“Conrad,” I said on a sigh as I opened the door. “Hi!”
He smiled as he wiped his feet on the mat outside, which was still covered in broken glass from earlier in the day, though he didn’t remark about it. With a sigh, he stepped inside. This close, he looked tired, but after a day of patrolling for zombies, it didn’t surprise me.
“Looks like you found her all right,” he said.
“We did,” I said. “Thank you so much for your help. We’re making some supper before we figure out what to do next. Will you join us? It looks like you’ve earned a good meal and some company.”
He hesitated but then he nodded. “W-Well, I can’t see the harm.” He looked around. “Looks like they finally cut the power, huh?”
I nodded. “Yes, Dave went down to check the breaker, but I think we all know it’s not that. I’ll go down and get him. Gina’s still in the kitchen, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”
He hesitated again and I frowned. Maybe he didn’t like Gina as much as she liked him or something. But this was the least of our problems, and one they’d just have to work out on their own, so I ignored it and headed down to the basement.
“Dave,” I called out at the top. “I’m coming down. It’s me so don’t shoot, okay?”
His voice came from the back of the dark area. “Gotcha. I’m in the back. The breaker’s fine, not that it’s a surprise.”
I made my way through the darkness toward the dim glow of his flashlight. He was still staring at the fuses as if he could somehow magically make them flow with electricity again.
“So they did cut the power,” I sighed when I reached his side.
He nodded. “Yeah. But we knew they would eventually. I’m surprised we lasted what… three days?”
I changed the subject because the power situation was too upsetting. “Conrad got here.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, distracted as he handed me the flashlight and closed the circuit breaker box.
“I figured I’d give him a minute alone with Gina.”
He turned toward me with a blank expression. “Why would you do that?”
“She likes him, dummy.” I laughed.
He stared even harder and I swear I could see the question mark appear in a cartoon bubble above his head. “Bullshit.”
“No bullshit. She likes him.” I looked toward the upstairs area. There wasn’t much light, just a dim flicker from the candles and lanterns Gina had lit. “But I’m not sure he feels the same. Still, we should offer to take him with us when we go.”
“Why wouldn’t he like her? And why would she like him?” he asked, his voice still filled with blank disbelief.
I laughed as we started for the stairs. “Because that’s what people do, babe. Even in these circumstances. Conrad is a good shot and he has some skill with cars. He’ll come in handy. Just don’t go all ‘caveman must protect sister’ on him, okay? He’s a good guy. She could do way worse.”
We got to the top of the stairs and in the increased light I saw Dave’s scowl.
“Okay, bad boy,” I teased. “Why don’t you just stay here then and cool down? I’ll break up the lovebirds and then we’ll eat.”
He shrugged. “Fine. But send Conrad in here, huh?”
I looked at him. Actually this protective streak was kind of cute, not that I thought Gina needed it. Still, I nodded as I went into the kitchen.
I stopped almost immediately because what I saw proved exactly what I’d been saying to David and what I’d suspected earlier.
Gina was standing in front of the sink and Conrad was standing before her. He was pressed up against her and from the angle I was at, it looked like they were kissing.
I smothered a smile. Well, Dave was just going to have to get over that. I cleared my throat, but the lovers didn’t break apart. Under normal circumstances I might have walked away and given them a minute, but we had a lot to discuss and I wasn’t sure Dave wouldn’t come charging in if he knew his precious sister was making out with a random guy.
“Hey, Conrad?” I said, this time louder.
He lifted his head from hers and then slowly turned. To my utter horror, his mouth was covered in blood and his red eyes glowed in the candles.
“Oh fuck!” I screamed. “Dave!!”
I could hear him coming, but Conrad was already heading across the kitchen. I couldn’t get my gun out of my waist fast enough, so I grabbed for the closest thing. The frying pan off the stove. Normally it would have burned me, but of course Gina had put a little cozy around the metal handle to keep it from being dangerous. As I picked it up, I briefly wondered if she’d crocheted the thing herself.
But that thought left my mind as Conrad lunged for me. I swung, connecting with the pan right across his temple. Hot grease flowed onto his flesh, burning part of his cheek away. He growled and went for me again. I slammed the heavy, cast iron frying pan a second time, sending him flying backward.
I jumped on top of him, crushing the frying pan down against his skull over and over until there was no chance of him coming back to life because he had no head left.
I stood up, tossing the bloody pan away as I stared at the now nearly headless body.
“Oh no,” Dave whispered from behind me.
I spun around. Dave had stopped and was now standing at the kitchen entrance, staring at Gina. She had slumped to the floor when Conrad released her and blood was spurting merrily from the fresh bite mark on her shoulder.
“Oh no,” I repeated the sentiment as we both went for her at the same time.
Dave fell to the ground and swept her up, holding her in his arms as I got down on my knees before them and checked the wound. Already the flesh where Conrad’s teeth had closed was beginning to gray and ooze blackness.
“Oh shit,” I whispered. “Dave…”
He shook his head at me, denying what my tone implied. Tears filled his eyes. “No. No, Gina. You listen to me, you’re okay.”
She looked up at him. “David?”
He nodded. “Yes, Gin, it’s me. I’ve got you. We’re going to fix you up.”
She shook her head. “Oh honey, no. You know better.”
He turned his gaze on me. “Why did you let him in? Why didn’t you check?”
I would have flinched if his tone wasn’t so pained and not angry. Plus, I was asking myself the same question. Over and over again as I began to remember all the signs Conrad had given that something wasn’t exactly right.
“I’m sorry,” I moaned. “Oh Gina, I’m so sorry.”
She turned toward me and I waited for her to accuse me of doing this on purpose. But instead she whispered, “No, there was no reason to think.… He seemed so fine. He seemed so normal. We were talking and then he had me against the sink. He kissed me. He said, ‘I’m sorry, darlin’. I thought he was apologizing for kissing me but…”
She trailed off with a great shudder. “I can feel it changing inside of me already. I don’t want to change.”
Dave held her tighter. “You won’t. You’ll be okay.”
Gina shook her head. “I won’t, honey. And there’s only one way to end this before I’m gone forever and won’t be able to control myself.”
Dave’s fingers tightened from where he held her and his face went almost as gray as a zombie’s. I could see he was thinking about Amanda and all the other “acquaintances” we’d been forced to slay in the last few days.
But this was different. This wasn’t some unimportant person on the outer fringes of our lives. This was family.
“Gina…” His voice cracked as he whispered her name.
She smiled at him, loving and like a parent rather than a sister. Before that had annoyed me but now I appreciated it a lot more.
Her gaze shifted to me, slightly unfocused and soft. “Sarah… you have to do it.”
I drew back as I realized what she was asking me. “Oh God, Gina —”
She coughed and a bit of black phlegm covered her bottom lip. “You and I n
ever got along, but I believe with all my heart that you love Davy. You would do anything to protect him. And a brother shouldn’t have to kill his sister.”
Tears trickled down my cheeks. She was right, of course. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
Dave turned on me. “Sarah!”
“Look at me,” Gina whispered, her voice starting to change. “You give me a hug. And then you go out of the room. You let Sarah take care of you. Let me take care of you this one last time.”
He tensed and I thought he’d argue. But I guess he could see as well as we could that this was over. In a few minutes, Gina would be gone, replaced by a monster he’d never forget if he didn’t walk away now.
“I love you,” he whispered as he hugged her.
Then he got up with a wince of pain, both physical and emotional. I rose with him and squeezed his hand before I let him limp from the room with silent tears streaming down his haggard face.
I looked down at Gina as I withdrew the handgun from my waistband. My hands shook as I lifted it and aimed for her, but I couldn’t bring myself to depress the trigger.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Gina —”
She smiled at me in a way she never had before. With real warmth. With real emotion. And in that moment, I realized why Dave loved her so much. And how much we were both about to lose.
“Honey, you’re doing the right thing,” she choked. “Now you do that and then you go take care of Dave. You two keep running. But run together. Stay together. Find more family and stay together.”
I smiled through my tears. “We will. We will, I promise you.”
I lifted the gun again. “Now close your eyes, Gina. Just close your eyes.”
“I love you, Sarah,” she whispered as her eyes, still so much like David’s even though they were starting to tint red, fluttered shut.
“I love you, too,” I sobbed.
And then I pulled the trigger.
Love one another. Zombie infestation or not, it’s the only thing that matters in the end.
The next morning we buried Gina on the hill behind her house under a tree.
It took quite a bit of time to convince David to do it, but we buried Conrad beside her. In the end I just kept reminding him of how good a man Conrad had been when he was alive. And how the thing that attacked his sister wasn’t really the same man who had lived next door to her for years.
We stood in front of the markers we had fashioned from some wood we found in the barn that day, and I have to say even Gina would have approved of the Martha Stewart job I’d done on hers. I’d carved her name so carefully and decorated it with fabric and flowers. Sure, those things would fade, but they were beautiful now and somehow that mattered in the midst of everything ugly around us.
Slowly I put my arm around my husband and looked up at him in the bright sunshine.
“Do you hate me?” I asked.
We hadn’t talked about what I’d done since the night before. Once I’d shot Gina, I’d just come into the living room. He’d been sitting waiting for me, his head in his hands, and we’d cried together for a long time.
Then we’d gone to bed and I’d risen long before him to tidy up the bodies for the burial.
He looked at me and there was shock on his face, as if he hadn’t ever thought of such a thing. I was relieved even before he spoke.
“Of course not. We both know… we all knew she was going to change and it would have been so much worse. I love you for doing it, I don’t think I could have.” He hesitated. “Do you think I should have?”
“No,” I whispered. “That’s too much to ask of any brother. You just remember her the way she was before, when you were kids. That’s the best thing you can do.”
He nodded. “I’m trying so hard to do that, Sarah. I hope I can someday.”
We were quiet for a while, just looking at the graves as a soft late summer breeze made the leaves shiver on the tree above us. We hadn’t seen any zombies this far out of town all day, so it almost felt normal here in that moment.
“You know what she told me?” I said after a while.
He looked at me. “What?”
“That we should stay together.” I smiled at him. “So what do you think, babe? Are we going to stay together?”
He nodded without even an ounce of hesitation. “Hell, yeah we’re going to stay together. Is there even a question?”
“No. Not anymore,” I said and meant it for the first time in a long time.
“So what do we do?” he asked. “I mean, we were coming here for Gina, so what do we do next?”
I smiled. “Well, since we know my Dad is out of San Diego, and that the city is already overrun, there’s no point in heading South.”
David nodded slowly. “Too bad, the weather would have been nice.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, we could have worked on our tans while battling the zombie horde. Oh well.”
“So do we go toward Chicago and hope your Dad was right about there being safety there?” Dave asked.
I thought about it a long time. I couldn’t picture a way that there could be true safety left in the world. But I didn’t want to give up hope completely.
“It may be our only option,” I admitted. “Though I think it’s going to take us a long time to get there.”
“You’re probably right. But I’m in this for the long haul, remember.”
As I squeezed his hand, Dave looked down at Gina’s grave and then blew a soft kiss before we started down the hill toward the house, arm in arm.
“You know, Dr. Kelly once told us that we should find a common goal to work on together,” he said. “That it would bring us closer together and help us remember why we wanted to be together in the first place.”
I nodded. “I think that was one of her better pieces of advice. We definitely did that over the last few days and look how strong we are now.”
“Well, I think we should take it a step further. If it’s going to take us weeks, maybe even months to get where we’re going, what do you think about starting a business with me in the meantime?”
I stared at him. Was he serious? I mean, there were hardly any people left that I could see. I had no idea what he could be talking about.
“What kind of business? Make scented candles? Flip houses? Sell insurance?” I laughed.
“How about exterminators?” he asked as he raised an eyebrow toward me. “We joked about it, but I bet we could use our skills to help a lot of survivors who are hiding out and waiting for a government that just might not come.”
I thought about it for a minute. He was right in a lot of ways. We were fucking good at this. And it beat slogging at my day job, anyway.
“S and D Zombie Extermination,” he continued. “We take care of your undead issues.”
“Zombiebusters. I like it,” I laughed as we went back into Gina’s house to gather up supplies.
There isn’t much good to say about the zombie infestation. A lot of people died in those first few days and a lot more were still going to die before the whole thing worked itself out. Plus, don’t even get me started on the mad scientists and washed-up rock stars we’d have to deal with eventually.
But I have to say, the zombie plague saved my marriage. And if you follow the rules, have each other’s backs and stick together… it could save yours, too.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
What an odd and interesting journey this book has been for me and I’m so pleased to see it reach shelves. But without the following people, it never would have happened. First, I must thank Josh and Drea Fecht, who took us to the movies one fateful night and set off a spark in my imagination. You are wonderful friends and we’re lucky to know you. I must also thank my brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Melissa Cerise-Bullock. When I asked if you wanted to run a cult, you said yes without hesitation. I’m not sure whether to be worried by that or not, but I do appreciate the unbridled enthusiasm.
I must also thank my wonder
ful agent, Miriam Kriss. You not only kept me going through a tough year, but you read the first thirty pages of this book and told me to finish it. Your enthusiasm for me and my work, not to mention your friendship, is a rare and wonderful thing. I also can’t forget Devi Pillai and the entire team at Orbit for jumping on this project with such passion and taking it to publication. You guys rock!
Finally, I have to thank my husband, Michael. You are my rock, and I fully trust that you would get me out of a zombie outbreak alive, even though I’d probably drive you crazy the entire time. I love you.
extras
meet the author
A Facebook application once told Jesse Petersen that she’d only survive a day in a zombie outbreak, but she doesn’t believe that. For one, she’s a good shot and two, she has an aversion to bodily fluids, so she’d never go digging around in zombie goo. Until the zombie apocalypse, she lives in the Midwest with her husband and two cats.
Find out more about the author at
http://www.jessepetersen.net.
interview
Greetings everyone, this is your on-the-ground zombie apocalypse reporter Zanderson Snooper. I’m coming to you today from one of the makeshift camps that have been set up all through the West Coast for survivors who are passing through. You’ve probably seen my Emmy-winning reports and read my Pulitzer Prize-winning articles on the subject. Anyway, today I’m lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with some of the few survivors of this summer’s zombie outbreak in Seattle. I’m here with Sarah and David (who have refused to give their last name) to get the real scoop on zombies, marriage, and what it means when you kill everyone you know.
Zanderson: Thanks for joining us.
Sarah: You gave us Diet Coke and ammo, how could we refuse?
Zanderson: Well, anything to help the cause. You two escaped Seattle, didn’t you? That was the front line of the attack. Can you tell us where you were when you knew the zombies were attacking?
Married with Zombies: Book 1 of Living with the Dead Page 19
