Zombie Games (Uncut) Boxed Set

by Kristen Middleton

  “Were there many zombies in the garage?” I asked.

  “A few, but nothing like what surrounds the rest of the building.”

  We followed him all the way down to the underground parking lot and he turned to us. “Normally I’d let you ladies go first, especially with what you’re wearing, but I’m feeling like a gentleman today.”

  Nora touched the back of her gown and grunted.

  “Go first,” I said, scanning around for zombies. “I’m not going to argue with you.”

  There were a few zombies but nothing we couldn’t handle. When we finally made it to the safety of the SUV, I closed my eyes, finally feeling somewhat safe again.

  ***

  “Nice ride,” said Nora, stretching her legs out in the backseat.

  “So, how in the world did you end up here, Billie?” I asked, sitting up.

  He sighed. “My family was missing when I made it to Florida. I don’t know if my parents were killed or turned into zombies. They’d vanished by the time I reached their condo. I searched most of the city without any luck. The hospitals, the shopping malls, even the place they liked playing Bingo, but found nothing but death, zombies, and nightmares. I eventually just gave up and left. I remembered that your sister was being held here and decided to try my luck, to see if I could find you.”

  I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry about your parents. Do you think they could have escaped somehow and survived?” I asked.

  “I can only hope that’s what happened. Good news is that my dad is ex-military. He’s one crafty son-of-a-bitch, too. If anyone can make it through this mess, it’s him.”

  “See? Don’t give up hope,” I said.

  He nodded. “After running into you, there’s no way I’m giving up hope.”

  I smiled. “So, where are Shane and Dale?”

  His lips tightened. “They were killed.”

  I felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me “Oh, no,” I whispered in horror. “Zombies?”

  He shook his head. “No, some kind of band of thieves. I was following behind Dale when they stopped for what looked like people just needing assistance. I had a bad feeling about it, however, and stayed farther behind. The killers took the vehicle and shot them without hesitation. I barely made it out of there alive, myself.”

  “Oh, my God,” I choked.

  “Told you,” muttered Nora. “We’re not safe from anyone.”

  Billie nodded. “Yeah, the danger isn’t just the zombies anymore. Some of the survivors have turned into outlaws, and if you have something they want, they’ll shoot you for it without a second thought.”

  I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. “Well, what now? We need food, clothing, and ammo. You wouldn’t want to try a Walmart again?”

  He shook his head. “Oh, no that’s way too dangerous, now. We’ll have better chances of finding the stuff abandoned in someone’s home.”

  I tapped my fingertips on the side door. “Well, it certainly doesn’t sound like we have any other choice,” I said. “I could use a shower anyway. Then I need to find a charged cell phone to see if I can reach my dad or Bryce. If I can’t get ahold of them, then I’ll have to return to the CDC and look for clues as to where they may have moved everyone.”

  He nodded. “Okay, let’s find something farther away from this part of the city. It will lessen the chances of someone noticing us. Someone with bad intentions.”

  “Sounds good,” I said.

  Billie started up the SUV just as a couple of zombies staggered into the parking garage and headed toward us.

  “Looks like we’ll need a truck wash as well as gas.” He grimaced after catching one who launched at us. The entire hood of the dark SUV was waxed with a fresh coat of gore.

  “Yeah, that was real nasty,” replied Nora. “So, do you have any food in this jalopy?”

  It’s amazing how desensitized you can get in a zombie-crazed world, I thought, staring back at her with amusement.

  “I have a couple bags of chips in the back,” said Billie. “And some soda if you need anything to drink.”

  “Hell yes,” said Nora, grabbing a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. She tore open the bag and started stuffing her face. She suddenly remembered the rest of us and smiled sheepishly. “Want some?”

  “Yeah,” I said, as she handed me the bag.

  “So, what happened to lover-boy?” asked Billie.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Bryce?”

  “Yeah, that’s the name.”

  God, I wish I knew.

  “I guess I don’t know. The last thing I remembered before the coma was being bitten by Eva, who’d turned into a zombie, and then waking up in a prison cell. I can’t remember anything else beyond that.”

  “I’ll bet the soldiers took you from your dad,” said Nora through a mouthful of chips. “Maybe they promised him they’d help you.”

  That made sense. I couldn’t imagine my dad just abandoning me. And Bryce, he’d just admitted he loved me and didn’t seem the type to just walk away, either. My heart swelled when I thought about the look in his clear blue eyes when he’d admitted is feelings. I prayed to God that I’d see him again. I prayed he was safe.

  “Don’t worry,” said Billie. “We’ll figure out what happened, Wild. I’ll help.”

  We drove away from the heart of Atlanta, which was crawling with zombies, most of them decaying rapidly and fighting with each other for mere scraps of food. As we traveled south and away from the busier parts of the city, passing smaller ranches and farmland, the zombies became scarce and eventually, we started scouting for abandoned homes to find a little refuge and supplies.

  “Those look pretty quiet,” said Billie, pointing to a block of newly constructed homes basically in the middle of nowhere. Most of them were still under construction or surrounded by several plots of land for sale.

  “Looks okay, I guess,” I said, although my palms grew sweaty as I stared at the homes anxiously.

  19

  Billie pulled up to one of homes, a split-level brick and wooden monster with a ginormous swimming pool in the back. The three-car garage was open but there weren’t any cars parked inside. That seemed like a good sign.

  “Looks like someone cleared out the garage,” said Billie. “Pretty odd, too. I mean, there’s hardly anything left; no tools, shovels, rakes, or anything you’d normally find.”

  “Maybe the homeowners were moving when the shit hit the fan,” said Nora.

  “Or maybe they were ransacked,” he replied.

  We all got out of the truck and followed Billie to the front door, where he rang the doorbell. “Old habits,” he said, smiling down at me.

  When nobody answered, we found that it was locked.

  “That’s a good sign, nobody’s looted it yet,” said Nora after trying the inner garage door, which was also locked.

  Billie broke the glass plate next to the front door and reached inside to unlock it.

  “Jesus,” gagged Nora as we stepped inside.

  The house was stifling hot and smelled like old cabbage and sewer water.

  “It’s got to be rotting food,” I said as we walked into the kitchen. “I’m checking the bathroom to see if they have any Vicks.”

  “Vicks?” said Nora.

  I nodded. “It smells better than rotting food and zombies.”

  “You surprise me more and more every hour, Wild,” she laughed. “Who’d have known that a germaphobic jock like you would have been such a successful zombie survivor?”

  “Let’s see what they have for food. Check the cupboards,” said Billie.

  We started rummaging through the cabinets and found plenty of canned food.

  “I can’t believe someone left all of this,” I said.

  “They probably turned into zombies and didn’t need it anymore,” said Billie. “Obviously, whoever cleared out the garage never made it inside or we wouldn’t be this fortunate.”

  “Looks like we have a
rum and Coke drinker,” said Nora as she pulled out a case of pop and an empty rum bottle. She smiled and opened up a can of pop then started chugging it down.

  I found a jar of unopened pickles and my stomach growled its approval.

  “Guess what, ladies? The water still works,” said Billie.

  “Thank God,” I said between pickle crunches. “I’m taking the first shower.”

  “I’m next,” said Nora.

  Okay, you girls do what you have to do, and I’ll start packing up the food,” said Billie.

  I stuffed another pickle into my mouth and headed upstairs where I found three bedrooms, two were children’s, and the third appeared to be an adult’s.

  “Looks like someone did leave quickly,” said Billie, coming up behind me.

  “Strange, huh?” I said, looking through the closets.

  Why would someone take all of the clothes, but leave the food?

  Unfortunately, as I searched through the parents’ clothing, I found nothing but two strange-looking dresses, which weren’t my style, but beat what I was currently wearing.

  “Here are some shoes, see if they fit,” said Billie as he threw a pair of white pumps at my feet.

  “Great,” I mumbled. High heels and a dress so short, it left little to the imagination.

  “Look at what we have here,” smiled Billie, bending over a small lingerie chest. He held up a bra and panties. “You’ll need these.”

  My cheeks burning, I grabbed the undergarments and headed for the bathroom.

  “Thank God,” I said when I walked in. Shampoo, shower gel, and a razor were also forgotten in the shower.

  “Need a towel or do you plan on air drying?” asked Billie from the doorway, holding a ratty old white towel that appeared clean.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “By the way, if you need any help with anything, all you have to do is ask,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

  I raised my eyebrows and his lips twisted into a devilish grin.

  “Um, I’m okay,” I said.

  He laughed and then left me alone in the bathroom, which I quickly locked. I trusted Billie, but ever since I found out he wasn’t gay, I was more aware of him as a dude; a very cute dude.

  A half hour later, I stepped out of the bedroom, feeling halfway human again, even though the undergarments were a little loose and the dress barely made it to my thighs.

  “Wow, Wild, you trying to raise the dead in that outfit?” smirked Nora as I staggered into the kitchen wearing the white pumps.

  I looked down. “Well, there really wasn’t much to choose from. Don’t worry, though, there’s another skimpy one like this on the bed that I left for you.”

  She sighed. “I guess it’s a whole lot better than letting the world stare at my ass,” she said.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Billie. “It’s a good distraction for the enemy, dead or alive.”

  We both turned and rolled our eyes at him this time.

  He pointed toward my pumps. “The shoes fit, too,” said Billie. “I really like those.”

  “Not exactly the zombie ass-kicking outfit I’d have chosen,” I said.

  “But everyone can appreciate a nice pair of high heels,” said Billie. “They raise the butt.”

  Nora snorted. “Typical man.”

  I would have loved to have seen Nora’s expression when Billie was wearing heels.

  “I don’t know, maybe I’m better without them. They’re a little hard to walk in,” I said. I felt like a new foal walking around in the pumps. I’d never been much for high heels.

  “They double as a weapon, though,” said Billie. “The heels are sharp and if anything, you can just carry them around and throw them at your enemies, like they used to do on the Jerry Springer show.”

  “I don’t care. The moment I find a pair of tennis shoes or boots, these are getting tossed into the streets,” I said.

  “There you go,” he said. “Get your hands on a good pair of heeled boots, and you can’t go wrong.”

  “Right…” I said, smiling at his dorkiness.

  Nora took her time in the shower and when she came down to the kitchen, she was scowling. “What in the hell was up with the woman of the house? She must have been a stripper or something.”

  I bit back a smile. Her dress was skimpier than mine and she wore sliver platform sandals. Interestingly enough, she was much better with heels than I was.

  “I think we should go next door and see if there are more appropriate clothes available,” I said.

  Just then Billie, who’d been packing the SUV with more supplies, came rushing into the kitchen. “We have company and they don’t look friendly,” he said.

  Nora and I rushed to the front of the house and peeked out the window. Three burly biker-type guys had pulled up in a large pickup and were heading toward the front door, carrying guns.

  “Did they see you?” I asked.

  He sighed. “Probably.

  “Shit, we need weapons,” snapped Nora, clacking into the kitchen with her heels. Fortunately, the butcher block still had knives and we grabbed them.

  “Do you have the keys to the SUV?” I whispered to Billie as we snuck out the kitchen patio door.

  “Shit,” he said, feeling in his pockets. “I think I might have left them on the back bumper of the SUV.”

  “Nice going, Sherlock,” snapped Nora.

  “Hey, you should be lucky I found you,” he snapped back. “You probably would have been zombie food by now if I hadn’t bumped into you when I did.”

  “Bullshit, we were doing just fine without you,” glared Nora.

  “Quit fighting,” I hissed. “Let’s just sneak around to the SUV and get the hell out of here.”

  We crept around to the front of the house and Billie grabbed the keys, which were actually lying on the ground behind the SUV.

  “Leaving so soon?” snorted a greasy-haired guy with tattoos all over his thick arms. He spat out a wad of tobacco and cocked his gun.

  “Listen, we don’t want any trouble,” said Billie, raising his hands. “You can have whatever you want.”

  The other two guys, both muscle-bound and scarier than all crap, stepped out of the house and cocked their guns. “See, I told you I saw something,” said the shorter guy with a thin, white scar on the side of his cheek.

  The taller one with a goatee, who appeared to be the leader, nodded. “Good job, Bones,” he said in a deep, gravelly voice. “You three, toss the knives away and get on the ground.”

  “I think we got ourselves a couple of strippers,” chuckled Scarface, smiling down at us in amusement as we got on our knees.

  Nora opened her mouth to correct him but he’d given me an idea, so I cut her off.

  “Yeah,” I said, trying to smile as friendly as I could under the circumstances. “You’re right. At least, we used to.”

  “Strippers, huh?” asked Bones. “You look familiar. Did you used to work over at Shorty’s?”

  “Once in a while,” I lied. “But our specialty used to be totally nude private parties, where we had more freedom to do what we wanted. Man, we rocked at those.”

  Billie raised his eyebrows.

  The leader rubbed his goatee. “Nude, huh? So I suppose you’re thinking we’ll let you live if you have something else worth more value?”

  Nora, who I have learned to never underestimate, played along. She stood up and hiked her dress up a little further. “Oh, I know we have something else of value that is pretty rare these days. And I just showered, baby.”

  “Sounds good to me!” said Bones as he grabbed Nora’s arm and started leading her into the house. “I’ll take this one.”

  “Shit, we really don’t have time for this,” grumbled the leader. “I told Belinda we’d be back before dark, and it’s getting late.”

  “Belinda, is she your girlfriend?” I asked, sticking my chest and my butt out, like Eva used to around Bryce.

  His eyes raked over my bod
y and his eyes darkened. “Um, not really,” he said. “Fact is, I never said we were exclusive.”

  That was all I needed. I swung my hips and walked toward him, trying not to trip on the heels. When I stood directly in front of him, I fluttered my eyelashes. “You know, I so love a man with a goatee.”

  “If you don’t take this one, Charlie, I will,” said Scarface, coming up behind me.

  Charlie swore under his breath. “Okay, watch pretty-boy here while I see what she has under that little piece of cloth.”

  “Fine,” he said. “But I’m next, though.”

  Charlie grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house, where it seemed deathly quiet. “Upstairs,” he said. “You go first, sweetheart.”

  I went ahead of him and I could feel the heat of his eyes burning into my rear. I led him to one of the smaller bedrooms and he closed the door behind us, locking it.

  “Okay, show me what you got,” he said with a lustful gleam in his eyes.

  “I’d feel better if you weren’t pointing the gun at me,” I said softly.

  “Okay. But no funny business,” he replied, sticking the gun in the back of his jeans.

  “Um, it’s hard without music,” I said.

  “I’ve got a flute you can play,” he said with a creepy smile.

  Gross.

  “Why don’t you sit down on the bed?” I pointed.

  “Good idea,” he said, walking over and sitting down on the small twin bed.

  My heart was beating rapidly and I wasn’t even sure what to do next.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” he said. “Take it off.”

  I curled my finger. “Actually, why don’t you come and help me,” I said.

  “Jesus, make up your damn mind,” he muttered.

  “Sorry, but I like to watch you move. You’re so big and burly,” I swallowed back the bile rising in my throat. “It... turns me on.”

  He grinned proudly and stood up. Just as I was about to deliver a roundhouse kick to his face, there was a soft knock at the door.

  “What in the hell?” growled Charlie as he turned away from me and stormed toward the door. When he opened it, Nora stood on the other side, holding a gun.