Lipstick & Zombies (Deadly Divas Book 1)

by McKay, Faith

  "It's so weird to see it," Dee said.

  Meghan blotted at her eyes with the back of her hand. Sadie looked at her questioningly, but Meghan shook her head.

  "Jo?" Dee asked. "Do you know why they're shooting those ones?"

  It was hard to make it out exactly, but it looked like they were shooting the front corpses in a group that was approaching the wall way out in the distance.

  "Why would I know?" Jo asked.

  Dee shrugged and looked away.

  One of the closer soldiers walked over. "We're redirecting them," he said, having heard their conversation.

  "Redirecting them how?" Jo asked.

  "If we shoot the front runners, they'll start moving to the sides. Either side has traps for them."

  Dee nodded like it made sense, but Jo asked what Sadie was about to: "Why wouldn't they just run over the fallen?"

  "They do, but if you build up enough, they'll move around the obvious obstacles. Usually. Hi, by the way, I'm John." He held out his hand and Jo shook it. "I love your video. You were all so great. I've watched it too many times, to tell you the truth."

  "Thanks," Jo said.

  "Could I get a picture with all of you?"

  "Of course," Jo said, and turned to the rest of them to make sure they were all paying attention—Gerri wasn't, and Jo grabbed her arm to pull her into the middle of the forming group shot.

  "Oh, Gerri!" He made a sound that could only be described as a squeak. "I just love that part where you're all drenched in blood. That must have been so scary. You're so-so-so brave!"

  Gerri closed her eyes for a moment, but when she opened them she was back to full Gerri. She leaned forward and kissed the soldier on the cheek. "Thank you, honey!"

  The picture showed him slack-jawed and staring at her.

  "Alright, alright," Meghan said. "It's time to say our goodbyes." This was their cue for big smiles and giant waves. Gerri leaned forward and blew kisses at everyone. Carrie put one hand on her hip with the other raised in a gentle wave and demure smile. Dee waved with both hands and nodded to spaces in the crowd, so people would think she'd singled them out with her love. Jo was the only one of them given permission not to smile, since her forced ones looked painful, and stuck to surveying the crowd and looking like she was interested to be there. Meghan mumbled something about "working more with that one later" every time this came up. Sadie stuck to the end, sweet and coy smiles, with her shoulder turned in and intermittent giggles. She gave the crowd small, wiggling finger waves.

  Once the elevator dipped out of sight of the soldiers she let her body slump against the wall. "I feel a little more ridiculous each time we do that."

  "You'll get used to it," Willa said.

  She doubted that, but didn't figure it was worth duking it out with Willa over.

  "That was really great," Dee said.

  "Don't tell Willa that," Carrie said. "She doesn't need anything else going to her big head."

  "Thank you, Carrie," Willa said, "for deeming yourself responsible for deciding what my head needs."

  "Oh! Oh! Oh!" Dee laughed. "She just did the thing!"

  "What thing?" Carrie asked.

  Sadie, laughing, put a hand on Carrie's shoulder. "She sounded like you."

  "I do not sound like that!"

  All of them, even Willa, laughed.

  "It's okay, honey," Gerri said. "We love it when you get all smart and mean."

  Carrie rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Smart and mean."

  "Oh, I see that smile." Sadie pointed to Carrie's lips. She couldn't believe the two of them were being friendly again. It was a miracle of the wall. "She's proud of it! Watch her head grow."

  The elevator bumped to the ground and Willa stalked out. "Look at her run from us," Sadie said. "You'd think she didn't like us or something."

  Their security guards, a man and woman who doubled as drivers, were lying on the hood of their SUV. The band had only seen the backs of their heads on the drive there, but they were getting an eyeful of them now.

  "I love that," Gerri sighed.

  "What?" Jo asked.

  "Fresh meat."

  Dee slapped her arm. "Don't you just love when that sliver between their pants and their shirts is poking out?" She pointed to the guy's stomach. "I love that little strip of hair right there.”

  "Mhm," Gerri agreed. "The pleasure trail."

  "I think it's called the treasure trail," Sadie corrected.

  "Whichever," Gerri said.

  "Her calves," Dee said. "That's all I have to say about that."

  "They have to be sleeping," Sadie said. "I think that makes us creepy perverts, doesn't it?"

  "Are we caring?" Gerri asked.

  Carrie shook her head. "Haven't you gotten your fill of eye candy up on the wall?"

  Gerri gasped and drew back. "Never," she promised.

  "Come on." Dee grabbed Carrie's chin and turned her toward the view. "Do you really not appreciate that?"

  Carrie's forehead picked up a pink gleam and she smiled reluctantly. "I didn't say that."

  "Okay, alright, show's over," Meghan said, breaking away from her conversation with Willa. "Don't you two have jobs to be doing?"

  The two guards/drivers snapped up, sunglasses falling from their faces, and ran right into the car without saying anything to Meghan. Sadie thought that was surprisingly smart.

  "You guys go ahead and pile in. I'll be five minutes behind you, I have things to go over with Willa." Meghan didn't wait around for them to acknowledge what she'd said, and they didn't expect her to. Dee already had the door open and a wicked smile on her face.

  "Be nice," Sadie said. "They have to drive our car."

  "Only one of them is driving," Dee corrected. "The other one's fair game."

  "You think they'd know better than to give us pretty security guards," Carrie said. "We have been... bad."

  "And you think they could come up with guards we wouldn't get in trouble with?" Gerri asked.

  Carrie giggled. "I hope not."

  "That's the spirit!" Gerri pushed past Carrie and climbed in after Dee, getting in the two seat middle row, putting them right behind the guards. Gerri got to work chatting with them straight away. The rest of them squished into the back row and stuck Jo in the middle, because she was the only one unwilling to complain about it.

  Gerri tumbled back in her seat before the van had even pulled onto the road or Sadie had a chance to listen in to what she was saying to the guards. "They're together," Gerri said. "I guess they found unfun guards after all."

  "You're fun enough for all of us, Gerri," Jo said.

  "Ahh, you sweet thing, you," Gerri said.

  "I really need to work on my autograph," Dee said.

  "Why don't you just do a big pretty D, no Es?" Gerri asked.

  "Hmm." Dee fogged up the window with her breath and started working on swirling Ds, angled Ds, and Ds that didn't look much like Ds at all. "This is going to take a while."

  Cool air swirled up dust from the vents, and Sadie coughed and turned the vent forward, so it blew at the back of Dee's hair. There was so much product in there it barely budged a single strand. They curved over the rough terrain on the edge of the city, rock formations lining the road. Light flicked in and out of the windows, exposing the swirling bits of dust.

  "I can't believe it," Sadie finally said. "They really liked us."

  "We haven't even done anything yet," Carrie said.

  "But they know we will," Dee said.

  "We're really doing this," Sadie said.

  Real smiles, ones they rarely caught in the photographs they'd seen of themselves so far, filled up the van. They were famous and loved and nothing was going to stop them now.

  The van slammed to a stop. Sadie jerked against her seat belt and watched as Dee slid into the back of the passenger seat in front of her.

  "You girls stay here," the passenger guard said. He kept it covered on his side, but they heard the clip click out and back into
his gun.

  "This is bad," Jo said.

  "What's going on?" Sadie leaned into Jo to get a look around the seats. Two large trucks were blocking the road, both of them parked slanted so there was no getting around them. Someone had gotten out of the driver's side of one of the trucks, and appeared to be saying something friendly to their guards. "Did they get in an accident or something? How bad is it?" There wasn't any damage to the trucks that she could see, but...

  The gunshots didn't even register in Sadie's head before their two guards had jerked back and fallen to the ground.

  It was bad.

  EUREKA! SOCIAL STREAM

  They were here! Just now! The Deadly Divas were at the wall!

  Just met the Deadly Divas! Gerri signed around my nipple!

  They're even cuter in person!

  They're so loud. They're so real.

  Did that really just happen? Is this real life?

  Chapter Twenty-three

  JO

  She counted five armed people outside the trucks before she dove over the middle row and dragged her body into the driver's seat. Luckily, the guard had left the van running. She flicked down the locks on the doors, like that was going to do anything, and jammed the thing into reverse. Jo punched the gas before checking behind her. "Get down," she told the others.

  Driving in reverse wasn't ideal, but there wasn't time to consider turning around.They were about to round a corner when the guns started going off again. She kept her head down as much as she could, but getting away trumped not getting shot.

  This was so very bad.

  The shots stopped after they got around the corner.

  She assumed they were still coming after them, so Jo kept up the pace, but moved her head up warily so she could see over the seats better.

  "Check the side panels for guns," she told them. "Under the seats, in the walls, tear it up!"

  The girls immediately followed her directions.

  She wasn't sure how much good a gun would do. She hadn't caught much in her quick look, but she saw enough to know they had on Kevlar vests and gloves. That meant planning. That meant she wasn't so confident they could handle them, guns or no.

  Gerri was talking on a phone. Calling for help—not something Jo would have thought of, but oh, so smart.

  "WE ARE BEING SHOT AT!" Gerri screamed. "WHAT USE ARE YOU?" Pieces of the phone scraped Jo's hands when it shattered against the dashboard. "Sorry," Gerri grumbled.

  Jo just missed hitting a tree, and swore at herself about how she really should have turned this thing around already. There weren't any good pull-offs, and she wasn't sure how long it would take her to whip it around on the two lane road, but she was scared it was too long when you were being chased by people attempting to kill you.

  She turned another corner, and two cars were coming at them. "I'm not stopping!" Jo said. "I don't know who that is."

  "No arguments," Gerri said.

  Jo said a prayer to whatever was out there, and swerved into the empty lane. "Everyone down!" The cars moved further into the other lane, so they probably weren't their enemies, but she wasn't taking any chances. It occurred to her to warn the other drivers what was up ahead, but she had enough problems of her own for the moment. Wasn't their car going backward enough of a red flag?

  Dee started screaming. Jo checked all angles and found nothing new, so it was either the new cars, or events catching up with her. She was gasping for the air to fuel her cries. "Distracting," Jo said, and Gerri murmured something that turned the volume of Dee's screams down a notch.

  The cars stopped at the bend in the road and soldiers popped out. They pointed their guns around the corner where Jo couldn't see. A small pull-off presented itself, and Jo took the opportunity to whip their SUV around.

  "Shouldn't we help them?" Carrie asked.

  "Did you find guns?" Jo asked. "Do we have bulletproof jackets and military training?"

  "Um, no," Carrie answered.

  "Military base it is." With the road straight in front of them, Jo crept the SUV up to speeds she'd always wanted to hit. It seemed like it would be more fun if she could breathe.

  WATM NEWS

  "With their debut concert only days away, Deadly Divas have taken time from their grueling schedules to cheer the spirits of those who need it most: our young soldiers at the wall." The camera zoomed away from the reporter's face, showing the wall towering above him, and then went back in to show him stepping to the side of a crowd at the south elevators.

  "It has been reported by Last Chance Records that the Deadly Divas left the wall hours ago, but many are hoping those reports to be false as dozens of people have crowded this entrance and the others in the hope of catching sight of the young group.

  Earlier today, several soldiers took to online forums to recount their visit from the band.”

  It shows the Deadly Divas aren't just in it for the money. That they truly care about us and our lives.

  They are so much hotter in person. Not scary in a bad way at all—not even the survivalist. She barely even looks like one. Can you be half-survivalist?

  She kissed me! Gerri kissed me!

  What. A. Liar. Asshole!

  {824 comments}

  Who's hottest?

  {1987 comments}

  I hope this changes things. I hope more people see what it is our soldiers are doing, and respect them for it. I hope more people sign up for the military. My son, too wide-eyed and naive by any standards, died outside that wall after signing up for the military. He really believed in what he was doing, even if he told me most of those kids don't. He couldn't do it alone. I never even got a box with his remains. If we had an army like him, maybe more of them would live. An army of soldiers who believe in the cause could change history—change what's left of our world. I wasn't so sure about it, but after seeing these girls going out of their way to meet our kids on the wall, I think we all have to believe.

  "So there you have it, Fort Atlas! On a personal note, this reporter would just like to commend that last commenter on their sacrifice. What do you say, viewers? Do you believe Deadly Divas will make a difference? Do you believe in their message? Let us know, and be sure to check out our ongoing poll on the hottest Deadly Diva!

  “Stay tuned for Carter Halliwell, who's here to tell you how to perfect each of the Deadly Divas' looks, from your nail polish to the weapon you'll just have to have!"

  Chapter Twenty-four

  GERRI

  "And you're seriously telling me you have no idea why they were shooting at us?" Sadie asked.

  "Or who they were?" Carrie added.

  "Did anyone else think they looked like survivalists?" Dee asked. "No offense, Jo."

  Jo shook her head. "They did, but they weren't."

  "So who were they?" Gerri asked.

  "I'm not the police," Meghan said. "I've told you all they've told me. I don't know what you want me to do for you. I assume they were just some extremists who want to stop the band. You aren't going to let that stop you now, are you? Not after everything we've gone through?"

  "No one's saying that," Gerri said. "But really, honey, what if their friends come around to kill us?"

  "We increased security at the venue, of course, and from now on if we go anywhere we'll be sure to have added security, but seriously, girls, it's still altogether possible that they weren't even after you. Very few people in the company, and only a few members of the military, even knew you were going there. That road only goes to the military base. The military has these kinds of attacks all the time."

  "They do?" Sadie asked.

  "Yes, they do," Meghan said.

  "Why?"

  "People angry at the military. Just one more reason what you're doing is so important: to change the public perception. Now, are we ready to get back on schedule?"

  "Yeah, right," Gerri said. "Right?"

  The rest of them nodded. Gerri wasn't sure when she'd become someone who would ask their permission, instea
d of just telling them what they were doing, but she kind of thought she liked it.

  "Another big day ahead of us. Our biggest yet." Meghan readjusted her cardigan. "Tomorrow is the concert. It's easy to focus on yesterday, but we need to focus on right now if we're going to make tomorrow great."

  Teegan shoved through the door, her arms full of drinks. "They didn't have any lemonade, but I went across the street and found strawberry lemonade, does that work?" She put the drinks down on the makeup table. "I saw your photos from your visit yesterday. You all looked perfect, of course. My mom's bragging about how I have this job now. If you'd only heard her last week—" Teegan cut off her sentence the moment she saw Meghan. After two seconds of frozen horror, she scurried back out of the room. Gerri'd have to remember to tell her that strawberry lemonade was what she was going to want from now on, now that she knew it was an option.

  "As you can see, some of the staff is off their game today. I need you five to set the example. Now, everyone should be out on the stage waiting. Are we ready?"

  Gerri raked her fingers through her hair. She'd gotten away with not letting them style her hair today. She loved it like this. She kept it cut short, just a few inches long, and loved letting it just be. Someday, when she clawed some of these people off her back, she'd make that a bigger part of her style. Wild. Free. Less made-up.