Nina looks at me, then back at Mandy, “You can consider Parker whatever you want to consider him. You can think of him as a brother or a really good friend. It doesn’t matter.”
She smiles at Parker, then back at us, “I think a really good friend is better.”
Parker smiles, “As long as I’m something good.”
Mandy playfully smacks him.
I look at Nina and smile, “I’m glad that we’re all happy and safe, that’s what’s important.”
“Well, here’s the bread, peanut butter, pastries, I found some cereal boxes in the food box in the SUV. So, we should be fine for breakfast.” She looks at me with wondering eyes, “Can we stay here? I really think this place is beautiful.”
I put my hands on her face as I gaze into her eyes, “I want to get to the mountains. I really believe that we will be safer up there. I believe that the Zombies will have a harder time getting to us if we were in the mountains. The climb, the ruggedness, I think they will have a hard time reaching us.”
She nods in agreement, “Okay, I trust you on that. If that’s what you feel is best, I trust you.”
“We can see the mountains from here, they are within eyesight. Probably another day or two and we should be there. We can do it.”
Nina nods, “Yes, we can do it. As long as we don’t run out of gas.”
“True. I’m not sure how much longer the gas pumps will accept my card.”
“Or still have gas in them.”
“Anyway, Nina, don’t worry, we’ll find the perfect house out there. We’ll find the perfect home for our new family.”
“I know we will. And it will be such a happy home.” She leans in and plants a kiss on my lips.
I gaze into her eyes as I feel my heart doing somersaults inside me. I feel my blood rushing through my body as happiness flows right through me.
After we were done eating our breakfast, we packed everything up and packed up the car. As I’m stuffing everything in the rear of the SUV, so that everything fits just right, I hear a bunch of rustling coming from the direction of the woods. I stand still for a moment as I watch to see what it is. I slowly take a step to the side, holding my knife up, just in case I need to use it. A grunting Zombie steps out from the woods. Shit!
I quickly run inside the house where everybody else is. “GET IN THE CAR! ZOMBIES ARE STARTING TO COME OUT OF THE WOODED AREA!”
Nina’s eyes get big as she quickly grabs the last few items left behind. Parker and Mandy quickly run into the car, while I help Nina grab things. Then we race the Zombies to the car. As I get inside the car and start it, I look at the wooded area as one Zombie turned into a herd of Zombies. There must have been over two dozen behind that one.
I quickly backed out as Nina, Mandy and Parker watch as the Zombies trek through the yard that Nina wanted to call home.
As we’re driving away, I look at the gas gauge and look over at Nina, “Well, I have about a quarter a tank of gas left. I wonder if the gas stations will still take my card?”
Nina shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know. I guess it won’t hurt to try.”
“Very true.” I continue driving when I see a gas station up ahead, “Voila! There’s a gas station. Right on!” I pull into the parking lot as I pull up to a gas pump. I take my credit card and I put it in the card reader. Nothing. Ugh…I try again. Nothing happened. I stand there looking around as I think to myself, how am I supposed to get gas? I bend down and peek my head into the front seat as I look at Nina, “Um…the card reader isn’t reading the card. I think that they don’t work anymore. How am I supposed to get gas?”
Nina shrugs her shoulders as concern starts to come over her face, “I don’t know. Do you know how to syphon gas?”
I look at her like she’s crazy. “Do I look like someone who knows how to syphon gas?”
She shrugs her shoulders, “You’ve been able to do everything else.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never syphoned gas. I wouldn’t even know what to use or how to do it.” I stand back up as I look around for some way to get gas into my car. I look inside the gas station store. Hmmm…I don’t see any Zombies inside.
I walk over to the store as I reach for the door handle, and it’s unlocked. Good deal. I walk inside as I scan the store to see if it’s safe. I walk behind the counter and look at the registers to try and figure out how to turn on the gas pump without paying. As I’m trying to turn on the system, I realize that you need electricity to turn the pump on. Shit! Ugh…what am I going to do?
I walk back out of the store and to the SUV. I get in the car and I look at Nina with frustration. “Well, I tried to turn on the pump from inside, but it needs electricity. I was hoping that there would be some kind of emergency button or something, but there was nothing. Ugh!”
Nina puts her hand on my leg as she looks at me and smiles, “It’s okay, Blake. We’ll get through this.”
“Yeah, I know we eventually will, but it’s beginning to get chilly at night and I don’t want us to end up having to walk and carry everything and be stuck out in the open.”
She squeezes my leg with her hand as she continues to smile, “We’ll figure it would together.”
I look at her and smile as I know that things will eventually work out. I’m just mentally in the here and now.
**********************
A couple of hours later, the gas in my car ran out. I pulled over to the side of road and looked at the three of them with sadness. “I’m sorry guys, I tried to get gas, but it didn’t work.”
Parker and Mandy look at me and smile as Mandy replies, “We know you did. It’s not your fault.”
Nina looks at me, “So, I guess we’re walking.”
I nod, “Yeah, I’m so sorry.”
Nina puts her hand on my arm as she gazes into my eyes, “You did everything you could, Blake. It’s not your fault. We’ll just have to suck it up and walk. Maybe we’ll find an abandoned car along the way.”
I look at her with a smirk, “One with keys in it. We got lucky with this one, but I don’t know how to hotwire a car either.”
She just smiles at me, “We’ll figure it out.”
We all get out of the car as I unlock the back and open the rear door, I look at everyone as I explain, “Okay, we all need to stuff our backpacks with as much food and water as we can. I don’t know how long we’ll be walking for and I’m not sure how long till we come across a store.” I look straight ahead as I point, “You see those mountains up ahead, that’s our goal. I want to find a place up in the mountains for us to live. I think that the Zombies will have a harder time getting to us if we live up there. Hopefully. That isn’t completely foolproof, it’s just my theory.” I look at all three of them as they all nod in agreement. “Okay, let’s load up the backpacks and begin our trek towards the mountains.”
Chapter 27
Harley and Isaac & Ryder and Kassi
I wake up to banging at the front door of the Diner. I sit up and nudge Isaac, “Hey, someone’s banging on the door?”
Isaac opens his eyes as he’s comprehending what I’m saying and what’s going on. He slides out of the booth as he makes his way to the door. He stands there for a moment as he looks outside.
I slide out of the booth and walk over to him as I look outside and see several Zombies outside the door, banging on it. I look over at Ryder and Kassi who are still sleeping. I walk over to them as I nudge Ryder, “Ryder! There’s Zombies outside the door, we need to get out…NOW!”
The front door of the Diner is all window. So, if they keep banging on it, it’ll break.
Ryder looks up at me, confused for a moment. Then he must hear the banging because he jumps up and runs over to the door where Isaac is still standing. He looks at Kassi, who’s just waking up, as he loudly whispers, “Get your things and let’s go out the back door…NOW!”
We all frantically grab our backpacks, with our knives in our hands. As we’re about to head towards the back, we hear the fr
ont door shatter and the grunting noise of the Zombies. We run as fast as we can to the back door. I arrive there first, as I open the back door, there’s a Zombie reaching his hand inside as soon as the door opened. I stab it in the forehead as it falls to the ground. I open the door further as I begin to step over it, when I notice a herd of them behind him. I quickly shut the door as I turn around to face everyone else. “There’s a herd of them back here also! What do we do?”
Ryder pulls his gun out of his backpack as he looks at us with determination on his face, “We fight our way out.”
We all look at him with deer in headlight eyes as we try to comprehend what he just said.
Kassi looks at him with crazy eyes, “Are you freaking serious? You want the four of us to fight our way out of here against a herd of Zombies?”
He looks at her with a smirk on his face, “Do you have any better ideas? We’ve got Zombies behind us and Zombies in front of us. What else are we supposed to do?”
Kassi shakes her head, “I don’t know.”
Ryder puts his hand on her back, “Just hold your knife up and stab them in the head when they come up to you. Don’t be afraid. Isaac, you lead the way, Harley stay close behind him, and Kassi, stay right in front of me. Once we get to our vehicles, we’ll take off as fast as we can.”
We all look at Ryder as we nod in agreement. Just as Isaac is about to open the door, I jump backwards towards Ryder as I stab the Zombie that was coming up behind him, in the forehead.”
Ryder looks at me with satisfaction and shock, “Wow, thanks Harley.”
Kassi rolls her eyes at me as I hear her mumble, “Show off.” Underneath her breath.
I whisper to Isaac, “Ready. Be careful, I love you.”
Isaac whispers, “I love you too, Harley.”
Isaac slowly opens the door as he stabs the first Zombie in the forehead, as he makes his way out the door. He also stabs the second one as I stab the one behind it. As Ryder steps outside he begins shooting at the Zombies as Isaac and I stab the ones in the head that we come across. After stabbing I don’t know how many Zombies, we finally make it to our car.
Once Isaac and I are inside, we both take deep breaths. I look at Isaac as I smile, “Well, that was exhilarating, wasn’t it?”
Isaac looks at me and shakes his head, “I don’t know if I’d say that.” He replies with a chuckle.
I look over at Ryder and Kassi as they quickly get their helmets on and take off on their motorcycle as Isaac and I follow behind.
After we drive for a while, Ryder pulls off onto the side of the road. He walks over to Isaac’s window. Isaac rolls down his window, “What’s up, Ryder?”
“Hey, it’s getting kind of cold and Kassi is whining about it. I’m going to stop a little early so that I don’t have to listen to her whine anymore. I hope that you don’t mind.”
Isaac looks at me as I shrug my shoulders. Isaac turns back to Ryder, “Yeah, that’s fine. Whatever you want to do.”
Ryder nods, “Thanks man.”
Ryder gets back onto his motorcycle as he takes off.
About an hour or so later, he pulls up to this cute cabin just off the road. We park behind him as we get out of the car. We look around and nod. I look at Ryder and Isaac, “This is really cute. I like it. And look at the view of the mountains from here. I could totally live here.”
Ryder and Isaac nod in agreement. Ryder looks at the house, “We need to check it to make sure it’s safe inside.”
Ryder and Isaac begin walking towards the house as I look at the ground. “Hey, look at all the foot tracks on the ground. It looks like a herd of Zombies has been here already.”
Ryder and Isaac walk over to me as they inspect the ground. Then they both nod as Isaac replies, “Hopefully since they’ve been here, they won’t be back anytime soon.”
Ryder nods in agreement, “Yeah, hopefully. Now I’m going to inspect the inside of the house to make sure that there’s no Zombies inside. Now, it looks like the door is shut and secure, so hopefully there won’t be any inside.”
Ryder opens the front door, then he looks at us, “It looks like somebody kicked the door open.” He says as he slowly disappears inside. Isaac walks up to the door, as he also disappears inside also.
I wait outside next to the car as I look over at Kassi who looks away, pretending she wasn’t looking at me. I just shrug it off as she’s just insecure. I don’t know why…she’s very pretty, but oh well.
Ryder and Isaac both walk out together as they give the thumbs up that it’s safe inside. I open the trunk as I begin grabbing things to take inside. As Isaac walks to the trunk where I am, I look at him and smile, “Does this mean we get to sleep in a bed tonight?”
Isaac smiles at me, “Why yes it does, Harley.” As he plants a kiss on my lips.
********************
Ryder and Isaac build a fire outside the back door, which is connected to the kitchen. Kassi and I put together a few things as the guys keep watch on the wooded area behind the house. After we were done cooking, the guys put out the fire as we go inside and lock the back door.
As we were eating, I notice Ryder keeps looking over at me, with a curious look in his eyes. I pretend not to notice, even though it’s hard not to, I mean, I think he’s a very good-looking man and we get along great, but I do love Isaac.
Ryder looks at me curiously as he asks, “So, Harley, how did you learn how to fight like that? I mean, you don’t hesitate or anything, you just do what you need to do.”
“My dad taught me how to fight. He told me that a woman needs to know how to defend herself.”
“Your dad was a smart man. I like that. A woman should learn how to fight, there’s a lot of bad people out there, and if you don’t know how to defend yourself, you’re going to end up being a victim.”
“Yep, that’s exactly what my dad used to say. I was an only child, and he wanted to make sure that nothing bad would happen to me.”
“What happened to your dad? Was he still around before all this happened?”
“No, he died in a motorcycle accident.”
Ryder looks at me with empathetic eyes, “Yeah…I remember you saying that the other day, sorry, when did that happen?”
“It was a little over five years ago.”
“What about your mom? Was she still around when this happened?”
“She died when I was little, my dad raised me.”
Ryder nods, “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I don’t really remember her. She was pregnant, and she ended up hemorrhaging and lost the baby and well, she died from that.”
Ryder looks at me with empathetic eyes, “I’m really sorry.”
“It happens. We can’t dwell on the past, another thing my dad taught me. The past is gone, you only have the future to look forward to.”
“True.”
Kassi keeps looking back and forth between Ryder and me, while she’s rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Then she chimes in, “So, is there any alcohol in this house, I could really use a drink.”
Ryder stands up, “Let’s find out.”
He starts rummaging through the cupboards looking for some alcohol.
Then Isaac stands up, “I wonder if there’s a basement, sometimes people keep alcohol in the basement.”
I stand up too, “Let’s find out.”
We walk around checking all the doors, when we finally find a door leading to a basement. We grab our flashlights as we walk down the stairs, and sure enough, we find a wine rack attached to wall down there, full of wine. I look at Isaac and smile, “Jackpot.”
I walk to the bottom of the stairs and look up, “RYDER! THERE’S A RACK OF WINE DOWN HERE!”
I hear footsteps approach the door as Ryder begins walking down the stairs. He shines his flashlight on the wine rack as he gets a big smile on his face. “Let’s bring a few bottles upstairs.”
We each grab two bottles as we carry them upstairs. After we’re upstairs, we shut the d
oor and bring the wine bottles to the table. Kassi gets a big smile on her face when she notices us carrying wine bottles. “Right on! Now it’s a party!”
I look in the drawers as I look for a wine opener. When I find it, I bring it to the table. “Here we go, now let’s open these wine bottles.”
We each open a wine bottle and decide to just drink out of the bottle, I mean, why not, right.
We sit there for a couple of hours, drinking wine and talking. Telling each other about our former lives, how we met, where we were born.
Ryder tells us how him and Kassi met, “Yeah, so Kassi here, needed a new transmission for her car. She had it towed to the shop where I work, and I took one look at her, and thought, wow, she’s hot. Then, she took one look at my hair and offered to cut my hair for free for giving her a good deal on her new transmission. Well, I told her that if she cut my hair, then I’d charge her full price for her transmission.”
We all busted out laughing.
Kassi looks at him, “Ha, ha, ha, so funny. You said you gave me a good deal because I was wearing a low-cut v-neck shirt and you liked my boobs.”
We all busted out laughing again, “Well, that is true. I did like your boobs. I still do.” He winks at her. “But, if you would’ve tried cutting my hair, I would’ve charged you full price.” He winks at her.
Ryder looks at us, “So, how did the two of you meet?”
Isaac looks at me and smiles, “At one of my work conventions, we had some artists there that were selling some of their paintings to real estate agents to put in their new homes for open houses. And there was this one painting that absolutely fascinated me. Anyway, as I was looking at it, she walked over to me and she explained what the painting was about, and I just fell in love with the painting, with her and with her explanation. She had such passion in her description, that I ended up buying two of them, one to put in my houses that I try to sell and one to put in my own house. Then, as I was paying her, I noticed that she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, so I asked her if she was single and she said yes, so I asked her out.” Isaac looks at me with a warm, loving smile.
Zombie Havoc (Book 1): In The Beginning Page 19
