Learning To Live (Zombie Overload Series)

by Wright, C. M.

  I turn and give them all a glare. Then I get to my feet...uh...foot and reload my gun. The guys have all the fun with the grenades while I shoot the ones I can. As I'm once again reloading, it dawns on me that we really shouldn't be using all this ammo. I raise my arms and wave to get everyone's attention.

  Finally, the shooting stops and I scream at them, "Stop shooting! We're gonna run out of ammo!" Everyone looks around at everyone else then slowly lower their guns.

  "Well, what the hell are we supposed to do now, then?" Dad yells out. Um, was I supposed to know the answer to that? Sorry. Got nothin'.

  I shrug. I shake my head. And then I drop my head. Shit! Now what? I sink to the roof of the truck, my mind racing. Finally, I have an idea, but it could get messy. I steal a peek toward Will and am relieved to find he's distracted talking to my brothers about a plan that none of them can agree on. I quickly pull my phone out of one of the leg pockets in my fatigues and dial Jake. After three rings, he picks up.

  "Yeah, what?" His voice is cold and uncaring. Well, screw you, too, Buddy! Any other time, I would have hung up after telling him how I felt, but this just isn't the time. No use lying, it did hurt a little-but just a little. Swear!

  "Jake, listen, we need help. We're surrounded by, well, at this time my guess is about three hundred undead. Maybe more, maybe less. But not much less. And there's more coming down the road."

  I hear him gasp when I mention the number of the horde.

  "Canada, where are you?"

  "Back of the store. We can't get out of the security fence and there's too many to drive through. We stopped trying to shoot, knowing we will run out of ammo, and there isn't near enough grenades. I don't know what to do, Jake!" Little bit of panic toward the end, there.

  "I'm on my way. Just stay as safe as you can. I...I'll be there as soon as I can. Please stay safe. And...Canada, I'm sorry." I lower my phone when I hear him disconnect. I feel a little spark of electricity shoot through me. He still cares about me!

  Grinning like a fool, I turn around...and find Will looking at me with narrowed eyes. Ah, hell. I quickly lose the grin and, again, guilt floods through me.

  I slip my phone back in my pocket and avoid Will's killer stare-glare by checking on my sister, Kurt, and Norman. Both trucks are being rocked violently by the undead, and the passenger side window of the tow truck has been busted in. Damn it! It's not going to be long before all the windows are out of both vehicles. We don't have time to wait for Jake.

  I hop to the hatch and lower myself inside. Instinct tells me to get the hell out when I see all the faces of the killer dead and hear their fists banging into the windows, but I take a few deep breaths and force myself into the driver's seat. Rose and Kurt are parked only about thirty feet away but it's wall-to-wall dead people in between. I raise my brows, shrug, and start the truck.

  Ricky sticks his head inside the truck.

  "What the hell are you doing?" he asks.

  "Just sit down and hold on." I put the truck in drive and slowly move forward. I'm not sure what would work best, flooring it or taking it easy, so I start with taking it easy, since I probably shouldn't lose the guys on top.

  At first, I become more hopeful that this is going to work because when I push, they move back. But the closer I get to Kurt's truck, the more resistance I get. They just are not giving up on that warm flesh inside.

  Pressing down harder on the gas, I manage to move them a bit further. Some fall and I have to gun it to get over them, but all-in-all, they move rather well. Although there would be no way to get through all the zombies like this, at least we might be able to save the people in the most danger. I finally manage to get right up next to the other truck-sorry 'bout the scratches and loss of mirror, Kurt-and roll my window down.

  Rose rolls her window down and Kurt starts in, cussing me about his paint job and missing truck part. You'd think he'd be grateful, wouldn't you? I ignore him, after I roll my eyes at him, and ask Rose if she thinks she can manage to climb through the back window. She gives me an "Are you frikken kidding me" look, but nods. I pull forward to line up the windows, put the truck in park, and use the power switch to lower the back window.

  Rose ungracefully makes it inside and starts yelling for Kurt to "Come on," but he's still too busy being pissed about his truck. When the glass next to his head explodes inward, he shoots across the seat of his truck and is inside my truck in no time flat.

  I look over at Norman's truck, not knowing how we can get to him. He's on the other side of Kurt's truck by about twenty feet. I'll have to go up and around Kurt's truck to get to him and I'm not sure I can. It's getting pretty crowded around his vehicle, now that they have an open window. But I can hear his screams for help and there's no way in hell I can just ignore him and let him die.

  I pull my phone back out and call my dad.

  "Hey, we need to get that semi to the gate and block it. Then we can deal with what's inside without new ones coming in. Do you think you can do that?"

  "I can try. Can't hurt. But you realize they can still get in from underneath as high as this sits up?"

  "Yeah. I'm hoping once you get in position, the rest of us can line up beside you and block it. Separating the horde into a herd will be easier to manage in case we are stuck here for a while. I called Jake and he's on his way. While you move the truck, I'm gonna figure out how to get Kally and Norman with the rest of us." We hang up and I turn my head to look back at Rose and come nose-to-chin with none other than Will.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I gasp and jerk my head back. Will only stares at me with that hard coldness he's too damn good at.

  I give a shaky little laugh and say, "Oh, hey, Honey. Everything ok?"

  In a low and quiet voice, he says, "Is it? How's your boyfriend doing?" Really? Right now? Shit!

  "That was Dad!" I tell him.

  "Not earlier, it wasn't. And you can't deny it either-I heard you tell your dad you had called him," he snarls at me.

  "Yes, I called Jake because we need help. We can't do this alone and he has more weapons than we do. You could have called him yourself, you know. I just want to get everyone out of this shit alive!"

  "We will talk about this later. What's your plan?" Talk about this later? I don't wanna to talk about this later!

  I tell him my plan and he goes to the roof to tell the others. Rose and Kurt had gone up when Will came down, obviously they were ready for a different view other than zombies pressing on windows. I watch as Dad slowly works his way through, around, and over the crowd. Not being able to pick up much speed, the semi bucked at having to run over the large lumps but it managed.

  I start my difficult journey to save Norman. As I get past the front of Kurt's truck, my stomach clenches when I see the undead surrounding Norman's own vehicle. One zombie is halfway inside the broken window, his hunger and obsession obvious. I see the terror on Norman's face and fear floods through me.

  Sure, I don't know him. Just met him a day ago. But I damn sure don't want to see him die. The zombies are moving with us, making it harder to see and break through the mass of cold flesh. If only this were like the movies and a vehicle really could smash through hundreds of zombies and sustain only minimal damage-but, once again, it's not.

  Slowly, much too slowly for us-and I'm sure even more so for Norman-I move closer and finally make it to the driver's side. I get as close as I can and start forward, moving the herd with the front of my vehicle. They scream, moan, groan, slap, punch, and scratch at my truck. The thuds from below when I run over them make me cringe each time. I sure hope their body parts don't screw up something we need under there.

  I inch up until my back window is even with his front window, and he starts through. I'm watching the undead surrounding us when his scream jerks my attention back inside the other truck. I can see him jerk his leg and kick the head of a zombie and then he's inside my truck. Safe.

  "You ok?" I ask him.

  Gasping, he says, "Yea
h. Yeah, I'm ok."

  "Good. You can go up top with the others if you want."

  "I'm good. I think I'll stay down here for a few minutes."

  "No problem," I pull out my cell and call Kally.

  She answers with an upbeat, "What's up?" I laugh. Only Kally could make this seem like a pre-zombie phone call.

  "Hey, Sis. I need you to get inside your vehicle and start following me when I go by. Go slow. I know these are military vehicles but I don't want to take the chance of tearing them up. We need them way too frikken bad."

  "Okey doke. I'll be right on your ass."

  "Kinky, baby," She laughs and we hang up. I start toward the semi now positioned as we planned. On the way I pass Kally, ready and waiting. She slowly moves in behind me and we block off our side of the semi.

  Once we are in position, I watch in the rearview as Kally goes up the hatch in her Hummer and Ricky jumps over to join his wife. I smile as she flings herself into his arms. Norman's face suddenly appears in the mirror.

  And I freeze with shock.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Just as he leaps for me, I unfreeze and fling myself onto the passenger side floor, struggling to remove my gun from the holster, but it's caught on something. His face is above me, his body still in the back. His eyes have that soulless dead look in them, his skin already pasty. That didn't take long for him to turn. Damn it!

  His arms are reaching, stretching for me. His mouth is gaping and emitting horrible gnashing/grunting sounds. There is now only one thing on his mind...me.

  I still struggle with the damn gun. If I raise up at all, I'll be within his reach. If I don't, I won't be able to get the damn gun out. Before I have time to make a decision, he falls over the front seat and I only have time to raise my legs and hold him up with my feet. I scream in agony when his weight makes my already throbbing ankle snap.

  I've got him balanced above me like I used to do with my kids when we played airplane or Superman, whichever they chose to be at the time. I'm putting the majority of his weight on my good foot so the balance is screwed up. I grab his wrists to better keep him balanced and do everything I can to ignore the pain in my screwed up foot. Blackness starts creeping into the edge of my sight and then my eyes start rolling in their sockets. Could there be a better time to pass out?

  Above me, his spit and drool sprays and drops on my face, making me afraid to open my mouth to scream again for help. My legs are shaking, my back is aching, but my ankle! Oh my god, my ankle! It hurts so freakin' much!

  Norman's being an ass and won't stay still, swinging his arms and legs and twisting his body to get to me. He attempts to lower his head to my arms that are holding his wrists but I shove up on his stomach with my feet, sending him into a pissed off frenzy and sending myself into complete agony.

  My legs grow weaker and the shaking increases. They start to lower from fatigue but I force them back up. After doing this a few more times, I know it's not going to work much longer. I'm screwed. I'm just a few seconds, a minute at the most, from becoming what I have been killing these last few days.

  Suddenly, I hear, "Honey...oh shit!" Oh, thank God! Will! I can just see him over Norman's head, jumping down from the hatch to the backseat, and then Norman's head is yanked back by his hair. Will puts his gun up next to his head and pulls the trigger. As Norman's weight collapses on me, I let out all the pain I've been having to hold in, along with the new pain, in one long, loud, ear-splitting scream.

  Alarmed, Will grabs the dead man's body and throws him off me. I lower my legs, still screaming from the pain. Will vaults over the back of the seat and reaches down, pulling me into his arms. He tries to get me to stop screaming, and I try to stop, but I just can't. The pain is incredible! Of course, he thinks I've been bit and is searching my body, asking over and over where he bit me.

  Finally, I'm able to tell him, "Not bit. Ankle." But that's all I can manage. He grabs my ankle and I scream and slap him in his stomach. He lets out a yelp and then he helps me onto the seat. He tells me to wait here. Where in the hell am I going to go?

  I watch as he grabs Norman under the arms and lifts him into the back seat. Will calls up for Ryder through the hatch and they both manage to get Norman's body up and then Ryder throws him out into the crowd. Will comes back and sits in the front seat behind the wheel. He slowly pulls my leg onto his lap and gently removes my boot.

  Gentle he may be, but it still hurts like hell! When he removes my sock, we both gasp at the swelling. From the odd angle, it's obviously broken. Well, this is going to be freakin' fun!

  Will wets a rag with bottled water and I scrub the zombie slobber off my face. He wets it again and wraps the cold rag around my ankle. It hurts but feels good at the same time. Will yells up through the hatch for my sister and tells her about my ankle. She comes down and takes a look at it, sucking in her breath at her first glimpse.

  Rose tells me to close my eyes and then asks me to tell her which of my toes she's touching. I wait for her to touch them but when she asks if I can "Feel that," I have to tell her no. She does it a few more times and each time it's still "No." Then she tells me to wiggle my toes, even though we both know that's not going to happen, and it doesn't.

  She grabs a pillow, places it under my lower leg and foot, folds it over, and secures it with duct tape. Not the prettiest splint but it will do for now. She reassesses my foot and it's the same.

  Rose digs out some pain pills from the bag of medical supplies and and I eagerly swallow them. I spend a total of five seconds wondering if I'm turning into an addict to pain meds, but when the next wave of pain hits, I decide I don't particularly care. Bring on the happy pills!

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  About a half hour later, we hear and feel the vibration of explosions not too far away. Rose yelps and I think I do, too. Not real sure, but I do know I jumped because I screamed when the movement caused the pain to have its own little explosion. Will moves my leg carefully and as gently as he can so that he can get out from under it. Laying it back down, he grabs the last of the grenades from inside the back seat and goes to the roof.

  Rose sticks her head out of the hatch and I get a nice view of her lower torso and butt. I ask her what's going on and she tells me she can't see over the semi but the explosions are coming from the other side of it. It's Jake, of course. That much is obvious.

  I start feeling nauseated and drowsy, the nausea most likely because I haven't eaten anything and my body doesn't like pain meds on an empty stomach very much. I know if I don't allow myself to pass out, I'm going to get very sick, so I close my eyes and the spinning slows.

  In my dream, I open my eyes and see very muscular legs in familiar fatigues that perfectly match my own black fatigues appear in the hatch. I see more of the person's body as they lower themselves inside and I can't help feeling a jolt of something go through me when Jake is completely inside and turns his attention to me. I'm not giving that something a name and you shouldn't either.

  Jake leans over the front seat and grabs my hand. He glances quickly at the hatch then turns his head back to me.

  "Canada, I'm sorry I've been mad at you. What I did was so stupid ,but I couldn't help it. It's my fault, not yours. Forgive me?" he pleads with a pathetic, over-exaggerated, puppy dog look.

  I give him a serene smile and squeeze his hand. I wish he were really saying this to me. But it's just a dream, and it's ok if I say whatever I want, do whatever I want. It's all just a dream!

  I give a tug on his hand and he leans down close to my face. I raise my head to meet him and we press our lips together. Mm, that feels nice!

  Jake smiles at me and my last thought before my eyes close is how beautiful his eyes are. The last thing I hear as I'm drifting away is Jake's voice telling me he loves me. Aren't dreams wonderful!

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  I'm shaken awake with a rough hand and an even rougher voice. I struggle to open my eyes, and when I finally do, I see Will standing in the
back, bent over the seat and me.

  "You need to wake the hell up and move your ass so I can get behind the wheel." Damn dude! Lose the attitude.

  I'm confused from the drugs and I have no idea what's going on. I'm also shaking from the harsh way of being woke up, and I take more time to move than I guess I should, because Will leans over and shoves me to the passenger side. My ankle bangs on the floor and I cry out. Of course, it doesn't hurt as bad as it would if the pillow wasn't around it, but it still hurts, regardless.

  I move my body to a more comfortable position and then look over at Will as he settles behind the wheel.

  "What's wrong with you, Will?"

  "I'M NOT JAKE!" he screams in my face. I jerk back away from him, terrified of the anger in his voice and on his face.

  "I know you're not Jake, Will. What the hell are you talking about?"

  "When I first tried to wake you up, you fucking called me Jake!" He's still screaming at me but just his use of the "F" word tells me how very, very pissed he is.

  The blood drains from my body and I start shaking even harder than before, my heart pounding so hard it hurts.

  "I was asleep, Will. I don't remember anything."

  "You said, 'Ok, Jake' and then rubbed my arm."

  "Well, that doesn't mean it had to be something bad. Maybe I just―"

  "And then you fucking said, 'I love you, too.' What the hell is that about, damn you?"

  I freeze with my mouth hanging wide open, my eyes popping out of my head, and I stare hard at Will. My mind is racing. OH GOD! Was that one of those freak things that happen sometimes when a dream leaks into real life? Did I really frikken say that? What am I supposed to say to Will now? How can I explain this? Can I explain this?

  "Just shut your damn mouth, I don't want to hear anything you have to say. I have shit to do, like get our asses out of here. I don't have time for these childish-ass games." Will twists the keys in the ignition so hard I'm worried they will break, but they don't and the engine roars to life.