The woman lowered her gun and stared at their leader.
He turned to her and shrugged. “What?”
Everyone in the group seemed to relax but Darlene was taking no chances.
She kept her weapon trained on him as she moved to her left. “I’m going to be on my way.”
“Where are you headed?” the woman asked.
“North.”
“Jacksonville is a mess. I wouldn’t go near it. There’s a smombie running it now,” she said.
“A what?” Darlene asked.
“A smart zombie. We call them smombies,” she said.
The man groaned. “You call them that, Bernice. It sounds stupid.” He turned to Darlene. “Doesn’t that sound stupid?”
Darlene smiled and nodded, still holding the gun and moving around the group. She was taking no chances and if they were trying to lull her into thinking she was safe they had another think coming.
“I’m going to go my way and you can keep going to the south. If you manage to get to Daytona Beach, there’s a smart zombie letting survivors into his camp. He’s keeping everyone safe,” Darlene said. She refused to use the word smombies. Ever.
The man narrowed his eyes. “Is that where you came from?”
“I came from Maine. Right now I’m heading back in that direction,” Darlene said. She was past the group now and they didn’t look like they were going to attack, but you never could tell nowadays.
The woman, Bernice, pointed north. “In Jacksonville, at the stadium, is a smombie gathering survivors, but she’s using them for food and slave labor. We lost a few friends there a couple of weeks ago.”
“Shut up, Bernie,” the man said.
“Why? She’s one of us, Latham. We need to learn to help those in need,” Bernice said.
“I don’t need help. I need to keep moving before it gets dark,” Darlene said. She waved and kept sidestepping, keeping one eye on the group and one eye on the road ahead.
When she was sure she was far enough away, she turned and kept pace, keeping as far away from zombies as she could.
A mile up the road, as the sun started the climb to the horizon, she looked back and saw the group following her. They weren’t trying to hide and she knew they’d argued about where to go and what to do and in the end Darlene offered an alternative.
These people were wandering aimlessly and trying to find a safe haven.
Darlene stabbed a zombie in the face as it crossed her path. The last thing she needed was for the group to realize the zombies (not smombies, never smombies) were ignoring her.
Chapter Two
“I can sense her at the football stadium,” Hayden said to Bri. “I think she knows you’re here but doesn’t understand exactly who you are.”
“Who am I?” Bri asked.
Hayden looked back at her with his gray eyes and smiled. “You are someone worth protecting. I will get us through Jacksonville and north, where we’ll be safe. My parents have a cabin in the woods.”
“I’ve heard of that movie and it wasn’t a romantic comedy,” Bri said.
“We have a long way to go,” Hayden said and turned back to the dirty window.
Bri stared at the sleeping baby and sighed. He never made a sound, even in his sleep. She’d checked his mouth to see if there was something wrong with his throat, but she couldn’t see anything weird or wrong. She had no idea. She was still a teenager. She didn’t want to be a momma and an adult just yet.
“What if I told you I didn’t want to walk to Canada?” Bri asked. She didn’t, either. Hayden was from Montreal. He was one of the first to be attacked in the initial outbreak in the hospital. His brother was there for a broken ankle suffered while playing hockey. Before Hayden knew it, he was a zombie and in Florida.
At least, that was the short version of his very long story. Bri liked Hayden but he never shut up. He was always making comments, even just to himself.
“Canada is lovely this time of year. Besides, all of us zombies are heading to the southern regions. It might even be clear to the north by now,” Hayden said.
“I don’t understand why you’re all crowding into Florida. I hate it here,” Bri said.
Hayden turned back to her and sat on the floor. He smiled at the baby.
“Not just Florida. Texas and Louisiana and Mexico, I guess. Southern California. There is an invisible line and we can sense it. I can’t explain it, but we’re all being summoned to this strip of land for some purpose, I guess,” he said.
“Then how can you leave and go north?”
He shrugged. “I guess once we completely turn and have our thoughts and free will back we can do whatever we want. Maybe that’s the point. We come here to gain the power and then we can go off and find our own little corner of the world.”
“Then why is one of you staying at a football stadium in the middle of this magic zone?” Bri asked. None of this made any sense. She’d kidnapped Darlene and John’s baby and run away. She still didn’t understand why, only what Hayden had told her.
“Turn me into a zombie,” Bri said suddenly.
Hayden didn’t stop staring out the window. “No.”
“Why not?”
“We’ve been over this. Even if I wanted you to be a zombie and spend the rest of your life with me, it would take, like, a year for you to change,” he said.
“So fucking what. All we have is time, and eventually another zombie is going to kill me. I don’t want to be eaten. I want you to turn me into a zombie so you’ll be gentle,” Bri said.
Hayden shook his head. “There is no gentle. I don’t even have the bloodlust anymore. Frankly, the thought of tasting blood in my mouth is gross. I don’t want to keep talking about this. I’m not going to bite you, or let anyone else. Got it?”
Bri gave him the finger before returning to her staring contest with the baby.
Blink once in awhile, she thought.
“Do you think the baby is retarded?” she asked.
“You don’t use that word. It’s offensive,” Hayden said.
Bri laughed. “You’re a fucking zombie. You’re telling me I’m being offensive?”
“You use too much profanity. Is it because you want to act all grown up?”
Bri put the baby on the floor and jumped up, pushing Hayden to get his attention.
“Fuck you, zombie dickhead. How dare you tell me what to do with my life or how to talk? You’re the pussy who got bit. You fucked up, not me. I’m still alive, bitch. Go to Hell,” Bri said.
She stormed out the door.
“You forgot your baby,” Hayden yelled.
Bri spun on her heels and went back into the room, not making eye contact with Hayden.
How dare he pass judgment on me, she thought.
“This is a mistake. Meeting you and listening to your stupid shit was a mistake, too,” Bri said.
“Why are you always so angry?” Hayden asked.
Bri looked at Hayden after picking up the baby. He was leaning against the wall like they were having a normal conversation. She loved his gray eyes but, right now, she wanted to slap him over and over.
“I’m angry because this isn’t how my life was supposed to be,” Bri said.
Hayden pointed out the window. “You think anyone, living or undead, wanted this life? I didn’t. You’re whining about something you can’t control. Why can’t you be happy you’re still breathing and can enjoy the smell of flowers?”
“I am happy sometimes,” Bri said defensively.
Hayden didn’t say a word but shook his head.
“You don’t make me happy. You act like my father. You’re not my protector,” Bri said.
“Actually, I am. You can’t leave with the baby. There are zombies downstairs in the lobby, at this moment, trying to figure out with their non-working brains how to use the steps. If they keep falling forward, they’ll eventually get up to us. You can run away from me but please don’t go far and put the baby in jeopardy,” Hayden said.
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Bri left, cradling the baby, and went down the dark hallway to another office on the other side of the building.
When a minute passed and she saw Hayden wasn’t going to follow and beg her to come back, she got really angry.
“Don’t move,” she said to the baby and put him on the frayed carpet. She went to the window and looked out.
The downtown Jacksonville skyline was a mess of torched buildings and rubble, and below her on the street she could see at least twenty zombies, all wandering in random directions.
It wasn’t safe outside.
Across the street, seven stories down, was a deli. She wondered if they’d served delicious food for the nine-to-fiver’s who worked downtown. Bri wished it was open now so she could order a Reuben or a turkey club sandwich. Her stomach growled in protest of thinking about good food.
If I was a zombie, I wouldn’t worry about hunger or pain or sleeping, she thought. I could live my new life without mortal worries.
She looked back to the open doorway, annoyed anew when Hayden wasn’t standing there watching her. He was a romantic guy for a zombie but he’d been increasingly aloof once they’d entered Jacksonville.
Bri picked the baby back up and stared into those deep gray unblinking eyes.
“Who are you going to become? Where will I fit in?” she whispered.
She cradled the baby, who didn’t cry, didn’t need food or water and never slept. It just stared at her and moved around like a lifelike doll.
Hayden had snuck to the door when she was staring at the baby and startled her when she looked up.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He smiled crookedly, which she found sexy.
“I’m sorry, too. I’m just bored and I’m sick of running all the time. Worried I’m going to be attacked. This baby is like a beacon for your kind and I feel like the Pied Piper,” Bri said.
Hayden smiled. “I like that analogy. I can picture you with one of those weird Dutch outfits and a green felt hat with a feather in it for some reason.”
“You’re weird,” Bri said.
He shrugged. “I can’t help it. I was the oddball when I was breathing and I guess it’s even worse now.”
“Do you miss your family and friends from Canada? Is that why we’re going there?”
“I do miss them but they’re all dead now. Maybe they survived long enough to turn like I did; although, I guess then they’d also be in Florida. I’ll probably never see anyone I loved,” Hayden said.
“Then why are we going?”
“So we can escape the zombies. They’re all coming here. I’ve explained this to you a dozen times already. You just need to trust me.”
“I trust you,” Bri said. She knew it was probably the safest bet for them. Florida was filling with more zombies every day and soon it would be so crowded the living would have nowhere to hide.
Of course, if Hayden would just turn her into a zombie, she’d be able to get to Canada in better shape.
Chapter Three
Three steps and four kills.
Tosha Shorb grinned at the bodies around her. She’d been working on getting her footwork down and not wasting as much energy.
She needed more work with the long knives, though. She was letting the zombies get too close when she struck, even though the blades were long and sharp and could pierce the rotting skin with ease.
She needed to keep at it and clear the block of zombies, too.
Just like Harrisburg all over again, she thought.
So far she wasn’t impressed with Jacksonville. It was too spread out and too many areas were within the city limits; although, you could break these parts down into a dozen cities on their own. This area was especially heavy with civilization, major roads converging near what looked like a mall. The abandoned cars stretched on the road as far as the eye could see, and with it was an endless array of rotting zombies, all looking for their next meal.
Tosha climbed onto the bed of a pickup truck for a better view. She wasn’t positive where she was actually going and she knew the woman was behind her somewhere. Last night she’d glimpsed her wandering near the ruined houses Tosha was hiding in and heard what sounded like a brief fight with a zombie.
It would be easy to lure her in at night and kill the woman, but she was actually proving useful since the escape from the diner and all the chaos.
Twice, at night, the chick had stirred up nearby zombies and had to kill them. Tosha would lose her in the early morning and she was acting like a guard so Tosha could take a few power naps. So far she’d been more useful than in the way.
Tosha decided to check out the mall. Maybe she’d find something to wear. Her clothes were sticking to her body in the sweltering Florida heat and the humidity was unbearable. She could only imagine what running a brush through her hair would feel like.
She hummed “You’re So Vain” while she hopped off the truck and found a path through the vehicle graveyard, careful not to get into a dead end or somewhere a few zombies could box her in.
By the time she got halfway across the road, she’d managed to drop six zombies and her breathing hadn’t increased enough to notice. She was learning to move and fight like a warrior, and she loved it. Tosha wished there was someone around to appreciate her moves… besides her dead sister.
Mathyu was standing at the entrance to the mall, staring as usual.
As Tosha got closer, she sighed, swung and chopped into the arm of a zombie. She pulled it closer and finished it off with a thrust to the face, tossing the body aside. Killing was becoming so routine now, she didn’t even break stride.
“What are you looking at, sis? Here to help me find my way?” Tosha knew her twin wasn’t going to help her in any way other than standing somewhere and leading her to something. Tosha could never be sure what, though.
There were days when she didn’t see her twin at all, even when she called out for Mathyu. When she was alive, her sister wasn’t much of a talker unless she was speaking into a headset while playing an online videogame.
As Tosha got closer, her sister turned and began walking directly across the parking lot towards the main entrance to the mall. Tosha could see the glass doors had all been shattered and the movie theater entrance was also breached.
To the left was a chain bookstore, which looked like it had been on fire at some point. Even from this distance across the parking lot, Tosha could smell lingering smoke.
Malls were usually a good place for survivors to meet and regroup and she moved cautiously, watching the roof for a sniper. The parking lot was filled with cars to hide behind, but there were wide stretches of open space.
Tosha crouched and moved quickly. There were enough zombies wandering around making noise she didn’t think her movements would draw attention if someone was watching.
A line of cars stretched about fifty feet around this side of the mall. Someone at some point had gotten the idea to build a barrier to keep the zombies away, but she could see a couple of breaches where a car had been pushed forward.
Tosha imagined a horde of zombies, all trying to get to the fresh meat inside the mall, and using sheer numbers to move the line of cars and get to their feast.
She climbed onto the trunk of a car and looked around. Nothing but zombies as far as she could see. If someone was inside and watching, they’d either shout a warning or shoot a warning shot at her head.
A lone zombie was in the doorway of the mall, only its rotting head and arms moving slowly. As Tosha approached, she could see its legs were wrapped in barbed wire and held tightly thanks to cinder blocks. Whoever was inside had gone through great pains to set elaborate traps with whatever was around. Tosha also noted dozens of mouse traps on the ground as well as a nasty looking bear trap, which had been sprung and still held a rotting ankle and foot.
This entrance was well-lit for about twenty feet before it plunged into darkness, but the end of this hallway had natural light coming from above. The
ceiling windows of the mall had been shattered and rays of weak light hit the ground.
“Hey. Anybody home? I’m not a threat. Just a survivor making my way. Don’t shoot,” Tosha said. She didn’t want to waste time creeping and crawling through the darkness, only to get a bullet in her face. The zombies in the parking lot were beginning to head in her direction, too.
Tosha put the stuck zombie out of its misery and moved to one side, nearest the box office for the movie theater. A peek inside revealed three bodies but nothing moving or alive.
The smell of smoke and cooked meat lingered and Tosha didn’t want to think too much about it. She’d already become used to the stench of rotting zombies.
No one responded and she didn’t hear movement inside the mall.
Tosha took a chance and ran, hugging one dark wall as she went, ready for trouble.
She got to the middle of the first open area of the mall and looked around.
The light from above revealed so much blood and carnage she wanted to look away. Whatever had happened here had been brutal but a long time ago. None of the blood looked fresh and most of the stray body parts were now pulp. The floor was littered with not only debris but leaves and scattered tree branches as well as dirt. Drops of water fell from the ceiling, even though Tosha couldn’t remember the last time it had rained.
Footsteps in the dirt were also old. The storefronts off of the open area were all broken and empty, the product cleaned out a long time ago.
Tosha decided she’d find a corner somewhere and try to get some sleep, after she’d made sure everything of value was gone. She was sometimes amazed at what people thought was useful and what they discarded.
The obvious things were now long gone: canned food, bottled water, guns and ammo. She’d stumbled upon caches of widescreen televisions, bank bags overstuffed with money, and kitchen appliances.
Tosha had her own wish list in her head: clean socks and underwear, anything you could use as a club or something sharp, and a fucking double bacon cheeseburger.
Dying Days 6 Page 2
