by James, Jill
The Zombie Hunter’s Wife
(Time of Zombies, Book 2)
Jill James
Also in Time of Zombie series
Love in the Time of Zombies
A Time to Kill Zombies
Visit Jill James at:
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Jill James Writes
Published by Gray Sweater Press
Copyright © October 2015 by Jill James
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author and all incidents are pure invention.
Cover Art designed by Elaina Lee of For The Muse Design
This book is dedicated to RJ Kennett for showing me that writing about zombies can be fun. Special thank you to Charity Truth Wilson for giving Rogue Vantage their name via Facebook contest.
Blurb:
Michelle Greggs lost everything the day the dead came back to life. All she wants is security, but that is in short supply in the zombie apocalypse. Teddy Ridgewood wants to show Michelle she has a deep, inner strength, and she’ll need it when a twisted preacher sets his sights on her for his toxic church.
Contents
Title Table of Contents Chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Dear Reader Letter Other books by Jill James Author links
Chapter One
Anger and fear battled for territory within her as her husband walked up the hill to their home. Even if he hadn’t still been in his dark-blue SFPD uniform, Michelle Greggs would recognize Mitch anywhere. The half of his face she could see retained the stunning good looks she’d fallen for all those years ago when they were in high school, when he’d been captain of the football team and she’d been the nerdy girl who beat out the head cheerleader to win his heart. He turned slightly, his head set at a tilted angle and his neck twisted as if broken. The other half of his face was in ravaged ruins, his eyeball pulled from the socket, hung by a tendon, and rested on his bloody and torn cheek. Black mucous oozed from his wide-open mouth and ran down his police uniform shirt to mix with the blood dripping from his chin, making the dark shirt glisten sickly in the sunshine. The shirt she’d ironed with loving care last night was encrusted with thick gore. The pants with their knife-sharp military pleats were torn and bloody as well.
Her breath caught on a wheezing gasp. His head turned and one blue eye tracked her as she skittered backward, reaching, grabbing for the doorknob.
From two houses away he’d heard her small inhalation of breath.
From two houses away she heard his ravenous moan, the sound rising as he spotted fresh meat.
She bit her lip and stifled her screams as he moved faster. The thing that had been her soul mate shambled closer, tripping over the crack in the sidewalk. The one he kept telling her he would fix and now he never would.
A deeper, trailing moan rumbled from his chest and the hair rose on the nape of her neck. How had he gotten so close, so fast? She forced her mind to concentrate. His hands came up and reached for her. The nails dirty and broken, filled with unmentionable crud, traveled across her gaze.
Her heart raced and thumped in her chest. She couldn’t breathe. Maybe if she stood perfectly still he would leave. Her cry broke the silence as Mitch stumbled into her and his hands encircled her throat. She brought her arms up and pushed against his filthy, slippery shirt, but the hands tightened as his moans grew and he pulled her toward his chomping jaw filled with sharp, broken teeth tainted with flesh and blood.
Blackness took the edge of her vision and she stopped pushing. His fetid breath whooshed over her and she gagged. If she just let it happen, they would be together forever. They had no children. No one to leave behind, the flu took care of that. How hard could dying be?
I don’t want to die.
The thought, along with a million others raced through her in a millisecond and added steel to her spine. With force, she brought the heel of her shoe to his shin and kicked as hard as she could, just as he’d taught her. His moans stopped like a broken wind-up toy as he toppled sideways and fell to the ground, his leg bent impossibly backward. He lay there like a helpless turtle trying to turn over, his athletic prowess gone.
Before he could get his hands around to push up, Michelle reached for his gun on the service belt. She unsnapped the holster, pulled Mitch’s service weapon out, and pointed it at her husband’s face.
No. Not her husband. This thing was not her husband. This undead thing stole her husband from her.
Her vision blurred with tears. They froze on her wind-chilled cheeks as they poured, hot then cold, down her face. She put her foot on his chest, shoved the gun into the hole where his eye should be and pulled the trigger.
Her rubbery legs gave out and she fell to the cement steps as the echo of the gunshot buzzed in her head. Her hand shook until the gun left her grip and clattered to the pavement. She stared at the thing that had been Mitch just a few hours ago.
“You promised to come back,” she whispered at him.
“You promised to come back,” she screamed at him.
Her yell echoed down the deserted street, her only answer the cry of a seagull winging overhead. Her neighbors had left days ago. Mitch and Michelle’s house the only occupied one on the block. The army had promised one final sweep before dusk. She’d begged Mitch to just leave. He’d refused to go AWOL from the SFPD. He’d promised to go in this morning and tell them he was leaving.
Four hours.
Four hours and her husband was dead, and then undead, and now truly dead.
And she was alone.
So fast. Everything had happened so damned fast. Just months since billions died worldwide from the flu. Just weeks since the president of the United States ordered a vaccine put in the food and water. Just days since the dead didn’t stay dead. Just days since they’d infected others with their blood and their bites.
Sounds intruded into her solitude. The moans of the undead echoed in the distance, lost to the earthshaking booms further to the south as the army destroyed entire blocks of apartments and homes to seal off the city. The last news report on the television this morning before it went to permanent snowy static said they would destroy the Caldecott Tunnel as well.
She shuddered, her hands shaking as she picked up the gun and set it on her lap. She’d spent her whole life in San Francisco and it wasn’t home anymore, now it would be the city of the undead. No more views of the bay. No more drives over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin for shopping and exploring antiques shops. No more.
“Damn you.” Her yell bounced off the houses. She shook her head. She didn’t even know who she was damning, God, the zombies, or herself for killing the only man she had ever loved.
A Humvee rumbled up her
street and a soldier in dusty, bloody camo jumped out.
“Ready to go?”
“Just a minute, please,” she begged over her shoulder as she laid Mitch out straight and placed his hands on his chest. Falling to her knees, she kissed the undamaged cheek. A sob caught and broke loose.
“Come on, lady. If we don’t get to the evac site on schedule, they blow the bridge without us.”
She hefted the duffel bag onto her shoulder, all of her old life contained in the one bag the army was allowing. Mitch’s bag sat abandoned on the steps. She turned away and walked down the sidewalk. The soldier stopped her at the vehicle’s door.
“No weapons.”
“It’s my husband’s service revolver. I don’t want to lose it,” Michelle pleaded, glancing back.
“The drivers are collecting weapons. You’ll get them returned when you get to where you are going.”
“Thank you. Where would that be?” She forced her mind to move forward, because there was sure as hell no going back.
She climbed in the rear and the soldier got in the front passenger seat. “The last group out is going to Brentwood. In the far East Bay. I’ve heard it’s nice. Farm country. Little town. Whole hella lot less zombs.”
Leaning back, Michelle closed her eyes. She’d been to Brentwood as a kid with her parents during cherry-picking season. The town could be quaint, but it wasn’t San Francisco. As a little girl she’d dreamed of traveling the world, but no city in the world compared to the city by the bay.
“Ma’am, you got anymore family we can pick up? Got a few seats left if we hurry.”
She opened her eyes to look at a man who looked too young to shave, let alone be in the army. “My parents died during the influenza pandemic and that cop back there was my husband. I don’t have a family.
“What about you? Where are you from?” she whispered.
The man swallowed deeply and his Adam’s apple bobbed, while a devastated look came over him. “I’m from New York City. I don’t know.”
News and information from outside California had ended almost as soon as the dead rose. The last info from New York City mentioned nukes.
She wasn’t old enough to be this boy’s mother, but she felt like it after the last few months. Things spiraled from bad to worse to—to this.
Reaching out, she put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
At a loss for any other words of comfort she pulled back and closed her eyes again until they stopped and the sound of people talking and moving around outside the vehicle intruded on the silent shell she’d erected during the drive. The roar of engines came and went. Men yelled and children cried.
Grabbing her duffel bag and getting out of the Humvee, she was soon pushed and prodded into a line of people headed to a fortified school bus. Desperation peeled off the people along with body odor. The breeze off the bay carried it across the parking lot. Sheets of battered metal covered the windows with a few slits left open for air. She shivered. Such a small barrier to keep out the abominations rambling across the city.
A young woman with long black hair stepped onto the bus in front of her. Stepping forward, she replied to the questions from the clipboard-holding police officer. Even with his nameplate she didn’t recognize his name or face.
“Name?”
“Mrs. Michelle Greggs.”
“Mr. Greggs?”
She shook her head and wiped a tear running down her face.
“Dead or undead?”
“Dead,” she whispered.
“Confirmed?”
“Yes, I shot him in the head,” she spit out between a clenched jaw.
“Thank you. Next.”
She tripped up the stairs, shaking her head at the pit their world had fallen into. A place where shooting your husband was the right thing to do. How had chaos taken hold so fast? A hand grasped her elbow and caught her before she fell.
“You dropped your bag.”
Turning to get it, she fell backward on her butt as the police officer at the door managed to push her inside as he was pulled to the ground by a horde of zombies. Blood splattered the glass and stair treads before the driver shut the doors. The sheets of metal hid the carnage, but not the screams for help or the moans of undead hunger.
Again a hand reached for her elbow and helped her up. She looked into the face of the woman with long, dark hair who had been in front of her.
“I see an empty seat near the back,” the woman said as the bus started moving.
The two of them grabbed handholds to walk to the rear as the bus bucked and swayed, rolling over bumps that had been people. She started crying again as she fell into the seat and the woman fell in beside her.
Wiping her tears, Michelle stared at the woman beside her. She had on a suit that probably cost more than Mitch made in a month, heels, and pantyhose. Who wore pantyhose anymore? Probably women who wore luminous pearls around their neck and diamond studs in their ears that looked to be a few carats apiece.
She glanced around but everyone seemed occupied with the people near them. This woman looked as if she were all alone too. “Thank you for helping me there. I’m Michelle Greggs.”
The woman shook her hand. “Emily Gray. Are you alone?”
She shuddered and nodded. The anguish was all too fresh to go there. She tried to change the subject. “And you?”
“Yes,” Emily said as she reached and removed her necklace and put it in a clutch purse she held. Next, went the earrings. She pulled a silver necklace out of her shirt and placed it on the fabric.
Her fingers played with the pendant as she talked. “My mother and father died a couple of days ago, trying to get to me. My in-laws died of the flu epidemic. My husband died a couple of weeks ago.”
Her voice was gruff. Definitely something there. “Did you have to kill him?”
A twisted smile came across her face. “Oh, no. That was the police. Him and the hooker in the motel. His screams alerted the other customers and they called for help.” The announcement was made so calmly they could have been chatting over tea and scones.
Her mouth fell open. Emily reached and patted her hand. “It’s okay, dear. It wasn’t the first time, but it definitely was the last.”
The bus slowed and stopped at an intersection. The pounding of meaty fists hit the sides of the bus. Bloody, gore-covered fingers pushed through the slits, slivers of bone poking through skin. Screams echoed inside the bus, overriding the moans outside. Women hugged men and children grasped at their parents, their little hands holding on with all their strength.
“I killed him,” she got out between sobs, not sure if they were for sadness or fright. “He was the moon, the sun, and the stars to me and I had to kill him. He promised to come home and we would leave. He came back to our home as the undead and he made me kill him. How could he do that to me?”
A hand patted her back and rubbed in comforting circles. “There, there. Maybe some small sense of him was left and he knew he had to get home.”
“I don’t want to talk about it ever again. I don’t want to think about it ever again.”
She just wanted to find four solid walls and a roof and safety. Michelle wrapped her arms around herself and prayed for the security the insanity had ripped away. Like a mantra for serenity, she whispered repeatedly the name of the little town at the end of this ghastly ride.
“Brentwood.”
Chapter Two
Rule #1 Wash work clothes every day. Blood and brain matter are impossible to remove if you let them set.
One year later
Oakley, California
RV Storage yard, R-1 base
Michelle woke coated in sweat, shivering as the February cold hit her wet skin. She ran her fingers through her long hair, pushing it back from her perspiration-covered forehead. How could she be hot and cold at the same time? Only a few seconds and the nightmare dissipated. Once or twice a month, Mitch returned in her dreams. The worse ones were when she killed him and h
e wasn’t a zombie. She shuddered, wrapping the covers around her body.
She counted to twenty with deep breaths in and deep breaths out. Her familiar mantra of ‘It’s only a dream’ echoed in her head. Her heart rate slowed and her shoulders slumped in relief. The dregs of sleep disappeared with the shouts of children outside her motor home. A thump hit the door as someone tagged safe. A smile crossed her face and the world seemed a little better, as strange as that was. When the world went to hell, even small things could make it possible to get through the day.
Jumping out of the covers, she dressed in layers, making it easier to peel off extra ones later in the day as the weather warmed up. She was used to layers from living in San Francisco her whole life, but not used to the warmth of a February afternoon in the East Bay.
She’d spent last February here, but it still amazed her that winter could be so unwinter-like, with some days as warm as summer in the city.
She sighed, missing the fog and the ocean breeze off the bay. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she flung open the door to sunshine and a wind that already carried a hint of the almost-balmy warmth they would face in the afternoon, as if spring was right around the corner.
Her boys raced to her side. Yelling and pushing at each other to be the first. The two oldest pushed each other, knocking over the middle one in the process. The littlest boy reached her first today. Dylan’s small body rocketed into her, knocking her off balance. Her arms swept around him and gave the little one a giant hug. Two seconds later she was hit with three more boys as the oldest, Aiden and Bryant hugged her together and Connor squeezed in, as usual.
“How are my RVers today?”
“Mom,” echoed in four different voices with the exasperation exactly the same. It still thrilled her to be called mom by her adopted sons.
“That is so lame,” Aiden added, being the spokesman for the group as the oldest and a born leader. “We aren’t RVers. We are Rogue Vantage.”
