Find Me (Life After the Outbreak, Book 2)

by Baker, LJ

  Before he could get his hands around my neck, Janet was on top of him. He struggled and flipped her over, pinning her to the cold dirt. She kicked and fought, but he smacked her head into the hard ground and knocked her unconscious. I lunged forward and stabbed him in the shoulder. He came at me, and I backed away. I had the knife, which was more than he had, and I was ready to do whatever it took to keep that bastard from being the last one standing.

  “Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing. Why don’t you give me that knife, and we can work something out.” He smiled, and the moonlight cast an evil glow across his filthy face.

  “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” My brain scanned through the lessons I’d had on hand-to-hand combat, and I realized just how much I still had to learn. Janet was right. I wasn’t ready. But I had to be. I had to take that douche bag out or Janet and I both would be dead.

  I gripped the knife so hard my fingers went numb and my stomach twisted into knots. He swayed left and right, most likely deciding his next move. I waited, figuring it was better to see what he was going to do, then react. It might not have been the best decision, but I wasn’t sure what to do.

  He took a step toward me, and I lunged forward and sliced across his arm. He recoiled but moved forward again. We repeated the same dance, but he inched closer each time. On about the forth try, he grabbed my wrist and twisted hard enough to make my drop the knife, and probably break a finger or two. Before I had a chance to fight back, he had me on the ground and was holding me down with his weight. Both my arms were hoisted against my will above my head and pinned with one of his sweaty hands. He used the other hand to hold my head still while he breathed putrid breath into my face.

  “Hold still you, little whore.”

  He spat into my face as he talked, and my stomach turned from the smell. I kicked my legs as hard as I could, but it was no use. He was far too heavy and strong to push off. His hand slid down to my throat, and he pressed just enough to bring me near unconsciousness. I fought to stay awake. If I was going to find a way out of it, I had to stay conscious.

  He leaned down and licked his fat tongue over my lips, and I instinctively pulled my lips together tight and closed my eyes. The thought of his mouth anywhere near me made me vomit in the back of my throat.

  “Come on now, slut, give me a little kiss.” He grabbed my jaw and squeezed until it popped open. “There we go.”

  He smiled and, once again, tried to kiss me. The second time, I had a chance to react and bit his lip as hard as I could. A chunk of flesh came off with warm blood into my teeth, and I spit it into his face. He released my arms and howled in pain. “You fucking bitch!”

  “How’s that?” I kicked him hard in the crotch and jumped to my feet, but he grabbed my leg, and I fell face first into the dirt.

  “You’re going to pay for that you little whore.”

  He flipped me over and punched me in the side of my face. Just has he pulled back to punch me again, I noticed Janet standing behind him, with knife in hand and blood trickling down her face.

  Her knife sliced across his throat, splattering his blood onto my face. Gurgling noises came from his throat, and a look of sheer panic was on his face. She took all her strength and kicked him over on the ground beside me.

  Janet leaned one arm against the shed and slouched down, gripping her stomach with her other hand. She was more hurt than she said, and I knew we were in trouble.

  “Andi …” Her eyes closed and she wobbled a bit, then dropped to the ground next to the dead asshole between us.

  I pulled my knife out of its holster and impaled his brain, then rolled him over out of the way. The sun was starting to peek up over the horizon, and I was able to get a better look at Janet’s injury. Her clothes were soaked in blood, and even in the low light, I could see how pale she was.

  “Janet …” I knelt on the ground next to her and moved her arm off her middle to get a good look at her wound. I wasn’t keen on giving stitches, but I could do it if necessary.

  She struggled against me, trying to hold her arm in place. “Don’t.”

  “You have to let me see so I know what we need to do to fix it.” It was just like Janet to be stubborn. It wouldn’t surprise me if she tried to stitch it herself.

  “Andi …” She put her hand on top of mine and looked up at me. “We can’t fix this.”

  “What are you talking about? You packed the medical kit, and thanks to that fight with Donna, I now have a little bit of medical skills. You might be surprised what I learned over at the infirmary.”

  Janet took a breath and started to cough. “I’m glad you socked that bitch. I should have done it for you.”

  I tried to pull my hand from hers to get up. “Let me go get the kit, and we can see what we need to do.”

  She held on, but I could tell it was with all the strength she had, and that wasn’t much. “Andi, stop. This injury … it wasn’t from those two assholes.”

  I was confused. “Then what happened? Why did we kill them if they didn’t—”

  She lifted her hand and blood spurted up. I pushed her hand back down.

  “You mean it was the …” I was pretty sure my heart stopped completely, and all the air rushed from my lungs. I froze on the spot, my brain unable to make sense of what she was telling me.

  She coughed again. It was wet and blood splattered up hitting my arm. "I'm sorry."

  "What for?" I forced myself to keep my eyes on her face.

  “For leaving you." Her voice was soft, weak, and she was having trouble breathing. "This life is short, unpredictable … don’t waste a single day. People die … but you have to live anyway."

  "You sound like a fortune cookie. Come on get up. We should go inside." I tried to tug at her, and she cried out in pain.

  "No. I'm not going inside." She pulled my flashlight and shined it on her middle to give me a better look.

  I shook my head and closed my eyes tight, not wanting to see what she was showing me.

  "Andi, look." She tugged at my shirt with her bloody hand.

  I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head to look. It was the last thing I wanted to do in that moment, but I knew it had to be done. Janet's stomach was ripped open, her insides spilled out. I didn't know how she was even still alive.

  "We'll get you back to the base. They can fix you. You'll be fine. The radio … I can run back a few miles and call for help--"

  "Andi …” Her hand dropped from my chest and hit the ground with a thud. "There's no fixing this. I'll never make it back to the base. This is it. You have to go inside and bring me the gun. If you do it fast, you won't have to be the one to pull the trigger."

  "No. You can't die." I knew what she was telling me, but I couldn't bring myself to move. "Please, you can't." Tears rolled down my face and mixed with Janet's blood.

  "I'm sorry. I really am. You have to hurry. I don't want you to have to do this."

  "No. I'm not leaving you." My father took his own life after he was bitten so I wouldn't have to do it. It was brave and selfless, and Janet was nothing less than both, but I wasn't that innocent little girl anymore. I could be brave and selfless too. "I'm staying with you."

  Janet gave a small nod and closed her eyes. Her breathing was shallow and her heart, was slowing down. She didn't look like she was in pain anymore, and I was grateful for that.

  "I'm sorry for all the shit I gave you during training. I appreciate everything you did for me. And I'm sorry I was always such a pain in the ass, and stubborn, I know I was stubborn."

  "Andi .”.. Janet reached her hand over to touch my leg. Her voice was so low I had to lean in to hear her properly. "You were the best little sister ever." She coughed again, and blood bubbled up past her lips and ran down her chin.

  She took one more breath, and then there was silence. She was gone. Not gone as the dead used to be gone. I knew that her heart would continue to beat just enough to keep the virus moving around inside her. Life as we knew it was ove
r for her, but she would still change. Unless her heart was ripped from her chest before it could circulate, or her brain stem severed, the virus would make her into its host. There was only one thing to be done, and I had to be the one to do it. She deserved at least that much.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I sat with Janet for a long time. I couldn't just leave her, but I had nothing to bury her with. I wasn't really sure what my plan was. I still couldn't believe she was gone. Part of me hoped that Derek would come back and know what to do. I held onto the radio he left with Janet, in case he was in range, but it stayed quiet. Hour after hour, only the faint hum of nothing came through the speaker. I knew I had to get moving or be stuck there again for the night.

  I went through Janet's bag. She had the usual supplies, some of which I stuffed into my backpack, and some I left behind, not wanting to carry the extra weight. I would have liked to take the whole thing, but there was no way I could carry both packs on my own. There was also a smaller sack in there that held a journal, a small photo album of her family before the outbreak, and some other personal items I couldn't even bring myself to look over through my tears. I stuffed the sack into my bag and pushed her pack into the corner of the shed. Someone else might be able to make use of the items. She would have wanted that.

  I tossed my pack over my shoulder, grabbed the radio, and said my last goodbye to Janet. I tried to convince myself that if I found Will, her death wouldn't have been for nothing, but I couldn't. There wasn't anything that could give this meaning. The world was better with her in it.

  My feet refused to move at their usual pace and settled into a sluggish shuffle. With half the day gone, I wasn't going to get very far before dark. There was no way to know if I was going in the right direction to even find Will at all, but I kept walking, one step after another. I knew this was the wrong route to have chosen because even if I found Will, I lost Janet.

  After a while, the surroundings started to look familiar. I was pretty sure I was headed in the direction of my old house. I wasn't anywhere close to it, but it was enough that I could tell which direction to go to get there. I thought about the last thing Hadley said while she was having her seizure.

  The only way to go is home.

  Without Will or Janet, there was really very little reason to go back to the military base. I would miss Jack and Hadley, but not enough to return. Anyway, I still wasn't sure what was going on in that place, and I didn't want to risk it.

  I continued on down the road, keeping an eye out for anywhere that looked good enough to spend the night, when I heard laughing coming from a clearing in the woods. I hid behind a tree and peered out to see who was there. I was just close enough to make out three young girls who couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen years old, sitting in a circle facing each other. They were laughing and talking as if nothing in the world was wrong.

  I held my position and watched, wondering how they could have survived this long behaving so recklessly. I didn't want to sneak up on them and scare them. For all I knew, they had weapons and might panic, but I wasn't about to leave without at least checking with them to see if they were doing all right. This world was no place for little girls on their own.

  I stepped out from behind the tree and cleared my throat loudly to get their attention.

  One of the girls, a tall, thin blonde, jumped up and yelled out. "Who's there?"

  The other two cowered behind her, their eyes wide and clearly afraid.

  "My name is Andi. I'm just passing through. I'm alone so you don't have to be afraid."

  "Who's afraid?" The blonde put her hand on her hip and tried to look brave. "Maybe you should be afraid."

  I tried not to laugh. I had to give the kid credit, she did have some spunk. "Maybe I should. Is it okay if I come over there?"

  "It's a free country," she shot back. The other two stood up, staying behind the spunky one. As back up, they weren't very effective, but it was cute.

  I shoved my bow into my bag and walked over to the girls. Even if they had weapons, I could tell they would be too afraid to use them.

  "You girls out here on your own?"

  "Maybe we are, and maybe we aren't. What's it to you?"

  I laughed. If nothing else, at least they tried to act tough. Or, the one did. The others kept quiet and remained behind her.

  "Okay, let's try this again. I'm Andi. Nice to meet you." I held out my hand to the spunky one, who was clearly in charge.

  She glanced down at it, then eyed my backpack.

  "You got any food in there?"

  They all looked hungry, like they hadn't eaten in days.

  I smiled. "I do, and I'll be glad to share some with you. Though, it would be nice to know your names first."

  She took my hand and gave it a quick shake, as if she had never done it before. "I'm Sam."

  "Nice to meet you Sam." I peered around at the other two and held my hand out to them as well.

  The smaller one, a little waif with light brown hair and bright blue eyes took it first. "Sandy," she squeaked out and stepped back behind Sam.

  The third, a darker blonde with big brown eyes, was more hesitant. She eyed my hand and looked over me. She shook her head as if to say 'no thanks,’ and I knew she wasn't about to take my hand. The little one stepped up and told me her name was Allie.

  I pulled a few of the MREs I took from Janet's pack and tossed them to each of the girls. They tore into them and devoured the food like it was a gourmet meal. My guess was that they hadn't eaten in a while, because no one else ate that garbage with enthusiasm.

  I sat down on the ground with them and waited for them to finish eating.

  "So I'm guessing you girls are alone out here?" Not that I really had to guess. It was a no-brainer.

  "We are now," Allie said, around gulps of food. "We can take care of ourselves."

  "Yeah, I can see that. You have no weapons, or food, and you're sitting in the middle of an open field being loud enough for me to hear you down the road. You girls are doing great."

  Sam snorted. "You don't know if we have weapons. Maybe we are just letting you think we don't."

  She was a pretty girl and she reminded me of myself when I first found myself on my own.

  "Look, I'm not a threat to you, so you can drop the attitude. If you had weapons, you would have had them drawn. You girls aren't going to make it long if you don't get some survival skills. Why are you on your own anyway?"

  "We were with a some people not that far from here, but a giant horde came through last week and wiped everyone out. Some soldiers came to help, but there was only so much they could do. They got the zombies, but we were the only ones to survive," Sandy said.

  "And they just left you out here alone?" That had to be our military, but I couldn't imagine them leaving three little girls out here alone and unprotected.

  Allie finished her food and tossed the garbage aside. "Well, no. We ran."

  "Please tell me you girls at least have decent shelter for the night."

  Sam stood up and stretched. "We did, but some biker dudes came in and took over while we were out looking for food, so we can't go back there."

  I sighed. The last thing I needed was three kids to take care of, but I couldn't just leave them there alone, especially not with a group of men nearby. I knew what kind of trouble that could be for girls on their own in the messed up world we lived in.

  "Do you have a place to stay?" Sandy asked, a hopeful look on her small face.

  "There is a place. A military base a couple days walk from here. It's a community where you would be safe. There are other kids, and a school, and the flesh eaters can't get in. That's where those soldiers you saw came from."

  Sandy's eyes lit up. "Can you take us there?"

  I hated to disappoint them, but I couldn't go back. I had to find Will. "I can't. I'm sorry, but I can give you a map and show you which way to go." Even as I said it, I knew it was wrong. Janet wouldn't have sent those three off
on their own, and I knew she would have been disappointed in me for doing it.

  Their faces fell, and I saw the hopelessness in their eyes return. Sending them out on their own wasn't fair, but life wasn't fair, and I had to find Will.

  "I'm sorry. I really wish I could help you, but my friend is missing and I have to find him."

  "Is it your boyfriend?" Sandy asked and all three girls held back giggles.

  Ah, to be thirteen again.

  "Yes, actually, he is. He was one of the soldiers out here trying to fight off that horde. It's been over a week since I saw him, and I need to find him."

  "Is he cute?" Allie asked and all three girls laughed again.

  "Actually, he's pretty damn hot." I couldn't help but laugh back at them. They were lucky to have each other and still be able to laugh and be silly.

  Sam sat back down and crossed her legs out in front of her. "What's he look like?"

  I remembered back to my middle school days and how Nikki and I used to sit around and talk about boys for hours on end. Even though the world had gone to shit, all girls needed to do that every now and then. I decided to humor the girls and play along.

  "He's tall, way taller than me, and he has brown hair that falls down over his eyes and curls up around his neck. His eyes are the most incredible shade of emerald, and his lips are full and soft and very kissable."

  Sandy sat with her head resting on her hands, smiling with a dreamy look on her face. "He sounds amazing."

  "He is amazing. He's kind, and sweet, and patient. He's the kind of guy you fantasize about as your prince charming." It was true too. Will would always be my knight in pink pony armor.

  Allie, the skeptic, snorted. "Come on. He can't be that perfect."

  "I didn't say he was perfect. No boy is perfect. He can be grumpy, and annoying, and he always thinks I need to be protected. He drives me crazy like no other person ever could, in both a good and a bad way. But the thing is, none of that matters. I love him. When he's not around, it feels like a piece of my heart is missing."