Dying Days (Book 9)

by Rosamilia, Armand

  She was wasting precious time again.

  Darlene waved her hand, using her power to slice through the zombie’s necks all at once. She was done playing.

  About half of the zombies were caught before they could use a shield. Heads rolled and bodies fell to the sand.

  The rest began to gather in two pockets on either side of Darlene.

  They were planning to attack from both sides at once to take her down.

  Darlene knew it was fruitless.

  “I guess giving you all a chance to run isn’t an option.”

  They no longer have free will. They all work for me. Along with the thousands and thousands of zombies about to kill the last survivors of The Promised Land.

  “I don’t suppose you’d make a deal with me. Winner takes all battle. If I win, you call off your dogs. If I lose, you can do whatever you want,” Darlene said.

  You don’t really expect me to agree to this, do you? Even if I said yes, you know I’d never hold up my end of the bargain. Besides, it really is winner take all in the end.

  “Then let’s end this already.”

  Darlene turned to her right and blasted the zombies with a cone of ice, freezing them in place with one hand, forming a hammer with her other hand and smashing the zombies to pieces.

  Very nice move. I didn’t see that one coming. I wonder how you’re going to defeat the other side now.

  Darlene felt like she had no choice but to end this game quickly. Her son had stacked the deck against her. She could feel her imaginary energy tank lowering to critical levels.

  She opened up the sand underneath their feet, tossing the sand into the air.

  The zombies fell into the hole, twenty feet deep, and were buried as she let go of the sand in the air.

  Cute. As if you spared them. Someday they’ll dig their way out of the hole, you know.

  “Not if I can help it. That starts with killing you.”

  You’re a horrible mommy.

  “Now you’re beginning to repeat yourself. Where do you want to face off? Somewhere theatrical? On top of a skyscraper? In a factory like in the movies? Nice and dark with steam and noise. How about the diner where your sorry ass popped out?”

  The diner does sound fitting. I’ll see you there. Take your time. Feel free to try and save your friends before you head my way. I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee and slice some apple pie for us, mommy.

  Darlene blocked him again.

  She looked down the beach. She could see hundreds of zombies going north.

  If she wasted anymore time and energy, her son might get the best of her.

  If she didn’t save the survivors, what was she fighting for?

  Darlene sighed and took a moment to think it through.

  She had to be smart about this and save the world and not just a few people.

  Her next move would change the lives of those few people because they’d be on their own.

  Darlene headed to the diner, wishing, in the fight that had occurred all those weeks ago, instead of stealing her son they’d put a bullet through his little head.

  Chapter Forty One

  From the look of it, most of these people had been executed in their sleep. Most of the bodies were still in tents, heads on pillows and under covers.

  Profit found another flashlight as well as a large assortment of weapons.

  He knew this wasn’t a zombie attack. Someone had shot them all. Executed the group.

  All while they slept and thought they were finally safe.

  He counted forty-one bodies in this one area.

  “How do you kill so many without anyone else hearing it?” Bernie asked.

  Profit paced the area and knelt down. There were spent cartridges on the floor. Ammo strewn about.

  Two handguns, both with silencers attached. Both empty of ammo. A rifle, as well as three other handguns, was on an end cap displaying the latest and last Taylor Swift CD.

  Profit shook his head. “It looks like the shooter, maybe shooters, used the silencers to kill one person at a time. Then they opened fire. See the bullet holes in the tents? The back wall is littered with them. This was a madman. Complete overkill.”

  “It was either the guy we met when we came into the store or this madman is still on the loose.” Bernie looked around. “He might still be inside with us.”

  “Very likely. Let’s keep doing our sweep but spread out enough so we can cover more ground but see each other. I don’t want any surprises.” Profit picked up another flashlight off the ground and tossed it to Bernie. “This one works better.”

  “Thanks.”

  Profit smiled despite the tension and the unknown they were facing.

  If the killer or killers were still in the store, they could easily follow the flashlight beams and get into position to ambush them.

  They moved one aisle at a time, shining the beams in both directions. They couldn’t reach the entire store but if anyone was moving in this half they might be able to spot them.

  Profit tried to remain calm because every shadow stretched out like it was a clawed hand about to attack. Every item was a weapon aimed at his head.

  He could see Bernie was also having trouble, jumping a few times. Profit couldn’t make fun of her because he was doing it, too.

  They got to the end of the store and turned right but Profit put a hand up and shook his head when Bernie caught his eye.

  “What’s the matter? What do you see?” she whispered.

  “I can’t take this tension anymore,” Profit said.

  “Shh. What are you doing?” Bernie asked.

  Profit laughed. “Unless the killer is deaf and blind, they know we’re coming. No sense in jumping at every shadow. We need to load up and leave.”

  “What’s your plan then?”

  Profit climbed up onto a counter at the beginning of the food aisles and shone the flashlight all around him, looking for someone who was watching them. He didn’t see anyone.

  “Hello? Anybody out there? My name’s Profit.”

  “Not your real name,” Bernie said.

  Profit laughed and waved at her. “Anybody? I told you my name. Hello?”

  He climbed down off of the counter and shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”

  “My name is no longer important,” someone yelled from further down the store. “Stay away from me or I’ll have to rid you of the demons, too.”

  “Holy shit. It worked.” Bernie laughed.

  “He’s at the other end. Maybe in front of the store near the produce section. I’ll take the main aisle and you slip around the back row but don’t do anything unless you have to.” Profit nodded at Bernie and watched her move off, keeping her flashlight beam down.

  He knew it made more sense to walk down the aisle without using the light. There didn’t seem to be any major barriers in the way and the aisle displays were minimal and spread apart.

  Profit couldn’t turn off the flashlight.

  As he got closer to the front, he saw a faint stationary light.

  He peeked around the last end cap and shook his head.

  There was blood everywhere. Eviscerated bodies had been placed inside the vegetable tables, right on top of rotting food.

  The floor was slick with dried blood and the smell of bleach was in the air.

  Profit took two steps out, weapon and flashlight in his hands.

  He shone the light left and right and settled on the back of a man who was staring at the butchered remains of a woman.

  “Hello?” Profit was ready to shoot if the guy made a sudden move or had a weapon.

  “I told you not to come closer. You’re tainted. We’re all tainted. There’s nothing left but to rid ourselves of this shell. We’re all going to turn into monsters.” The man started to turn around.

  “Nice and slow or I will shoot,” Profit said.

  He could see Bernie, on the other end of the aisle, taking a few steps closer, too.

  The man turned and smiled
through blood-covered lips, the gore coating his beard and front of his shirt. “I had to taste her to see what all the fuss was about.”

  Profit glanced at the woman on the floor and wanted to throw up. She’d also been cut open but big chunks of meat had been sliced away and piled neatly on the bloody floor next to her.

  “We all have a soul buried inside us. Even the zombies. You know what I’m saying?” The man had a large knife in his hand. “If we can somehow find it, we can be immortal.”

  Profit shone the light in the man’s eyes.

  His gray eyes.

  “Put your hands up, you fucking zombie. Now.” Profit planted his feet.

  “Eventually we’re all zombies. I wandered across this country as a mindless wreck. Searching for the meaning of life and death. You hear what I’m saying? I was locked up. Criminally insane. One minute I’m trying to wrap my head around being in a padded cell until the day I died and then…” The man raised his hands in the air. He was still clutching the knife. “I’m alive again. I can think again.” He lowered his head but kept his hands up. “But I wasn’t cured. I still had these thoughts. These voices and problems taunting me. They’d been quiet when I wasn’t myself. When I was too busy with my hunger.”

  Bernie was only ten feet away, standing partially behind a display case. She was staring at Profit, waiting for him to give her the signal to end this crazy fucker.

  The man looked back up and smiled. “It started because we couldn’t help ourselves. We had to find out if God did exist. This was his answer. Even God has a twisted sense of humor.”

  “Last chance to put down the knife. We can talk.” Profit didn’t know why he was hesitating putting this maniac out of his misery.

  “I’m done talking. I can’t find the soul. All I find is death and the end of the world. I’m done,” the man said and moved the knife in his hand to throw it.

  Bernie shot at the same time Profit did, both shooting the man in his head.

  Profit turned and threw up in the aisle.

  After a few minutes, they went back to the front of the store. Profit needed air and to make sure no one else was in the building or outside waiting for them.

  “Before we go any further, I need to know we’re both on the same page.” Bernie was staring at Profit. “Do you follow me?”

  “Sure. Now let’s load up and hit the road.”

  Bernie shook her head. “Not until you’re honest with me. Is this really the life we’re going to lead? Heading north and trying to find our own little place in this dead world?”

  “It’s better than staying and wondering when the zombie horde is going to catch up to us. We need to put as much distance as possible between us right now.”

  “Agreed.” Bernie was still looking at him.

  “Anything else before we go?”

  “One last question and I want an honest answer or we go our separate ways,” Bernie said.

  Profit smiled until he realized she wasn’t kidding. “Wait… this is for real?”

  “I want an answer.”

  “Ask.”

  Bernie stared at Profit. “What’s your real name?”

  “I’d rather not say.”

  “Then I’d rather not be with you. We can’t afford secrets, no matter how small.” Bernie wouldn’t stop staring. “I’m not even wasting time guessing. Just tell me or I’m gone. I’m not even kidding. We need to trust one another one hundred percent. I will answer any and all questions about my past and my life, but you need to do the same.”

  “No secrets,” Profit said.

  “Exactly.”

  “My real name… is Patsy Randall.” Profit looked away. “You happy now?”

  Bernie covered her mouth.

  “Go ahead, laugh it up. It’s a family name. Patsy used to be a boy’s name, you know. Back in the day. I’m named after my great grandfather.”

  Bernie was laughing.

  Profit could feel his face getting hot.

  “Patsy? That’s it? That’s your big secret? Big deal. Why didn’t they just call you Pat?”

  “Everyone did. I chose Profit because it sounded cool. It was my street name. I always hated being called Pat, too.”

  “Bernie isn’t my real name. It’s short for Bernadette.”

  “No shit.” Profit laughed. “Let’s hear your big secret or I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “I used to be a dude. Probably have a bigger dick than you. Other than that we’re square.”

  Profit laughed. “I’ve rubbed up against your lady parts. They are definitely lady parts. We’re cool.”

  “Let’s go find some charcoal and lighter fluid. I want to hunt something with meat on its bones tonight and cook for you.” Bernie smiled. “I make a mean squirrel soup.”

  “That sounds horrible.”

  “It probably is but beggars can’t be choosers.”

  Profit pulled Bernie closer and kissed her.

  Chapter Forty Two

  There were enough zombies in the road to make it hard to simply run and get away.

  April needed to conserve ammo so she used her rifle as a bludgeoning weapon, praying she didn’t crack it in half.

  Tosha and Mitch had spread out on either side of the road and, after a few gunshots, they decided to pull knives and fight at close combat.

  April didn’t trust her skills enough to use a knife. She’d beat them off with her rifle until she had to use something else.

  She glanced back at the mansion and saw zombies coming down the driveway. She knew what that meant for her parents inside.

  “We need to get to the next block and see if we can make a run for it,” Tosha said.

  April led the way since she’d been here before. With any luck the zombies were behind them and hadn’t yet gone around the block to cut them off.

  To the left the golf course was covered in zombies, all headed their way.

  Too many to count.

  April came close to having a panic attack and throwing herself on the ground, curling up in the fetal position and giving up.

  “How many blocks to your sister?” Tosha asked as she ran past April.

  Carlie needs me. April caught up with Tosha and they got halfway down the street before the zombies closed in on the trio.

  “We need to fight through to the other end of the street,” Mitch yelled.

  There were too many. April was grabbed and nearly tripped over a fallen zombie. She kept firing at point-blank range, knowing she was wasting her last bullets.

  April started firing at the zombies around Tosha, who’d gone down when her gun ran out of ammo. Mitch shot three zombies in the head near Tosha but there were so many spilling in from either side of the street.

  “Can you run?” April asked Tosha when she began to rise.

  Tosha nodded and stabbed a zombie in the face with her knife.

  Mitch kept firing until he was out of ammo, too.

  The zombies were boxing them in. April took a deep breath so she didn’t panic and began running down the block, using her knife to push zombies to the ground.

  “You keep tripping them and I’ll keep them down,” Mitch yelled.

  April didn’t need to be asked twice.

  She dropped four and was suddenly in a clearing. The zombies were all behind her.

  They might be able to get away. Carlie was two blocks over and maybe they could hide in the house or at least try to fortify it.

  One thing at a time. Get to the end of the block, April thought.

  They were all panting as they got to the end of the street. April looked back to see they had put a lot of distance between them and the zombies.

  “Stop. Wait,” Tosha yelled from behind April and Mitch.

  April turned and gasped.

  Tosha’s jeans were covered in blood.

  “Can you believe the fucker got my best feature?” Tosha smiled despite the obvious pain she was in. “It bit me on the ass. Literally.”

  Her left ass
cheek was a raw strip of dangling flesh, her jeans torn.

  “Can you walk?” April asked.

  “I can.” Tosha was staring at Mitch, who was moving slowly towards Tosha.

  Tosha reached back and pulled a small handgun from her back pocket and pointed it at Mitch.

  “What are you doing?” April didn’t understand at first.

  Mitch put up his hands but held onto the knife. “She’s bitten. She’s going to turn into a zombie. Soon. She obviously doesn’t want us to kill her.”

  “That about sums it up.” Tosha nodded at April. “This is where we part company. We had a nice run. All of us. I hope you and your sister survive. I hope you two make beautiful babies, too. I see the attraction and I don’t blame you. I just wish I’d have found someone special for me before the end.”

  “Where will you go?” Mitch asked.

  “Somewhere far away and die.”

  “You’ll be a murderer. A zombie,” April said.

  Tosha shrugged. “Still better than dying. Besides, don’t you see how powerful these fuckers are once they wander around for awhile? Smarter than I’ll ever be. I want to keep this going. See how far it will take me.”

  “What if I charge you? Try to take you down?” Mitch asked.

  Tosha shook her head. “I’ll kill you. Without a second thought. I’ve done some really fucked up things in my life. Killed a few innocent people, too. I have a lot of blood on my hands. Does it keep me awake at night? I’d be lying if I said it did. I know where my sister is now and I know I’ll never see her again. I wish I didn’t believe in Heaven and Hell.”

  “What if we tied you up but kept you alive? Maybe there’s a cure,” April said.

  Tosha laughed. “If there was a cure, it would’ve been found by now. If there was, the smart zombies would have gotten hold of it and destroyed it anyway. Don’t you see what’s happening? We’re fighting the inevitable.” She grimaced in pain but didn’t stop pointing the weapon at Mitch. “I’m going to leave now. Go the opposite way you are. Find somewhere to hide so I can finish changing. If you see me on the street, be nice and don’t kill me.”

  “Please don’t go,” Mitch said. “Don’t let this consume you. Being a monster isn’t the answer, Tosha.”