab a cart, one of us grabs non-perishable items, one grabs a bunch of water jugs and bottles while another one grabs necessities.” I suggest.
“I’ll grab the non-perishable items.” Adam volunteers.
“I’ll grab water jugs and water bottles.” Chase replies.
“Okay, I’ll grab necessity items.” I respond.
We all walk up front, grab a cart and grab the things that we need. About five minutes later, we all end up back at the front of the store, as we all walk out together.
As we’re walking towards the car, Ana, A.J. and Amber are standing there by the cars waiting patiently for us. Ana comes running up to Adam, “What took you guys so long? We were so worried about you.” She gives him a hug and a kiss.
“Sorry, we had to make sure that the place was safe to shop in before we started shopping.”
“Well, I’m so glad that you made it out okay.”
Then I notice them all staring at me. Ana looks at me with concern, “Are you okay, Candi?”
I chuckle, “Yeah, but I had a little run-in with a Zombie.”
A.J. looks at me, “Did you kill him?”
“Duh.” I reply sarcastically.
Ana just stares at me dumbfounded, “That is really gross. Plus, it stinks.”
“Tell me about it, I almost puked.”
Amber shakes her head, “I don’t think I could do that.”
“Amber, you gotta do what you gotta do in order to survive now. It sucks, but you need to learn how to do it. I wasn’t taught, I just did it.”
Amber shakes her head, “I don’t know.”
“It’s okay, we’ll teach you. It’s pretty easy. And when your adrenaline is pumping and it’s either kill or be killed, you’ll know what to do.”
Amber nods, “Yeah, you guys can definitely teach me, I don’t want to die.”
I smile at her, “That’s the Zombie killing spirit.” I wink at her.
Adam begins loading the trunk of his car. When his trunk is full, he pushes the rest of the groceries towards our car, “Hey Chase, can you unlock the trunk please?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Chase opens the trunk and helps Adam unload the groceries.
I scan the parking lot and notice a herd of Zombies appearing at the far end of the parking lot. “Hey guys, look.” I point towards the herd coming our way.
Adam and Chase look in the direction of where I’m pointing. Adam looks at Chase, “We need to quickly unload.” Then he looks at his family, “Get into the cars now! We need to get going!”
Adam and Chase quickly finish, then Chase pushes the cart away from us, then hops into the car. Then Chase opens his window as he asks Adam, “Hey Adam, where are we headed next?”
“The sun is going to be gone soon, so I’m going to check out a nearby hotel or an abandoned house.”
“Okay, we’ll be right behind you.”
Adam gives us a thumbs up and we’re on our way to a Zombie killing adventure.
Chapter 17
Blake and Parker & Nina and Mandy
We all sit there, staring into the gas station store, with sad looks in our eyes, I turn to look at everyone, “Well, what do you guys want to do? Should we just keep moving and see what’s up ahead?”
Parker looks at me, “Do you think we can take them with our knives?”
I look at his and laugh, “Um…there’s like seven or eight of them in there, and there’s only four of us.”
Parker gets a look of disappointment in his eyes, “That’d be fun to just try it.”
“Parker, it’s not a game, it’s real life. You don’t get three lives…you only get one.”
“I know, I was just hoping we could at least try to get them, I wanted a candy bar and a soda.”
Mandy looks at Parker dumbfounded, “You’re willing to die for a candy bar?”
Parker looks at her thinking, “Well, since I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, um…yeah.”
Mandy shakes her head, “Blake, do you think we can go further and see if there’s something else ahead?”
I look at Mandy and smile, “Yes, I’ll drive a little further. It’s still early, hopefully we’ll find something soon. Or…we can pull over and eat some of the food in the back.”
Nina leans forward, “That’s probably a better idea. Actually, since all the Zombies are inside the store, we can just eat out here. We’ll just have to keep an eye on them, make sure they don’t make their way out here.”
I look at Nina, “Good idea.” I look towards the door, “I’ll check out the door to make sure it’s locked and secure while you go through the food in the back.”
We all get out of the car while Nina and the kids open the rear door and I begin walking towards the door of the store. As I closely approach the door, one of the Zombies looks in my direction. I stop moving, hoping it won’t realize I’m a human. I’m not sure if they go by sight, sound or smell yet. I haven’t been around them yet to know how they recognize humans, or animals, whatever they are attracted to. It turns its head away from me, so I continue walking slowly towards the door. When I reach the door, I pull it, and it opened. Shit! I think I need to lock it from the inside, not the out. I slowly and quietly shut it as I look around for something to hold it shut. I notice a heavy trashcan. I pull it up against the door, then I test the door. It feels like it’ll hold, at least long enough for us to load ourselves back into the car and leave if needed. When I’m done with that, I walk back to the car.
Nina looks at me and smiles, “You definitely are a thinker, aren’t you?”
“Well, I need to make sure that we are all safe, I don’t want anything to happen to any of us. We’ve all lost a lot in the past twenty-four hours, we don’t need to lose anything else.”
Nina nods, “I’m glad that my daughter and I have you. I trust you and I feel safe with you.”
“Thank you. That makes me feel good that you feel that way.”
“I’m sure that’s why Sally trusted her son with you. She knew that you would take good care of him.”
“Well, at least I’ll try.”
“You’re doing a good job so far.” She says with a warm smile.
“Thank you.” I look at the store and the Zombies don’t seem to notice us, which is good. I look over at Parker and Mandy, who seem to be having a funny conversation of some kind. That’s good, at least their getting along. I look over at Nina, who’s also watching Parker and Mandy. This isn’t turning out to be so bad. Everything is going fine, everybody is getting along. I guess time will tell where this Zombie Apocalypse takes us.
I look back at Nina, “So, tonight I’m hoping to find a hotel or something to get a good night’s sleep.”
Nina looks at me curiously, “Do you think that there will be anything open?”
I shrug my shoulders, “I’m not sure. They might have some open to use as a Safe Haven or something for people to stay at. I guess we’ll find out. We might have to go off this road to find something, though.”
Nina nods, “Maybe. It’ll be nice if they have a few open. I would love to sleep in a bed.”
“Yeah, me too. The car isn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep in. Hopefully we’ll find something tonight.”
“I noticed last night as you were driving, that there weren’t any lights. Do you think that the electricity is gone out?”
I think for a moment, “You know what, I thought it seemed darker than normal. I d
on’t know if the electricity has gone out or not. I know that cell phone service, television and radio signals are all gone. I guess it’s possible that there’s no more electricity.”
Nina looks down, “It’s all kind of scary, isn’t it? The not knowing what’s going on around the world. The not knowing how long this Zombie thing is going to last. The not knowing what our future holds.”
“Well, nobody ever knew what their future held.” I reply with a chuckle.
Nina shakes her head, “You know what I mean. We’re stuck out here, no food, no water, no electricity, no place to go. Who knows if we’ll be able to get gas. It’s scary. I’m scared, I’m scared for my daughter.”
I put my hand on her shoulder as I look into her eyes, “It’ll be okay, Nina. We’ll get through this together.”
She nods as she smiles at me, “Thank you, Blake, thank you for everything. I appreciate you taking the time to pick us up from the side of the road. I appreciate you treating us like your family. You’ve been our life saver. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know where we’d be right now. We owe you everything.”
“Nina, you don’t owe me anything. We’re a team now. We’re going to get through this together, like a family.”
Nina nods as she leans in and gives me a kiss on my cheek. “We are a family now.”
Chapter 18
Harley and Isaac & Ryder and Kassi
Ryder begins running towards the sound of Kassi’s scream. Isaac and I run right behind him, holding our knives in the air, just in case it’s needed. Ryder stops running as he sees Kassi standing there, safe. Isaac and I stop right behind him, as we’re all staring at Kassi, wondering why she was screaming.
Ryder looks at her confused as he’s looking around, probably trying to figure out why she screamed his name. “Kassi? Why did you scream?”
She points to the building in front of her, “It’s a bar.”
We all look at each other, confused, as Ryder responds, “A bar? So?”
She gives him a duh look, “It’s a bar. Al…co..hol.” She sings.
Ryder looks at us as he smiles, “You two need some alcohol?”
Isaac and I look at each other as we shrug our shoulders, then I look at Ryder with a sheepish grin, “Why the hell not.”
We all get excited looks on our faces as we walk towards the door to the bar. Ryder steps in front of all of us, as he puts his index finger to his lips, “Shhh…let’s make sure it’s safe in here first.”
We all stand behind him, holding our knives up in the air, including Kassi, I guess she really wants to get inside.
Ryder slowly opens the door and as soon as he steps inside, a Zombie comes at him from behind the door! As soon as I noticed it, I jump next to Ryder as I stab the Zombie in the forehead. Ryder looks at me with shock on his face. I look at him and smile, “Are you okay? He didn’t bite you or anything, did he?”
Ryder looks at me, then looks at his arm, as he shakes his head, “No, I don’t think so.”
I look at his arm and shoulder, then I look up into his bright blue eyes, “Nope, he didn’t bite you.”
He gazes into my eyes as he gives me an ear to ear smile, “Thank you. Thank you for saving me.”
“No problem. I’m assuming that you’d do that for me.”
“I would.”
As we stand there awkwardly, staring into each other’s eyes, I snap out of it. “Well, we should probably check the rest of the place out if we’re going to have a drink…or two.”
He nods, “Yes, um…we should probably check this place out if we’re going to hang for a while.”
The four of us walk inside the bar, looking behind the door, Ryder grabs Kassi, “Let’s look inside the bathrooms…together.”
Kassi nods, “Okay.”
Ryder looks at Isaac and me, “You two, go check out the kitchen.”
Isaac and I nod, “Okay.”
Isaac and I both walk towards the kitchen holding up our knives. Once we got inside the kitchen, Isaac grabs my arm, “Hey, what was that between you and Ryder back there?”
I look at him confused, “What?”
“That staring into each other’s eyes thing, what was that?”
I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think he was just in shock, or relieved I saved his life or something.”
Isaac nods, “Yeah, that’s probably it. It was just weird.”
“It wasn’t anything. Trust me.” I put my hand on Isaac’s face as I gaze into his eyes, “Isaac, I love you. I’m married to you, Ryder is just a guy we met yesterday, who we’re fighting Zombies with on our way to Montana. I guess now he’s probably considered a friend. Actually, what do you consider a person whom you’re hanging out with during the Zombie Apocalypse?”
Isaac shrugs his shoulders, “I have no idea. Fellow Zombie fighter.”
We both burst out laughing.
I shake my head, “You are such a dork.”
“Shhh…we need to look for Zombies hanging around.” Isaac whispers.
Isaac and I check inside the coolers, in the storage room. Behind every shelving and kitchen equipment that we saw and found it to be Zombie free.
We walk out of the kitchen and back into the main bar area. We see Ryder behind the bar looking at the different liquor bottles as Kassi is sitting at the bar, holding a glass with alcohol in it. They both look over at us with anticipation, “Well, did you find anything back there?” Ryder asks.
Isaac and I both shake our heads, “Nope.” I simply reply.
Ryder gets a big smile on his face, “Good, now we can have a nice fun evening, drinking and hanging out with new friends.”
I look at Isaac as I whisper, “Friends, we’re friends.” I smile at him as I plant a kiss on his cheek and whisper, “I love you, Isaac.”
Ryder looks at us, “So…Isaac…what’s your poison?”
Isaac looks at the different liquor bottles on the shelf. “Um…how about scotch on the rocks.”
Ryder nods approvingly, “A scotch man, huh…I like it.” Ryder turns around and grabs a top shelf scotch, then looks at Isaac with a smile, “Only the best for my new friend.” He winks at Isaac.
Ryder grabs a glass and pours a very generous amount of scotch into the glass for Isaac, then looks around for ice. He opens the ice bin and looks at Isaac with a smile, “There’s still a little ice in here.” He scoops up a small amount of ice and puts it in the glass. Then sets it on the bar counter, “There you are, man. Scotch on the rocks.”
Isaac sits down in front of the scotch and smiles at Ryder, “Thank you.” He takes a sip of it and smiles, “Ahhh…that tastes exquisite.”
I sit down next to Isaac at the bar as Ryder looks over at me, “So, Miss Harley, what’s your poison?”
I look at the liquor shelf, “Um…can you make a White Russian?”
Ryder thinks for a moment, “Um…I think you’ll have to remind me what’s in that? I don’t normally make those kind of drinks.”
“It’s vodka, kahlua and cream.”
He looks at the cooler where the cream and milk are located. He opens it up to test the temperature, “Eh…it might be okay, I think the electricity is out, but the dairy still feels cool.”
“Just smell it and if it smells fine, it should be okay.”
Ryder looks at me and chuckles, “You’re a daring woman.” He winks at me.
I shake my head, “I love my cream drinks.”
Ryder pulls the cream out and puts some ice in a glass as he pours a generous amount of vodka, kahlua with a little bit of cream. Then he walks over to me, sets the drink in front of me as he chuckles, “It’s vodka and kahlua with a splash of cream.” He says with a wink.
I laugh, “Thank you.”
Ryder looks at Isaac, “Hey man, do you mind locking the door so that nobody gets inside, I just don’t want anybody, or anything walking in on us while we sit here, relaxing and enjoying the night.”
Isaac nods, “Yeah, no
problem.” He gets off the bar stool and walks over to the door.
Kassi looks up at Ryder, “Hey, are there any bar snacks back there, pretzels or peanuts or something?”
Ryder looks around and finds several bags of snacks. He throws them onto the counter with an ear to ear smile on his face, “Here you guys are, enjoy!”
We sit there drinking while eating bar snacks, just talking and laughing, almost forgetting about the Zombie Apocalypse going on outside the walls. It was nice, it was almost like everything was okay in the World.
Chapter 19
Candi and Chase & Adam, Ana, A.J. and Amber
Chase and I follow Adam as he leads us to our next destination. As the sun begins to set and dusk falls upon us, Adam pulls up to a motel off the side of the road. There’s a couple of cars in the parking lot, although it looks dead over here.
Adam, Ana and Amber all get out of their car and stretch. Chase, A.J. and I pull up next to them, as we also get out of the car to stretch.
Adam and Chase meet each other in the middle and begin talking quietly to each other. I look over at them curiously as I begin walking towards them. I put my hand on Chase’s back as I ask, “What’s the plan?”
Chase looks at me, “Well, we think that we should try to get two rooms next to each other. But, we need to make sure that they are safe first, of course.” Chase glances to the motel office, “Of course, we should check the office to make sure there isn’t anyone actually working here first.”
I nod in agreement, “Okay, sounds like a good plan.” I grab a hold of Chase’s hand, “Let’s go check out the office.”
Chase and I walk towards the office with Adam walking behind us. Of course, we all have a knife in our hand, just in case. As we approach the office, we all look in the window, I look at Chase, “Yep, there’s a Zombie in there. Should we kill it?”
Chase nods, “Yep, we need to kill it, so we can grab some room keys.”
I look at him curiously, “Why don’t we just kick the doors open?”
“Because, then the doors won’t stay locked. We need the room keys, so we can lock the doors once we’re in the rooms.”
I nod, “Makes sense.”
Zombie Havoc (Book 1): In The Beginning Page 13
