CHAPTER 2
IDLE
The sharp aroma of pepper roused Isaac from his nap. He sat up to find the others staring at four plates of breakfast nirvana: pancakes dripping with butter and syrup, biscuits and gravy with just the right consistency, and scrambled eggs with actual cheese. There was no plastic ware or bacon, and their idea of a drink was a kid’s box of orange juice, but it looked and smelled like the last home-cooked meal he had more than two years ago.
He checked his watch. Two hours on the dot. He hopped off the pretend bed and charged a plate like the others were about to steal it. He moaned with delight as each blissful bite brought him a measure of peace he hadn't felt in a long time.
“They could've drugged that,” Pepe said.
Isaac cussed out the little shit through a mouthful and continued chowing down. Damned if he let some paranoid kid stop him from sopping up all this goodness.
Sean shrugged. “I can't imagine they're fattening us up to eat us if they can spare all this.”
Paula picked up a plate. “I imagine they'll do whatever they want with us anyway, so I guess we should stay nourished.”
“That is the first lick of sense you made since I met you, girl,” Isaac said to her, and what did he get for his generosity? Her flashing him a smart-ass grin before she started eating. It was better than her nonstop bitching over the last couple of days. What makes you think you can just barge into someone’s home? Watch your language! You lost us our house! Even if she had a decent face and a nice ass, he couldn’t see why anyone would put up with her after one night.
“Maybe it’s not them we need to worry about,” El Buzzkill said. “Didi seems nice—”
“Nice ass, maybe. Right, Sean?” Isaac nudged the ginger farmer, but the pussy just faced his wife. Isaac waved them both off and took another bite. “I think I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember where. Creepy as fuck if you ask me, and a little flat up front for my taste.”
Paula complained under her breath, but her words were as scathing as a traffic ticket. She never cussed at all. She needed to lighten up.
“But did you see the others?” Pepe went on. “They looked miserable.”
“They looked well-fed, asshole,” Isaac snapped, wanting to smack the little prick. Instead, he snatched the fork right out of that Pre-Med school hand, stabbed a good bite of food off the kid’s plate, and shoved it all at him. “Now stop being a pussy and eat up.”
Pepe recoiled, but he smartly took his bite.
Paula got all huffy again. “Could you please watch your language?”
“Oh, I'm sorry. Let me make it up.” Isaac moved his plate aside, closed his eyes, clapped his hands together, and prayed aloud, “Our Heavenly Father, please forgive this wretched tongue of mine, which desperately wants to get back to enjoying the bounty you've seen fit to let us have. A-fucking-men.” He added a Catholic body cross thing and went back to eating.
Paula rolled her eyes. Sean glared.
“At least we should be safe here from the gangs out there,” Pepe said after clearing his mouth, which would've been fine if he hadn’t added, “and the Death Doll.”
Isaac glared as he slammed his plate down. “Why are you bringing that up again?”
“I'm just saying.”
“You're just ruining my breakfast, man. There ain't no Death Doll.”
“Then where did the stories come from?”
“It’s just some Bogeyman shi—,” Isaac stopped himself and forced a grin at Saint Paula, “stuff people made up to keep their screaming kids quiet, so they didn’t get their asses bitten off.”
“Then who took out the Apocalypse Crew?”
Isaac wanted to shout the little prick down, but he wanted his breakfast more. “I ain’t talking to you no more, man,” he said as he waved Pepe off and attacked his plate.
“Hold on,” Sean spoke up. “Death and Apocalypse? What are you talking about?”
Isaac glared at Sean for encouraging, but it didn’t stop the bullshit from spilling out of the kid’s mouth. “The Apocalypse Crew was a gang in Chicago. They started out as one of those survive-anything groups. After the plague spread, they took over Cellular Field.”
“Until this Death Doll somehow singlehandedly wiped them all out,” Isaac interrupted with his eyes in the air. “Nobody knows who really killed those dudes. So many face-munchers dropped in Chicago, the groundwater got all contaminated.”
“But none of the Apocalypse Crew ever got back up,” Pepe chimed in, earning a glare from Isaac that made the little prick retreat.
“What happened to this Death Doll?” Paula asked.
Isaac groaned. “As I told this fool, there ain’t no Death Doll. It’s just a story someone made up. Now may I please eat my fucking breakfast in peace?”
When no one spoke, Isaac happily continued eating.
After another nap, a sharp tug woke him, and he was ready to tear off the sucker’s head for it.
“No, no, wait! It’s me, Sean!”
That wasn't necessarily a show-stopper, but Isaac stayed his retaliation. His watch told him he got five hours of sleep. He sat up, stretched, and saw more plates of food, this time with baked chicken and steaming veggies. The whiff of butter and seasoning made his mouth water. He dug into the juiciest chicken he'd eaten in a long time.
Pepe was quiet, but Isaac sat next to Sean to avoid rocking the boat. Paula sneered at him, but she kept whatever crossed her narrow mind to herself.
“So, uh, what do you think they're going to do with us after the third day?” Isaac asked Sean, hoping Nanny McPhee kept her mouth shut.
“I don't know. They won't say anything. They just keep serving the food and locking up.”
“Maybe next time, we ought to break the hand that feeds us until we get some answers.”
“I wouldn't,” Paula muttered. “Every one of them that comes in is armed.”
Isaac was no stranger to an armed household. Just about every house in his old neighborhood had something in it that went bang. As far as he was concerned, he was a master of any firearm in his hands. Not having any on him now, though, he knew charging them would be stupid. “Then I better not ask them. Who knows how trigger-happy these white breads are? Probably say I was infected just to shoot a brother. I saw the original Night of the Living Dead.”
Paula glared at him like he was cracked in the head. “Why are you even staying here? I thought you just wanted to fix your car so you could drive to your brother’s house.”
She’s the one cracked in the head. “I ain’t going out there with all them face-munchers.”
“Why not? That Didi woman probably killed all the ones you led from town right to our farm. I’m sure your car is clear by now.”
Isaac would’ve smacked her for that crack if he was the type to hit a lady, but settled on a little turnabout. “If you think so, why don’t you just go back to your farm?”
She groaned and faced her husband, hugging her arms. “That woman gives me the creeps. How can someone be so chipper in this mess? Probably psychotic.”
Sean leaned in toward her and whispered, “Probably listening in, too.”
Paula looked all around, though she stared mostly at that barred-up projection room window. “Maybe we should go back home.”
Sean flinched. “Are you crazy?”
“Maybe they are all gone. We can—”
“No way. Every corpse in the area has to be swarming the place after those explosions. Besides, this place looks all right so far, even if Didi seems a little creepy.”
Paula watched her husband ignore her and eat like she was getting ready to smack him, then faced Pepe. “You want to stay, too?”
The kid fumbled with his fork as he looked up at her. “I’d rather see what this place has to offer first.”
Paula shot up to her feet and stared down each man in the room. “I can’t believe this. We don’t know what they want from us, and you’re just going to wait and see?”
&
nbsp; “I don’t see you leaving,” Isaac muttered before taking another bite of his chicken, which gave him yet another reason to wait it out for a little while.
She sneered at him, threw up her hands, and crossed the theater to pout alone. Sean looked at her like he was worried, but he kept on eating. Pepe focused solely on his food.
That whiny bitch could’ve left as far as Isaac was concerned. He just hoped her little fit didn’t cost him more meals like this one. She did have a point about the car being clear, but a few days to make sure wouldn’t hurt. Best to spend them here where it was warm, tasty, and protected. Big brother Harvey could wait.
Two days later, Isaac was getting pissed. He ate, he slept, and he watched the few movies his mysterious hosts were gracious enough to show them—all whipped dramas. Mostly, he waited. He may have been well fed, but so were caged animals in zoos, and he was starting to feel like one of them. When he tried to complain, no one would answer him; they just cradled their guns and took off. Pepe's bitching started to make sense, and Isaac was done waiting.
“I'm going to bulldoze the next mother that walks through that door.”
“Please don't,” Paula said.
“I don't care if they’re feeding us,” Isaac shouted. “I ain't going to be no prisoner.”
Paula retreated into her man’s arms. Her man looked about as anxious as she did.
“You don't know what they'll do to you, Isaac,” Pepe said.
“Man, don't even,” Isaac waved him off. “I know I can't count on your ass for backup.”
Sean looked like he was about to argue until the main door opened.
That creepy chick sauntered in, her brown-eyed gaze fixed squarely on Isaac, her gloved hands resting on a grenade—a fucking grenade—and that samurai sword on her belt.
“Problems?” she asked without blinking. Ever. How weird is that shit?
“Yeah,” he dared to say. “We've been stuck in here for two days without a word.”
That eerie grin crept up higher as she got right up in his face and stared him down like a gangsta from his old 'hood. “I was clear about the three days part. It's for everyone's safety.”
“You can see we're not infected,” Sean said.
“You can inspect us,” Pepe added, but the pale chick never took her eyes off Isaac. She was daring him to do something. And she still didn't blink.
The head bitch smirked just a little bigger at him, then turned and sauntered off like a boss. “We'll inspect you tomorrow.”
Isaac considered jumping her, but the Chief hugging his shotgun at the door made him stay put. When the door closed and locked, he spotted the steak dinner someone had dropped off during the face-off. He felt like a chump.
CHAPTER 3
THE PUPIL AND THE MASTER
Rachelle slammed into the ground, but she quickly rolled to her feet and breathed through the pain. There wasn’t time to be tired; her survival depended on staying fast and alert. She charged in hard and fast, but her makeshift wooden spear missed each time. She was getting pissed, but she had to keep her head or get it bitten off. She tried a head shot, but got smacked in the stomach and stumbled aside. She tried a feint to the head and a swipe at the legs. This time, she connected. Her opponent went down, but she ended up back on the floor with a quick kick to her knee. She managed to roll away just before a hard shoulder could crash down on her. She sprang back to her feet but stumbled from the pain in her knee. Then the stick came at her head again. She blocked it with her own and countered with a swipe so hard, it floored her opponent and broke her stick. She quickly mounted her adversary, who struggled to get back up. She positioned a broken end of her stick directly over her opponent’s face and declared the end of the match. She finally defeated her teacher.
Didi grinned up at Rachelle and said, “Now that's what I'm talking about.”
Rachelle popped up and helped Didi to her feet, hoping she didn’t hurt her mentor too badly. She got congratulations and a pat on the back like nothing happened, aggravating her throbbing shoulder. She played it off and asked for the three-hundredth time, “Does this mean I’m ready to try the sword?”
“I don’t have another to give you,” Didi replied with a shrug, not even breathing hard.
“Maybe you’ll find one on your next run,” Rachelle said as she went for a towel at the other end of the gym. Hopeful, she snuck in, “I can help you look.”
Didi chuckled. “You think you’re ready?”
Rachelle wanted to shout, but she restrained herself. “Come on. We’ve been at this for two years. I’m ready.”
Didi looked her over as if measuring her for a dress. Then she smiled and crossed the gym to put away their wooden training weapons. “I’ll take it up with Cody.”
Rachelle wanted to dance with delight, but she kept her cool. “Thanks.”
“Don’t get your hopes up about the sword, though,” Didi added. “Anything out there is most likely going to be a replica.”
“You got a real one. Where did you get it?”
Didi’s smile faded. “I’m still not ready to tell you.”
“How come you don’t like talking about yourself? What’s the big secret?”
Didi smirked. “Hit the showers. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Rachelle deflated a bit, but casually bid her teacher goodnight and headed out.
Didi called out to her and softly clapped like people used to at golf tournaments.
Rachelle flushed with pride and ran into Cody as he entered. “Excuse me,” she said automatically, but all he did was smile at her and move on.
Didi’s face lit up at the sight of him, like it always did. They patted shoulders like old buddies and laughed about the newbies coming out of Isolation tomorrow. Nothing about the next run, but whatever. Rachelle always enjoyed seeing them together. She never saw them give each other more than a quick hug or a pat on the back, but she still believed they were a couple; she wasn’t sure what kind of a couple, but still a couple. Not wanting to interrupt their moment, she left the gym to her personal saviors.
She stopped outside the door and crossed herself—brow-to-cut, shoulder-to-shoulder—out of respect for calling anyone but Jesus Christ her savior. Even if the rest of the world died the way it did, her Lord deserved better than that, including her trust that this was all happening for a reason. After all, she was still alive.
“Look at you, all sweaty,” that pendego Jake Vaughn said as he and his brainless buddies hovered near the shower doors. “Need some help scrubbing all those hard-to-reach places?”
“You’ll never reach my places,” Rachelle told the crater-faced jerk as she tried to move around him. He blocked her path, making her think he had a death wish. “Get out of my way.”
He grinned through those ugly blue braces. “I’ll bet you don’t really train like you say you do, except maybe your tongues. Isn’t that right, Lezzie?”
She showed him how she really trained by shoving him against the wall so hard that he tripped and fell on the floor. His stupid-looking friends stared blankly at him.
“Hey, you can’t do that,” he said as he straightened up. How that whiny little asshole managed to live long enough to see seventeen still eluded her.
She shrugged at him on her way into the ladies washroom. His bitching eventually faded as she grabbed and neatly piled a towel and some nightclothes on the long pine bench. He could piss and moan all he liked; he didn’t know her one bit. Didi emancipated and trained her for a reason. He wouldn’t understand until he grew up—maybe.
She removed her necklace and placed her Victorian baby doll cameo atop the pile where she could see it, not taking any chances with her old keepsake. She undressed and started her shower, enjoying the safety of the public yet currently empty bay. Once upon a time, she couldn’t shower in safety. Then, not at all. That cameo was all she had left of that time, one she would never repeat thanks to Didi and Cody.
Rachelle envied Didi’s strength and fearlessness and w
orked hard to be like her. The woman could do some serious damage, and she always looked gorgeous doing it. Even when that huge black dude got in her face earlier, she didn’t flinch once. Didi was just awesome, and Jake didn’t understand that, either. Respecting a woman doesn’t make me attracted to her, you asshole!
Didi always hated the dark. As a child, it was because of monsters. From her teens on, it was horny men. Since the plague, it was because she just couldn’t see a damn thing in it anymore. Everything was enough of a blur without contacts or glasses in the daylight, but in the dark? Nada. If not for Cody, and a night vision device, she would be useless at night.
“Take it easy on her again?” Cody asked as he opened the gym door.
She showed him the slight rip in her long-sleeved shirt. “Not this time. She bashed me good. Almost shish-kebabed my head.”
He grinned and pointed behind her. “You did look a little caved in back there.”
She looked back and found no damage, but she did find him smirking at her. She passed him with her middle finger in his face. She loved the guy to death, but he could be a dick sometimes.
She placed her night scope on her left eye and stepped into the dark street. The green and somewhat sparkly block looked clearer now than in the day. If only these things worked in daylight, she thought.
Something growled. To her right, four boneheads clawed at the boarded windows of the Garage. They stopped their futile attempts to break in when Cody shut the gym door behind him. They slogged toward him, most likely guided by his scent. Somewhat recently deceased. She drew her sword and marched toward them.
“Did she ask again?” he asked.
“Yup,” she said as she cut down the first of the four. “She’s itching for field time.”
“Do you think she’s ready? I mean, training is one thing, but fighting is another.”
“She’s absorbed everything we could teach her.” She cut down two more and let the last one in a tattered dress come to her. “I think she’ll be fine.”
The Death Doll Page 2
