When we finally made it to the semi, I shivered. Not a single zombie so far and for that, I was grateful. Jude caught my eye and we both smiled at each other … the worst of this stretch was over. We headed around the back end of the semi, glad to get out of the jumbled graveyard of vehicles. As soon as we cleared the bumper, we both knew what a mistake it had been to think we’d lucked out. Luck never was a friend of mine.
Nearly a dozen zombies in different states of decay were standing near the over turned truck in their trademark, shut down mode. As soon as we stepped into their line of vision, they all snapped out of it and turned to face us.
“This is going to be fun,” Jude muttered out of the side of his mouth. A strangled giggle escaped my lips. Fun, yeah, that’s what we’d call it. “Try not to use your gun if at all possible and stay close to me,” Jude said as his eyes hardened. I nodded, unable to form any words.
We moved quickly, slashing and hacking our way through engorged flesh and bone like a couple of macabre butchers. Six overly ripe corpse hit the pavement with a splat before we had even made it a dozen feet. Bile rose in the back of my throat as the putrid aroma of rotting flesh and rancid fluids tickled the roof of my mouth and coated my taste buds. I drew back my arm and shoved my blade through the eye socket of a short and impossibly thin zombie, ignoring the fact that the zombie was wearing a jean skirt, hello kitty tee, and had probably been someone’s teen daughter.
As soon as she fell, another zombie, faster and much fatter, took her place. It grabbed out to snatch my arm, trying to sink its rotting teeth into me. I used the zombie’s own forward momentum, snagging it by the coat sleeve, and pulling it so hard that the zombie stumbled and fell to the pavement when I swiveled out of the way. I stomped with all my might into the zombies face, feeling its skull give way beneath my booted foot until there was nothing but putrefied mush squished into the pavement. I was so busy making sure the zombie on the ground didn’t get back up, that I missed the one who had come up behind me in the chaos. I turned swiftly only to come face-to-face with a zombie so swollen with fluids and rot that it could have been someone’s sick portrayal of zombies immortalized as a wax figurine. Its eyes were so unnervingly opaque that I had no idea how it could see. Its skin glistened in the sunlight, white and waxy and stretched so tautly across the corpse’s liquefied insides, that I was surprised into immobility.
The undead man didn’t hesitate like I did, however—his hunger for human flesh motivated him to try with all his might to rip into me. Surprised by his quickness, I jumped back, only to slip on the mess of zombie goo I’d made and land on my ass right in the middle of it … losing my knife in the process. I moved quickly, scrambling backward to get away, but the zombie was already right on top of me. I fumbled for my gun, trying to get it free with my hand covered in slimy zombie insides, but I wasn’t quick enough. I lunged back again, just as the zombie’s mouth opened and a gurgle of sour zombie breath coated my shoulder. A scream clawed its way up my throat just as the zombie stilled for a fraction of a second with his mouth hanging open before a fountain of blood and mushy zombie innards spewed forth with a pop, coating every inch of me from the neck down. In shock, I looked up into the face of the zombie, barely noting the long blade poking through his eye inches away from me.
“Are you alright?” Jude pushed the grotesquely bloated body to the side and held out a hand. I grabbed onto it and let him pull me from the pile of muck. “Were you bit?” he asked quickly, searching my face. I shook my head, and glanced around at the bodies strewn all over the place. I felt light headed as I slowly raised my hands up in front of myself. I looked at the gore and guts coating my arms in a detached sort of fascination.
“We should probably get moving, Melody,” Jude said gently. I nodded again, never taking my eyes off of my arms. I turned slowly and glanced back at the mess I was just sitting in and realized how very close I’d been to getting killed. My head began to buzz as I pitched forward and vomited until my stomach hurt from the pain of it. Jude rubbed my back the entire time, but I didn’t hear whatever it was he was murmuring. When nothing was left except a headache, Jude help me to my feet. He held my blade out to me and I muttered my thanks. We both began walking again, glad to put the semi and all its newly redecorated scenery behind us as quickly as possible.
“I need to find somewhere to try and get cleaned up,” I said once we were half an hour further down the road. Jude nodded, glancing at the mess that was caked all over me.
“We should take a quick rest anyway. We only have another hour or two before we should begin searching for a place to hole up for the night. There is a small town up an exit that we’ll head for. Hopefully it won’t be overrun by zombies or any of the violent groups of survivors I’ve run into in the past,” Jude said. “Let’s stop over there.” He pointed over to what looked like it had once been one of those road-side produce. I nodded and picked up my pace to keep up with him. When we were pretty sure it was safe, we walked around to the back of the stand where there was shade and sat our backpacks down.
“Here.” I glanced up from my intense hand-scrubbing with half a bottle of sanitizer and took a men’s white tank top from Jude with a frown.
“Are you sure?” Jude gave me a look and then jerked the bottle of sanitizer out of my hand. “Hey!” I protested.
“Take off your shirt,” Jude ordered. I raised a brow in shock.
“Excuse me?” I asked incredulously. Jude clucked his tongue and the sighed.
“Listen, that sanitizer isn’t going to help get all that nasty crap off of you,” he said slowly. “Take off your shirt and I’ll help you clean off with some water, then you can put on the tank top.” I shut my mouth and frowned.
“Believe me, Melody, I want you clean more than you do. No offense, but you smell like shit.” He held up a hand and shrugged as if he were just stating facts. He was right of course, my own stench was beginning to make me want to throw up again. I had to get clean. “Besides,” he said with a wicked glint in his eye, “it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.” My face flamed and he chuckled. I really didn’t have a choice. I needed help to get even a little clean. I began pulling my shirt up, realizing right away that it had pretty much adhered itself to my skin as it dried when we were walking. Just freaking great. I yanked roughly away from my skin and then pulled it slowly over my head, trying not to get any chunks or dried flakes of zombie guts in my hair.
Jude took a cloth and a bottle of water out of his pack. He poured water over my hands as I rubbed them together and then over my arms. He poured a stream of water on the back and front of my neck and I shivered when his hand gently washed my neck and shoulder area. I didn’t dare look him in the eyes as he helped me get clean. I would have probably died in mortification. When he poured water over my chest, thankfully letting me wash myself there, I felt him shift away from me just a bit. My sad, gray bra was thoroughly soaked, but at least it was still wearable for the time being. Jude held out the small cloth to me silently. I glanced up at him from beneath my lashes and saw a look of tenderness and longing flash across his face before he caught me looking. The look was replaced by a smirk and a cool, detached gaze.
“You know this could almost be one of my fantasies … if I could just focus on the wet tee shirt contest part of my fantasy and forget the puddle of zombie guts,” he mentioned casually. I rolled my eyes and began drying off as best I could before yanking Jude’s white tank top over my head. It was too big, but it would work and on the plus side it didn’t reek of noxious zombie guts. On the down side … it smelled of Jude.
WE WALKED SEVERAL MILES UNTIL we found an exit leading into a small, podunk, town named Pineville. As we moved quietly and quickly through the quiet town, I couldn’t help but have a small flash back to the day I’d done the same when I had made my way back into Midtown a few days after my dad was killed. This town felt the same except it was quieter and there were a ton of decomposing bodies in cars, bodies in the streets a
nd an overall feeling of entering the twilight zone. I was not feeling very welcome in Pineville.
“Where are all the zombies?” I asked as we ducked behind a small car parked on the side of a burned-out gas station.
“Are you complaining about not finding any?” Jude asked softly. I shrugged.
“I just think it’s odd we have seen a single walking corpse in the entire town,” I said uneasily. Jude nodded and then glanced at the sky.
“Let’s find a place for the night. We’ll get out of here at first light,” he said quickly. Sounded good to me. I would be glad to leave Pineville far behind us.
“There,” I said. “That’s where we should stay.” I pointed my finger at the building a little ways down from us and Jude smiled broadly when he saw it.
“It’s perfect,” he agreed. “Let’s go.”
We approached the used bookstore quietly, waiting for something, anything really, to happen. When nothing did, we found a back entrance and entered the building warily. The place was a mess. Old blood was smeared across a wall and even splattered the old wooden floorboards, but the tiny bookstore was mostly clean and the windows were already boarded up. It was uninhabited, and more importantly, not likely to be raided by anyone looking to scavenge for supplies. As soon as we secured the back door and made sure the front was secure, we went to work making the room as fortified and safe as possible before we settled in for the night. It wasn’t long before the room was too dark to work in. Jude pulled three small candles out of his pack and put them on top of an over turned bookcase close to the ancient looking brown sofa we’d been ecstatic to find in the store. It’s the little things that cause excitement now.
Jude walked over to the front door and checked the area for the tenth time that night. We pushed a large bookshelf up against the door to be extra careful, but he still checked everything several times more before he came over and plopped down on the sofa next to me.
“I figure we have about six hours of walking ahead of us tomorrow,” Jude said. “That’s if we don’t run into any more major problems.” I unstrapped my gun and sat it on the floor close by, along with my backpack and other weapons. I didn’t dare take my boots off.
“Oh, I forgot!” I jumped off the sofa and pulled my treasure out of my backpack. “Look at what I found,” I said with a huge grin. Jude smiled and reached out, taking a can from me. One bottle of water, one can of coke, and one bag of skittles.
“Where’d you find this?” he asked.
“Under the cash register there was a mini fridge. This was all that was in it,” I answered. I popped the top to the coke and sighed at the familiar sound. Jude started laughing when I moaned after taking a tiny sip. I held it out to him and he hesitated a second before taking the drink from me.
“I don’t have cooties, Agent,” I said sarcastically. Jude snorted and took a sip of the coke.
“Mmm, I missed that,” he said softly. I grinned and rammed my shoulder into his.
“This is your lucky day. I don’t share my skittles with just any guy,” I said jokingly. Jude’s smile grew wicked as I handed him all the green and orange skittles.
“Glad to hear it, Mel.” His voice was husky and I refused to look at him. I couldn’t … not with the way things were. I just didn’t want to set myself up for more heartache. We finished sharing the soda and candy in silence. It wasn’t awkward though, it felt companionable and I was glad to have someone with me in the darkness for once. Jude shifted and sat forward. “We should probably get some rest,” he murmured. I nodded, already yawning behind my hand.
“How should we do this?” I asked softly. He glanced over at me and winked. I snorted and rolled my eyes, which only made him grin wider.
“I’ll take the floor, you can have the couch,” he said after a moment. I frowned.
“That hardly seems fair to you,” I said. Jude looked around himself and then took one of the throw pillows and situated it just right before laying back on the couch, in a half-sitting position. He crooked his finger at me. His eyes were half laughing, half mocking. Jerk. His eyes widened when I shifted my body and fit myself sideways into the crook of his arm, my head resting on his chest, my arm flung across his waist. His laugh rumbled his chest, which heated up my cheeks.
“You are full of surprises Melody Carter,” he murmured against the top of my head.
“What about you, Jude? What’s your story?” I asked. “Where were you when all the crap hit the fan?” Jude shifted beneath me and sighed.
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he muttered. I snorted.
“How old are you?” I countered.
“I just turned twenty-five,” he answered.
“Old man,” I joked. He huffed.
“And how old are you, Melody? About twenty-two?” he asked. I hissed.
“I’ll be twenty very soon,” I answered.
“Oh shit, you’re just a baby,” he gasped, sounding horrified. I smiled against his chest. Let him chew on that for a while.
“Sometimes I feel so much older,” I whispered seriously. His arm tightened around me. He was quiet for several moments.
“I was waiting for my fiancé at the airport the night everything went crazy,” he said sadly. I stiffened.
“I’m sorry, Jude,” I said gently.
“It’s okay. Sometimes it seems like so long ago now.” He sighed deeply. “We should get some sleep.” I nodded.
“Goodnight, Jude,” I murmured.
“Goodnight, Mel.” My eyelids grew heavy and I was almost immediately lulled to sleep by Jude’s warm embrace and his rhythmic heartbeat.
“Melody.” I groaned and turned over, pulling myself tighter into a ball. “Melody, we need to get moving,” Jude’s voice snapped me out of my left over sleep and I sprung from the couch. “Easy,” he whispered. “Everything’s okay.” I pushed my hair back out of my face and glanced up at Jude, standing next to the couch. He looked … different. I blinked and rubbed my eyes.
“Am I dreaming?” Jude sighed and threw a wad of clothing on my lap.
“Get dressed, smart ass. I hope I was right with the sizes,” he said. I raised a brow and finally noticed what it was he’d handed me. A pair of jeans, a dark green tee shirt with the Green Lantern insignia on the front, and a … bra? I raised a brow and blushed. Jude raked his hands through his hair. “I thought you might need a new one after getting drenched in zombie juices yesterday, so I went scavenging for us,” he muttered by way of explanation. His eyes were looking everywhere but at me. He was embarrassed. How cute, I thought.
“Thank you,” I said softly. He nodded and walked around toward the back of the room.
“I’ll wait over here for you.” I got dressed quickly, more than a little surprised that everything fit me well, including the cute, pale blue bra. I grabbed my backpack and met Jude a moment later. He had traded his army pants and tee for a pair of blue jeans and a black tee shirt. He almost looked normal … in a smoking hot sort of way.
“You realize once we make it to Charlotte, we will probably die,” Jude mentioned as he turned to me. My jaw tightened as I looked at him, searching his eyes.
“I’m not going to let that happen,” I answered truthfully. Jude’s eyes sparkled and his mouth turned up in a crooked grin.
“I didn’t think you would.” He nodded his head over his shoulder as he stepped closer to me. “There’s four undead right outside we’ll have to go through to get out of here,” he said seriously. I reached for my knife, but Jude grabbed my hand and pulled me against his chest. My eyes widened and my eyes immediately sought his.
“Don’t hit me, but there’s something I’ve been meaning to do,” he muttered just before his lips crashed down to mine. I stiffened in shock, but that didn’t last long, not with Jude working wicked, black magic on my lips. I melted into him, my hand going up to wrap around the back of his neck, to pull him closer. When he was done, he pulled back slowly, his eyes glazed in passion. I was breathing hard. “If
I die now, I’ll die a happy man,” he whispered against my temple as he placed a gentle kiss there. He stepped back and left me standing there in a bit of a daze. “You ready to kill some zombies?” he asked after a second. Zombies? Sure, what the hell … get kissed senseless and then take on some undead. All in a normal day. I picked up my knife and felt its familiar weight in my hand. I felt anticipation rise.
“What do you think?” I asked with a cocky grin.
“Let’s do this, then.” Jude threw the door open and we both rushed out. The zombies never even had a chance.
THE ZOMBIE ACTIVITY GREW INCREASINGLY more pronounced as we came closer to the city limits of Charlotte. We had probably killed over two dozen zombies since we left Pineville in the early morning hours, no groups larger than four or five though, so they were easily enough dispatched between the two of us. We passed a larger group of zombies about an hour outside of Charlotte, but we avoided the group by keeping our movements as quiet as possible as we ducked behind a myriad of abandoned vehicles on the road leading out of Charlotte—a sinister reminder that we were definitely headed the wrong direction. Smarter people would have turned back at that point.
The coup de grâce should have been the smell, the overwhelming, choking smog of death and putrefaction emanating from the city, but even if that didn’t deter people from entering the city … the sounds should have. The noise coming from the city at first sounded like a single sound, unified, like an enormous white noise emitter. But when we got closer to the city, we realized that what we were hearing was the sounds of thousands of shuffling feet, thousands of undead mouths open in a death scream, only to exude rattling moans and gurgles. It was a terrifying and sobering realization.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked once we made it passed another large group of wandering zombies, just inside of the city limits. Jude crouched down beside me and ran a hand through his hair.
“I’m not sure, Mel. Maybe this was a bad idea. I don’t want to get you killed on a mission that is doomed to failure,” he sighed and rammed his knife into the ground between his feet. “How the fuck can anyone be living in that?” he asked through gritted teeth, his eyes searching mine. I’d been thinking the same thing, but I didn’t want to be the one to say it.
State of Decay (Omnibus (Parts 1-4)) Page 9
