Highway To Hell 2
Page 9
“We’ll figure it out,” Zara said.
“There’s nothing left to figure out. The compound is wide open and you might have a hundred zombies to deal with. Even if you did kill them all, more are coming. The city is flooding with them. It isn’t safe. I can take you to a place that is safe, though,” Randy said.
“I’d rather die than go anywhere with you,” Zara said. She turned to Christoph. “Aren’t you going to say anything? I’ve put up with a lot of shit from you but this is unreal. You’re really going to believe this bullshit? He’s setting us up. His girlfriend is standing outside and ready to kill all of us.”
“Why would I risk fighting zombies just to come up here and try to fool you to run away with me? I’d get the door open and lead them in. You’re too paranoid,” Randy said.
Zara went to lift her gun to threaten him with it but stopped.
“We’re all out of bullets and we’re tired. How do you know we can even get out at this point? How far is this magical land of safety?” Holly asked.
“It’s far,” Randy admitted. He shook his head. “It’s worth the trip, though. Believe me. Lyssa has blocked off an entire development. There might be twenty five houses. Most still intact, and plenty of food. A wall around it has been built with the gaps filled in. Undeveloped land all around it. A newer development, too. It is ideal for all of us to live and survive. It’s far enough from the highway no one will see us but close enough we can travel up and down Pennsylvania and find more resources.”
“I’m not buying it,” Zara said.
“Why would I lie? Again… the obvious way to kill you is to leave you alone. You would eventually come out to try and escape and I’d shoot you or just keep adding zombies to the warehouse. Much easier than going through all this deceit. For what? Just to kill you? That doesn’t make sense,” Randy said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Zara said.
“I’ll go. There’s nothing here for me, and meeting Lyssa should be interesting,” Holly said.
“Unreal. You let your uterus make all your decisions? Once you get there, Lyssa is going to kill you for sleeping with her man,” Zara said.
“How will she even know?” Holly asked.
Zara smiled. “Because I’m going to tell her. Now, do you want to rethink this stupid plan? If anyone tries to follow this loser, I will sabotage all of it. You got me?” She turned to Christoph and grinned. “Now what are you going to do?”
Christoph raised his pistol and aimed at Zara’s face.
“You don’t have any ammo, old man,” Zara said.
“I was saving one bullet in case I had to off myself. I can put it to better use,” Christoph said.
Zara’s smile dropped.
Christoph pulled the trigger, killing Zara where she stood.
Before anyone could react, Christoph pointed at the door. “Now that it’s settled, lead the way, Randy. We need to get out of Harrisburg and start living our lives without complications.”
Chapter Twenty One
They’d outrun two men on motorcycles twenty minutes ago, losing them on a side street, before Randy had managed to get back onto the highway. Randy kept glancing in the rearview mirror just to be safe.
Holly, sitting in the passenger seat, shook her head and sighed loudly.
“What’s the matter?” Randy asked.
“This is going to be bad. Really bad. I know you swear Lyssa is cool with this but, when she sees me, she’ll flip out. I don’t want to have to kill her. I know you have feelings for the psycho. I get it. I was in love once,” Holly said.
“It will be fine,” Randy thought. He didn’t know how. Lyssa would freak out when she saw Holly, but Randy was sure he’d be able to get the two women to live together without a war. “You just… uh…”
“Need to back off, right? Not try to have sex with you while your girlfriend is around.” Holly smiled and leaned over, patting Randy’s lap. “Don’t worry. I’ll only seek you out when I’m ovulating. Once you knock me up I’ll leave you alone.”
“Can we pay attention to the road?” Christoph asked from the backseat, where he was sprawled out and looking tired.
Randy looked in the rearview mirror and caught Christoph’s smile. He winked back at the old man.
He isn’t long for this world, Randy thought. Maybe his last days will be peaceful. He can relax and enjoy life for a little bit before his end. All sobering thoughts but Randy knew it was the truth he was thinking.
“I think I saw a chess board, Christoph. You look like a stuffy old man who knows how to play chess,” Randy said.
“I could beat you with my eyes closed. You don’t seem smart enough to know how to play.”
“I don’t,” Randy admitted. “But I figure we’ll have plenty of time for you to teach me the finer points of the game. How does that sound?”
Christoph snorted playfully. “Sure. If they can teach monkeys how to do stuff, why can’t I teach you?”
“The monkeys are the reason we’re in this mess,” Holly said.
“That’s not true,” Randy said. “It was from people not vaccinating their kids. The virus mutated. Damn hippies killed us.”
“This started in Sweden. A sick woman flown into Canada started this. I heard it on the news before everything shut down,” Christoph said.
“Sweden? That sounds ridiculous. They have Viking blood in them. Too strong a people to let something as weak as a zombie virus get to them. I still think it was the hippies,” Randy said.
“The monkey is what did it. Some crazy asshole had sex with a green monkey,” Holly said. “He passed the virus off to his wife or someone.”
“Isn’t that how they said HIV started? I don’t believe any of this shit. You know what happened? Man happened. We fucked up this planet beyond recognition. We did this to ourselves. If there is a God up there, he decided we were done messing up his pretty planet. He corrected the mistake,” Randy said.
“Damn Swedes,” Christoph said.
“Monkeys,” Holly said.
Randy laughed as he pulled up to the gates to the development. They’d had a clear path from Harrisburg without incident. Things were looking up for them.
He went to get out but stopped.
“What?” Holly asked.
“You sure you’re cool with this?” Randy asked.
“Cool with a nice place to stay? An actual bed and no zombies threatening to eat me on the other side of a flimsy chain-link fence? I think I can handle it. Go tell your girlfriend we’re home,” Holly said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Randy said and got out of the car.
Including Lyssa, there were now four survivors. Two men and two women, although, Christoph wouldn’t take a mate. Randy was going to have the women fighting over him, which made him scared and excited at the same time.
“Hurry up,” Holly yelled from the car.
Randy nodded and went to the gate. If it was open, Lyssa was going to let them stay. He hadn’t told the others about it. He was having faith she would do the right thing and not lock them out.
Lyssa, baby, please do the right thing, Randy thought and put his hand on the gate.
He pushed the gate open and, as it swung, revealing the first street into the development, Randy grinned.
This was going to end well for all of them.
He couldn’t wait to see Lyssa and hug her.
Chapter Twenty Two
Lyssa waited until she saw Randy open the gate and their vehicles drove inside.
The woman, his new girlfriend, was with Randy.
Just as well. I’d have to kill the bitch, Lyssa thought. I’d rather let them live in peace and do their thing without my interference.
She walked back to her pickup truck, packed with food and supplies. From this vantage point, she could just make out Randy’s car as it headed towards the house.
Lyssa had left everything intact except for a few personal items she needed and enough food and water to last a month. She had two shotguns in t
he front seat, two more stashed in the back, and six fully-loaded handguns in easy reach of the truck. She was taking no chances.
She’d heard motorcycles in the area an hour ago, as she’d driven out of the development for the last time and made sure the gate wasn’t locked. She’d stayed on guard so no one besides Randy would enter.
I’m sure I’ll deal with bikers and marauders before I can get out of Pennsylvania, Lyssa thought. It would be just another obstacle in her way.
The note for Randy was left on the kitchen table where he’d find it. She’d left the doors unlocked and the house keys with her note.
“I’ll miss you, my love,” she whispered. She’d made a big mistake letting him go. He’d found someone else to be with and nothing she did would change it. Lyssa hoped he found happiness. She was going to hit the road and find her own. Killing a bunch of survivors wasn’t as satisfying as she thought it would be. She was overcompensating for her own pain and needed a distraction; shooting mindless zombies in the head wouldn’t help in the long term.
Lyssa had figured out a better plan for the rest of her life, as long as it was going to be.
The redhead had driven south. All of the zombies were slowly migrating south.
Everything Lyssa was seeking was in that direction.
She waved at Randy, even though he was clueless what was happening, and sighed. If she hadn’t screwed up royally, she’d be at home right now with Randy, eating a nice meal and laughing. Living a perfect life.
“You’re too restless,” she whispered. She was talking to herself more and more these past few days and it scared her, but she supposed she’d be the only companion for a long hard journey south.
She was going to find the redhead bitch and torture her slowly for everything she’d set into motion.
Lyssa got into the pickup truck and smiled when her kitten climbed into her lap.
This ride was going to be worth it.
Author Notes
Technically you don’t have to read Highway To Hell to figure out what’s going on in the sequel, but it would make much more sense if you saw the progression of the main character, Randy Jackson.
And you don’t have to read Dying Days: Origins (which featured Tosha Shorb) but it would really help you as the reader to know some quick back story on one of the characters Randy will meet along his journey.
Whatever you decide to do, I hope you’ll enjoy the story regardless and want to read more tales set in the Dying Days zombie world. Before it’s too late…
The Extreme Undead series from Armand Rosamilia
Highway To Hell
Darlene Bobich: Zombie Killer
Dying Days
Dying Days 2
Dying Shortly (2 shorts)
Dying Shortly Volume 2 (2 shorts)
Still Dying: Select Scenes From Dying Days
Still Dying 2
Dying Days 3
Dying Days: Origins
Dying Days: Origins 2
Dying Days 3
Dying Days 4
Dying Days 5
Armand Rosamilia is a New Jersey boy currently living in sunny Florida, where he writes when he's not sleeping.
He's written over 150 stories that are currently available. You should read all of them. Twice.
You can find him at http://armandrosamilia.com for not only his latest releases but interviews and guest posts with other authors he likes!
e-mail him to talk about zombies, baseball and Metal:
armandrosamilia@gmail.com