“Be careful,” Elias whispered. “Don’t take any chances. Just do a quick look around then come back. Cricket, Chase, we need your help here,” he whispered looking behind him.
Understanding, I nodded. If Chase was right, it wasn’t just the zombies we had to worry about. And a little old man wouldn’t be much of a fight for man or zombie.
Quickly and quietly, the three of us headed outside and darted across the alley. Margie didn’t stir. We followed Ariel into the woods. Ariel stopped, however, once we were deep among the trees.
“Okay,” she said, “the apartment building is about half a mile that direction. Don’t get too close to it. I’ll meet you guys back at the Big Wheel in a bit. Good luck finding your dog,” she said and turned and headed in the other direction.
“Wait, where in the hell are you going?” I called to her.
“My boyfriend lives about a mile away. I haven’t heard from him since cell service went down.”
“Hold up, shorty. Don’t go running off alone. Those things will eat you alive,” Chase said.
“I’m fast. I run track. I’ll go and bring Brian back.”
“And what if your man is sick?” Chase asked.
“Then I’ll come back alone.”
I frowned then turned to Chase. “What about you? You got an agenda too?”
“Naa,” he said with a grin. “I just like how you look with that big ass knife strapped around you. Don’t want to see nothing happen to you.”
I grinned, my heartbeat quickening. For a split second, I imagined twirling my finger around one of his dreadlocks. Not now! “Wait, Ariel. We’ll come too.”
Fool’s errand. Suddenly everything felt like a fool’s errand.
Chapter 7
“Teenage love,” Chase mumbled under his breath. “Nothing burns hotter than teenage love.”
“Oh, there are a few things hotter,” I replied with a wink.
Chase grinned. I noticed that his cheeks dimpled when he smiled. Adorable.
Chase and I hustled behind Ariel. The girl moved through the woods in a hurry. The forest was thick, and thankfully, we didn’t see a soul. It was dead quiet. The cardinal had stopped singing, and there was a strange feeling in the air, like the feeling you get right after a big lightning storm. The air buzzed with electricity.
“Puck,” I whispered harshly as we moved through the woods, keeping an eye out for him as we went. Bad dog, didn’t he know the world was coming to an end? Where had he gone? No doubt he was curled up under a bush in the dry leaves somewhere, snoozing the morning away. I didn’t want to think of a worse alternative. “Puck!”
We climbed over a rise to see a small blue house sitting at the edge of the woods. There was an above-ground pool in the back. The water inside was green and full of leaves. The two-story house had a big deck in the back with a grill and an umbrella table. It was a nice place, typical townie house. But it looked cozy, like the kind of place where you could hole up with a man, have a few babies, watch sitcoms every night while you munch on popcorn, and drink beer.
“Brian’s parents have a storm cellar,” Ariel said. “There,” she added, pointing to wooden double doors at the side of the house. “If they are going to be anywhere, they are going to be down there.”
“Let’s go,” Chase said, pulling out his gun.
I pulled mine as well, knowing all too well I only had one shot left.
We sprinted across the lawn. There was no one around.
Ariel went straight to the storm cellar doors. “Brian?” she called, knocking on the wooden door. “Brian! It’s Ariel! Mr. and Mrs. Clark, you inside?”
There was no answer.
“Brian?” Ariel called again.
Chase and I looked around as Ariel called out. Suddenly, I got this funny tingly feeling. All the hairs on my arm and the back of my neck stood up.
“Chase,” I whispered.
Chase scanned around, gun ready.
Sheets hanging on the nearby clothesline snapped in the wind. A moment later, I saw it, the shadow of a person standing on the other side of the clothes line.
“Ariel,” I whispered harshly, signaling to both her and Chase.
Ariel turned toward us, catching sight of the person standing by the clothesline. “Mr. Clark?”
“Shh!” I hushed her.
The figure didn’t move.
Ariel took a step forward.
“No. Don’t,” Chase told her.
“Mr. Clark?”
He burst through the sheets, lunging at Ariel.
“Mr. Clark! No! It’s Ariel,” she shrieked and jumped back toward us. Red blood smeared the pretty white and pink sheets as Mr. Clark, his face, chin, and shirt covered in blood, lunged toward Ariel, his mouth wide open, teeth snapping.
Chase fired. His shot echoed across the valley. It was too loud. Mr. Clark dropped to the ground. Chase had shot him in the head.
“Oh, no,” Ariel screeched and ran toward the man.
“No! Don’t touch it!” Chase grabbed her just before she dropped to her knees beside him. “On the radio it said not to touch them.”
I heard a groan behind me.
I turned in time to see a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair advancing on me. She didn’t even have a shirt on, just a bra. She had a very large gash in the side of her face.
“Joelle,” Ariel called.
I unhooked my knife.
“Get back,” I told the woman. Her moon-white eyes held steady on me. Just like Mama Rosie, she looked dead. Her face was pale, almost bluish at the edges, and froth dripped from her mouth.
“Joelle! No!” Ariel yelled.
Joelle lunged toward me. I lifted the big knife and swinging as hard as I could, swiped it toward her head. My arms shook when they felt the blade strike bone. Blood splattered across my shirt. Dammit! Joelle grew still; the blade stuck in her head. I let go. She fell onto the ground. I leaned over and put my boot on her chest, suddenly feeling conscious and careful not to step on her breasts, as I pulled the blade out. Blood and bits spilled from her head. I nearly threw up.
“Why’d you let her get so close?” Chase asked, coming up behind me.
“The gun makes too much noise, and I’ve only got one bullet.”
“We need to go inside! Maybe Brian is trapped,” Ariel said anxiously. Tears were streaming down her face. Without waiting for us, she turned and ran for the porch. Chase and I dashed behind her.
“Ariel, wait!” I called.
The screen door banged shut behind her. “That boy is going eat her alive. She doesn’t have a sense of things yet,” Chase said.
“Does anyone?”
“Well, nobody’s going to take a chunk out of me. I’m too mean to eat.”
“I find that hard to believe,” I replied, but then I forced myself to switch my attention. There were zombies around, and I was still cruising for fun. What the hell was wrong with me? “Ariel,” I called as Chase and I headed to the porch.
Moments later, we heard a scream coming from inside.
“Ariel,” Chase yelled.
We ran into the house and followed the sound of Ariel screaming. There, lying on the living room floor, was what was left of Brian: a mangled lump of meat, two converse sneakers, a torn blue t-shirt, and a jaw, the teeth glimmering in the sunlight. The flies had already started to work on what was left of the corpse.
Ariel turned and threw up animal crackers, chocolate drink, and stomach acid all over the beige leather couch. The puke hit the couch with a splash that sent drops of vomit spraying back all over the girl. The smell of everything turned my stomach. I went back into the kitchen to catch my breath. I heard Chase speaking in low tones to Ariel who moaned.
I grabbed a dish towel, opened one of the bottles of water sitting on the table, and wet the towel. When I turned, Chase was leading Ariel back into the kitchen. Wordlessly, I handed the girl the towel and the water.
She wiped off her face and tried to sip the water, but the
second after she drank, her stomach revolted again. She leaned into sink and threw up again.
“Any more people in the family? There a chance we might find someone else?” Chase asked her nervously.
“No,” she whispered between wretches.
The sharp scent of stomach acid burned my nose, but I gently patted Ariel’s back and stayed beside her. How many times had Mama Rosie held my hair back for me while I puked my guts out the morning after a bender. I think I must have stayed drunk for a solid month after my daddy died.
“Ariel, do they have any guns here?” Chase asked. “Whatever happened to them happened fast. Maybe they still have some ammo.”
She threw up again then took a deep breath, wiped her face off, and nodded. “Upstairs. Mr. Clark kept a gun in his nightstand.”
Chase turned and went upstairs while I eyed the open cupboards. They were full of canned soup, tomato paste, ramen noodles, and other supplies. I scanned around to see a backpack lying by the door. I picked it up and emptied the contents on the table then started filling the bag with supplies. Ariel turned and looked at the table. She picked up a piece of paper that had been inside the backpack.
“Homecoming registration,” she said, looking at the paper. “The homecoming dance is next week. We were going to go together. My mom bought me a teal-colored dress. We were supposed to be on homecoming court, me and Brian. Did you go to your homecoming?” she asked me.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to tell her my daddy homeschooled me, if you would call teaching a girl how to repair motors homeschooling, until I got my GED. I always felt a little embarrassed about the fact that I didn’t even have a high school diploma when I was around truly educated people.
“Yeah, I guess I won’t be going either,” she said, tossing the paper back onto the table. She cast a glance toward the living room then started weeping softly, her shoulders shaking.
Chase came back downstairs. “Got it,” he said, eyeing my pack. “Even some spare bullets. Mr. Clark’s gun was the same as yours, Cricket,” he said, handing the box of bullets to me. “Isn’t that lucky?”
“There is no such thing as luck,” Ariel said harshly, wiping her tears.
I set the box of bullets on the counter then reloaded Mama Rosie’s gun. I stuffed a handful into my pocket then put what was left into the backpack.
“I’m real sorry, Ariel, but we better go now,” I said, picking up the backpack.
Ariel cast one long glance back toward the living room. I pitied her. No one should ever see someone they loved die like that. Ever. I was glad I’d never loved anyone, at least romantically, the way she must have loved him. Never did. Never will. But once more, I heard my daddy in my head: never say never.
Chapter 8
Ariel wept quietly to herself as we made our way through the forest. I could hear her sniffling, but she didn’t complain.
“Puck?” I called when we got deeper into the woods. “Damned dog. Puck!”
I climbed a rise in the forest to get a better view. To the left, I saw a thicket. If I were Puck, that’s where I would have spent the night.
“Puck!”
I saw movement in the thicket then heard a little bark.
Chase and Ariel stopped.
“You hear that?” I called to them.
Chase and Ariel climbed the rise to join me.
“Puck!” I called again.
Again, a little bark came from the thicket.
“He must be stuck on something, otherwise he’d come,” I said then headed toward the thicket, Chase and Ariel following behind.
Foolish dog. In the middle of all this mess, I was chasing my dog through the woods. The thicket was a tangle of rhododendron bushes and blackberry briars. The blackberry bushes were thick with fruit.
“Puck?” I whispered harshly.
There was a soft yelp in reply. My stomach filled with butterflies. Was he hurt?
“I’ll go in. Don’t want him getting spooked.”
“We’ll grab some of these while we wait. Katy will like them.” Ariel said. She pulled off the scarf she’d been using for a belt and started picking berries.
Chase looked at both of us like we were crazy then, with a sigh, started helping Ariel.
Cursing under my breath, I pushed into the thicket.
“Puck, it’s me. I’m comin’, buddy.”
I heard a whimper.
I pressed through the bushes. The thorns scraped my skin, the branches pulling my hair. The scratches itched and burned then grew bloody. I finally struggled through the tangle to pop out in a small opening in the middle of the briars.
For a moment, for just a split second, I thought I saw. . .a man. He was sitting on the ground, his legs crossed. The sunlight shined down on his dark hair. He looked up at me from under heavy eyebrows, the sunlight shining on his golden eyes, making them sparkle. What the hell? Then the wind blew, shifting the canopy overhead. I looked up. A beam of sunlight blinded me, making me wince. When I opened my eyes again, Puck was sitting there. There was no man, only the dog. Maybe I was hungrier than I thought.
“You bad dog! Didn’t you hear me calling you?”
Puck whimpered and rose to walk toward me. He was limping. I bent down and lifted the paw he was nursing. There was a big thorn stuck inside.
“You big baby,” I told him as I gently pulled the thorn away. “People are gettin’ eaten alive, and you are whinin’ over a thorn in the paw.” I had to admit, it was in pretty deep. When I pulled it out, he whimpered and a little blood came out.
“Come on, you. Let’s get you back, and I’ll wash it up,” I said as I scratched him on the head. “The things I’ll do for love.”
Puck licked my face.
“Spoiled rotten. I’ve probably got a hundred more scratches than you just chasin’ in here after you,” I scolded him, but I was also filled with relief. Heaven forbid I’d found him in the same state as Brian. I don’t know what I would have done!
“Got him,” I said as I emerged through the brush, Puck coming out behind me, nursing his injured paw.
Ariel smiled. I noticed the dark rings under her eyes. She was feeling miserable, that was for sure, but she was trying to hold herself together.
Chase grinned, shaking his head. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
We headed back to the plaza. The forest was eerily quiet. Something felt strange. Something was off. When we got back to the plaza, we discovered that neither Darius nor Vella were on the roof. The fire escape had been lowered. Margie, the girls’ mom, was lying dead in the alley. The dumpster had been pushed from the back door. A truck was parked near the back. From inside the building, I heard shouting followed by a gunshot then another.
Chase and I dropped to the ground. Ariel rose to go forward, but Chase grabbed her, pulling her down. Slowly, we moved back into the cover of the trees.
Two more trucks came speeding into the back of the alley, running over the body of Margie without a second thought. Her head smashed open like a grape. In the back of each truck were several armed men who jumped out and headed inside. From inside, I heard more gunshots ring out.
I closed my eyes. Vella! All those little girls! My whole body felt like it went stiff with shock.
Chase took a deep breath and clenched his jaw.
“There are so many of them!” Ariel breathed in alarm. “What do we do?”
“Darius is in there,” Chase whispered harshly.
“If Darius is in there, he’s probably . . .” Ariel started but didn’t have the heart to finish.
Vella.
Puck whimpered and moved further back into the woods.
“We. . .we can’t help. They might kill us too. We need to get out of here,” Ariel said.
“Darius. . .and your girl, Vella, she might be. . .” Chase began, but then we heard two more gunshots.
“What can we do? We’re just three people. There must be a dozen of them. But those girls,” I whispered. “Maybe we can—“ I beg
an, but then Puck growled low and dangerous.
Seconds later, we heard a scream. Gemma ran out into the alleyway. Her face was a bloody mess. A man appeared in the doorway behind her holding a rifle. With a laugh, he shot her in the back. When she fell, he shot her again in the head.
There was commotion from inside, and for a moment, we could hear Katy’s cry on the wind.
“Shut that brat up!” the man yelled to someone inside.
A blast sounded from inside. We didn’t hear Katy again.
“Oh my God,” Ariel breathed. “Oh my God. We need to go. Those girls were my friends, but we need to go,” Ariel said as she began tugging on my arm.
My gut kept nagging me. Suddenly, I knew Vella wasn’t in there. She wasn’t there, and neither was Darius. “The fire escape was down. Vella and Darius. . .they may have gotten away. The Bronco,” I said then, gazing back at Puck. “Vella and I lied. We have an SUV, about three miles into the woods across the road from here. We came over to check this place out. We followed the star. Vella and Darius were not on the roof. If they got away, that’s where she went.”
“Let’s go,” Ariel said then led us back into the woods. “There is a culvert half a mile down the road at Moon Creek. A big pipe leads under the road to the other side. We can go through there. No one will see us. It pops out in the woods. Can you find your way back to the SUV?”
“Did you say Moon Creek?”
“Yeah. Can you find your way back?”
“I’ll sure as hell try. Let’s go.”
Chapter 9
Ariel, Chase, and I headed through the woods to Moon Creek. We could still hear ruckus coming from the shopping center behind us, but my instincts were screaming at me to run.
“This way,” Ariel said, leading us down a sloping hill. In the distance, I could hear a rushing stream. “Moon Creek is in the valley. Brian and I used to go fishing there.”
My heart was racing as we made our way through the woods. Puck bounded off ahead of us to the stream, stopping to drink when he got to the water’s edge. The hill was steep. Steadying myself, I made my way to the water. The fallen pink-colored pine needles made the ground slippery. More than once my boot slipped, but I grabbed a tree trunk in time to keep from falling. It was no wonder I couldn’t keep my footing; my knees were shaking. What had I just seen? Elias! Those poor girls! I felt angry and powerless. All I could do was run and hide, but it felt wrong. I didn’t want to abandon them. But. . .they were already dead. I fought back tears as I dragged along behind Chase and Ariel.
Midway: The Harvesting Series Book 2 Page 5
