It was both a liberating experience, to finally give over to that side of me, and a horrifying experience.
You never forget the first person you eat, as strange as that sounds. I had only bitten Brett’s face and this girl was about to be devoured. I look back on it and find it almost humorous how apologetic I was with her. Here I was yanking her from her car so I could attack her in the parking lot; I justified my actions with the insane hunger that was gnawing at my gut.
I didn’t even have to give myself a pep talk. I just went for it. I had not been feeling like myself anyway, and this was where the last of Cassie went away.
My victim was scared and I couldn’t blame her, but I was ravenous. It should have been disgusting to me, but as the desire to feed became more than I could fight, I enjoyed killing her. I also enjoyed biting off more than I could chew as the blood ran down my face. I had become a disgusting human being.
I didn’t finish her. I simply ate until I was full. Looking down at her, I had only eaten part of her arm and half of her torso. I couldn’t help but think that it should be a lot grosser to me, but I found it natural.
I sat beside her body, or what was left of it, for a while after I had feasted on her, just reliving it over and over again. When I stood up, I had no clue where I was going or what I was doing. Soon, I would be shuffling along with the crowd, toward town, in search of more flesh for my dining pleasure. I was starting to move slower. It felt like my veins were full of lead. When I went to raise my arms, they felt heavier, and when I went to move my legs, I had to struggle to not let them drag on the ground.
Rose came shuffling up to me and cocked her head, groaning.
I spoke back to her with a number of groans and noises. I had woken up one day able to understand what she was saying. Before that morning, it just sounded like she was moaning all the time. That is how I knew there was no turning back.
“Yes, you can have the rest of her, Rose.”
Rose had an insatiable appetite. We had been lucky, so far, that we found her humans hiding on every stop of our journey to nowhere. The truck had long run out of gas and we had just been wandering around aimlessly, until, somehow, we had made it back to our hometown. It was a good thing, because, with my muscles stiffening more every day and my body becoming harder to control, driving was next to impossible for me.
This was the first time that I had eaten someone and I was dealing with it. I thought about Cage as I listened to the disgusting sounds of the rest of my poor girl being devoured. I wondered if he thought of me, and how he was getting along. I wondered if he hadn’t eaten any good people lately. I chuckled to myself with that last thought.
“When you finish, Rose, we will move on.”
She burped in response and I allowed my eyes to close for a minute, leaning back against the car I had drug the poor lady from. We had no purpose anymore. We wondered around and looked for people who were still void of disease to satisfy our insatiable hunger.
There weren’t that many people left where we were traveling; although, I suspected there were people holed up underground or there were more safety camps than we thought there were. So far, the people we found seemed to be renegades. They thought they could survive on their own, or in small groups. They were often in groups of two or more, traveling the country, scavenging for food and brandishing baseball bats and crow bars for weapons. They reminded me of how we had been at one time, just Rose and I, wandering the streets, not knowing where we were going.
Actually, up until this point, we had wandered around looking for those people for Rose to devour. I had not joined in before today. The desire hadn’t struck me. I had bitten a couple of people so my desire to spread the disease was certainly there in my makeup, but not the craving for flesh. It was a slowly brought on desire that I was hoping would hold off as long as possible. Then, one day, I no longer craved a candy bar, but a piece of man candy, or woman candy, whatever I could catch.
Rose stood up and we continued on our way. The town was desolate and eerily quiet. We had discussed finding a hoard to join. Zombies worked better together and we thought it would be beneficial for when we needed to find food. Once or twice, I thought about what would happen to us when there were no more fresh humans to devour. Eventually, we were going to run out of food, weren’t we?
We moved slowly down the road together. I was glad I had been able to keep Rose around when Trent wanted to leave her. Sure, she had tried to bite me several times before I fully turned. I think this was more her instincts to feed herself kicking in than her, actually, craving my flesh. I was infected and most of our kind avoided me, but she was around me so much she had the urge. On occasion, I would have to fight off a walker that had been starved for so long that it didn’t matter I was mostly dead. I understood now why those that had almost fully turned had wanted to eat us in the barn, and why Evelyn had been eaten in her own basement hideaway. It was because they were starving.
It didn’t matter; she was the best friend I had, and my only ally. Letting them chain her to the back of that truck was the best thing I ever did.
When we made it to the Kelmart, I had fond recollections of Trent and Cage. I also smelled human flesh, the undead kind. I smiled at Rose. My smile looked like a normal face, because my muscles were no longer working. She smelled it, too; I could tell by the way her eyebrows went up. We were both surprised she could still do this. Once, we spent a whole day trying to move different parts of our face.
Eventually, time didn’t really mean anything to us anymore. We could not tell how many days we had spent wandering. When we finally did meet up with a hoard, they were an eclectic group.
Some people I had known, and some I hadn’t. They had the same agenda we did; groan, shuffle around, and eat flesh. We thought they were as good of a hoard as any so they became our zombie cronies.
Day in and day out, we wandered around. Sometimes our numbers were taken down by a rogue group of humans that had figured out we die if you shoot us in the head. I was reminded of the vigilantes that had chased us down in Evelyn’s hideaway town. That seemed so long ago now when it really had, probably, only been a couple of months. My former race was still trying to fight us. I had no idea how many people were left in the world.
As the days went by, it took a lot more effort and time to have a conversation. Even if you understood Slopar, you would have to be patient with us. It would take a long time for us to get out what we were trying to say.
I am still shuffling across the parking lot to Rose and her box-dyed supper.
As I figured, it has taken me an incredibly long time to get there. I look down at my hands and take in how hideous they are. No manicure in the world could ever fix my monster hands. I try to think about how I am the best-looking of the group, and that gives me some solace.
“Rose,” I call out to her in our language, “how’s the blonde?”
“Delicious” she says through a mouthful. She lifts one of the girl’s arms and watches it flop back down, “and dead.”
Across the parking lot, my victim begins to twitch. His blood is still trickling down from the main artery I bit into. At first, I think that it is just his body reacting. When he lifts his head to look at me, that’s when I know. Old Neil has just been zombified. It hadn’t happened that quickly before, so my venom must have gotten stronger the longer I had been in my current non-alive state.
“Rose, we are going to have a new friend to play with.” I am excited as I turn around to start my long shuffle back across the parking lot to Neil.
Epilogue
Joseph slowly sat up from his spot in the parking lot. How had he gotten there? What the hell was going on? He realized where he was when he saw the zombie walking across the parking lot to him. He couldn’t really say she was walking to him. She was more shuffling slowly over to him. He couldn’t believe he had allowed himself to get killed by a zombie. Look at her, how did this happen? I’m a runner; I had trained for this type of situation.
He tried to say, “You killed me, stay away.” That is not what came out, though. He had no choice but to wait for her to get to him. She shuffled over at the speed of a snail. He wished he had a watch so that he could look at it with an annoyed expression.
There were a lot of them around. How had he gotten himself mixed up in a hoard of zombies? There was something off about the situation, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He had been so careful throughout the whole invasion and even after. Avoiding zombies had become something he was really good at. He had killed people, some good friends. Was this payback for that?
He realized that his face wasn’t really moving the way he wanted it to. She was saying something to him, and he thought he understood it. How could that be?
“Neil, I’m coming Neil.” Was she talking to him? Who the hell was Neil? This zombie was already scaring him with her craziness.
He decided to try to communicate as he stood up. It took him an extremely long time to get his limbs to function the way he wanted them to. He groaned and, finally, stood up enough to yell back at her.
“My name is Joseph, not Neil” He noticed there was a lot of his leg missing. He assumed that was her fault. So much for being a runner now; I probably can’t even shuffle fast.
“Hang on, Neil; I am coming, but I can’t really hear you.”
Joseph attempted to roll his eyes. This was going to be a long day. Half of it would be spent waiting on her to get to him. The other half would be spent trying to get her not to call him Neil. He decided he better start moving toward her and found that he couldn’t move fast at all. They shuffled to one another in the middle of the parking lot and so began Cassie’s next adventure.
The End
I can be reached at: www.lyramcken.com or selfpublishordie.com
Book 9 – Chrissy Peebles
Crush
Book 1
The Crush Saga
by Chrissy Peebles
Copyright © 2013 by Chrissy Peebles
Editor: Autumn J. Conley
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
A huge thanks to Autumn Conley, my editor.
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Chapter 1
Big Bear Lake, California is located in a lush green valley, surrounded by mountains and the towering pines, sparkling streams, wildlife, and hidden lakes of the San Bernardino National Forest. We’d just moved into a cute, two-story brick house along the south shore of Big Bear Lake, a beautiful, quaint little home left to us by my grandmother when she’d passed away. She’d spent her whole life in the house and had loved it, so my parents thought it would be fantastic to dump our city life and move out to the smog-free middle of nowhere, where we could get lost in the peace and quiet tranquility. It wasn’t the easiest place to get to, and only three roads led in and out of the valley.
My parents loved the solitude because they were writers. My father wrote mystery thrillers, and Mom penned romance novels. They hated the hustle, bustle, and noise of the city and were sure they’d be better able to concentrate out in the peaceful wilderness. “It’ll be a fresh start for all of us,” my mother assured me just after my bad breakup with my boyfriend, “a very healthy experience all around.”
I wasn’t sure, though, if I could so easily adjust to the simple life after living in New York City, but once we got there, I loved the place. It was a far cry different, going from honking taxicabs and towering buildings to honking geese and towering trees, but I knew my mother was right; it would be the perfect spot to forget about my depressing love life.
I had two brothers and one sister, but they had already moved out of the house, so now I was virtually an only child, with the two most wonderful parents. We were a loving, close-knit family, and I couldn’t have been more thankful for that.
It was only June when we moved in, so I had almost the whole summer to get used to California and my new home before school started. I carried in the last heavy box to my cluttered room; everything was a mess. I bit my lip hard as I looked around at all the boxes and bags, knowing there was no way I’d get everything unpacked and put in its place in one night.
My mother pushed through the maze of boxes, toppling them everywhere. “Pizza’s here.”
It was past lunchtime, and my stomach rumbled. My German shepherd pranced around in a circle and barked.
“Mom,” I said, “Max needs to be walked first.”
She brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled. “Go ahead and take him out, then, but don’t wander off too far.”
I kissed her cheek. “Of course not.”
She pointed to my eyes. “What’s with the dark circles?”
“Uh…I’m sure it’s just makeup, or maybe just because I’ve been getting absolutely no sleep?”
“It’s your makeup,” she said, smiling. “You look like a raccoon.”
“See? I’ll fit right in with the wildlife out here.”
My mom laughed. “Well, maybe the raccoons can adopt you. They’re nocturnal too.”
“I just can’t sleep at night. I can’t help it.”
She wrapped her arm around me. “Is this about the breakup with Sean? Honey, it’s been six months. Remember what we talked about? We’re here for a new beginning, a fresh start.”
“I know,” I said, wincing because the whole thing still hurt.
Sean had dumped me out of the blue, and getting dumped sucked, no matter the reason. I had given him my heart, and he had trampled all over it. The breakup absolutely blinded me, and I didn’t see it coming when he called me and said, “Taylor, this just isn’t working for me anymore.”
I knew it was time for me to move on with my life, with whatever grace and dignity I could muster. We’d both made mistakes in the relationship, and neither one of us were perfect by a long run. Still, I refused to let that relationship define who I was. Just because we didn’t work out and clearly weren’t meant for each other, that didn’t mean things wouldn’t work out with someone else in the future. My friends set me up on stupid dates that never worked out, and I wondered if I’d ever find the “spark” again. For the time being, I decided I was done with guys. I was just going to enjoy my fresh start and focus on my passion, painting. The yard was overrun with weeds and vegetation, but my dad had hired someone to fix it up, and when he was finished, it would be the perfect place for me to pursue my art.
I threw my black, curly hair into a messy ponytail, then slid my feet into my white tennis shoes. I wore a white t-shirt and my favorite pair of skinny jeans that hugged my curves so tight they felt like a second skin. I’d washed them so many times that they were faded and super soft, form-fitting in all the right places. The right knee had a large rip in it, but that only gave them originality. Silver and leather bracelets dangled from each of my wrists, and silver rings adorned my fingers. I looked into the mirror and wiped the smeared eyeliner from underneath my brown eyes, then headed outside.
It was so beautiful there. Our yard was surrounded by towering trees that stretched high into
the sky. The birds chirped, the sun shone on my face, and a cool breeze ruffled my hair. I loved my back yard woods. Inhaling the clean air, I smiled. I’m really going to enjoy my fresh start here…and so is Max, I thought as the dog explored the back yard, fascinated and intrigued by all the new smells and sounds.
Suddenly, Max’s ears shot back, as if he had noticed an animal in the woods. Peering closer, I glimpsed a whitetail deer sipping from a puddle. My heart melted at the sight of the adorable animal. Max’s bark scared it almost to death, and the poor animal darted off into the vegetation. He wasn’t used to all that natural wildlife, but I knew he was going to love it there as much as I was, if not more. He barked fiercely, then suddenly bolted through the trees, deeper into the woods, and I guessed he was chasing the deer. I decided then and there that I’d have to keep him on a leash.
“Max!” I yelled. “Come back!”
He didn’t listen.
I glanced back at the house, wondering if I should get my parents for help. The woods and its inhabitants scared me, but I debated on what I should do. Finally, I decided to just go a little ways into the woods, but I did—if only for a brief second—wonder what the chances were that I’d run into a bear.
I stepped through the vegetation and took a tentative step. Glancing around, I didn’t see Max, so I called for him a few times, only to get no response. When I heard a bark in the distance, I took off through the woods that surrounded our property. I pushed aside some green vegetation and glanced ahead and could finally see my beloved and ornery pet. “Max!” I shouted. “Come back!”
He gave me the dog version of the I-see-you-but-I-don’t-care look, then started sniffing the ground.
Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) Page 97
