Territory of the Dead (Book 2): Phase Two: Evaluate

by Rose Wynters

  I stared at the mud and groaned again. “Great. I hope you have tetanus vaccines stashed somewhere. If we survive this, we're all going to need one.”

  Walking down the steps, I stopped to stare at them. They both stared back at me. Kellan wore his usual mask, but Jayden looked amused.

  “What are you waiting for?” I asked, waving my hand to urge them on. “Do you hear how completely silent it is? We've been lucky to have had this much time to prepare, but I believe they are getting close. I don't want to be caught out here, wallowing in the mud, when they arrive.”

  The next several minutes passed by quickly. We took turns using the outhouse, and I had to give them credit. They stood well away when it was my turn.

  Covering myself with the mud wasn't quite so easy. The water had receded, leaving the ground extremely soft. When I stepped in, I sank down to my knees. For a moment, I panicked as I wondered if the mud would swallow me whole. It didn't, though. As quickly as possible I rolled in it, praying that I wouldn't get snake bit in the process.

  When it came time for me to step out, I wasn't able to do it on my own. Kellan reached out, and with one strong tug, he pulled me free of the muck. They were already covered from head to toe so we were ready to head back.

  All three of us were quiet as we raced across the yard. The mud felt horrible. I was completely caked in it. If it worked, though, and we survived the swarm of zombies that were about to descend on us, it would be worth it. Or so I kept telling myself.

  Closing the door behind us, Kellan immediately got to work. He locked the doorknob before pushing the broken down couch in front of it. I checked the other windows, pulling the tattered drapes together as I went. Lucky for us, the windows were well off the ground. It would be nearly impossible for the zombies to even see through one of them, much less use them to get in.

  Jayden brought Kellan a heavy blanket to hang over the glass in the door. It would have been better to board it up, too, but I could understand why they hadn't. Should something go wrong, we might need it to escape from.

  There were no windows in the wall that faced the porch. The shack would have been useless, had they been there. Boarded up or not, it would have made it too easy for the zombies to come in. As it stood, they only had two possible entry points. The back door, if they could break through it, or the front door. It would have to do.

  Kellan pushed away from the door, turning back around to stare at us. “What do we do now?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.

  He shrugged as he replied, “We wait.”

  And that's what we did.

  Chapter 6

  The three of us made strange bedfellows as we sat next to each other and waited. The zombies had been there for awhile. They'd descended upon the small yard and shack, shuffling across the small porch as they moaned and wailed in hunger. Sometimes they banged into the walls or doors. Whether it was intentional or not, I didn't know, but it was scary, all the same.

  My heart felt like it stopped each time they did it. Were they aware of the three humans within, or were they just loafing about? I wondered how long we would be trapped here, and whether we'd make it out alive. A million different thoughts raced through my mind.

  My muscles were cramped from sitting in one precise position for so long, but I was afraid to move. The fear alone was enough to drive me insane. To distract myself, I forced my thoughts away from the sounds they made. It was hard to do. Eventually, I thought of my parents. Were they worried, yet? After all, they thought we were only making a run into Pleasant.

  Jayden's face looked wary in the muted light from the windows. I couldn't imagine what he felt like, being all alone without anyone to care about him. On my other side, Kellan looked as if he didn't have a care in the world. Was he really not that worried, or was it just a mask? The man was an expert when it came to hiding his true feelings.

  In the real world, Kellan wouldn't have been caught dead with people like us. Even if we would have met, he would have remained remote and distant. We would have never spent any great length of time together, and we certainly wouldn't have been close enough to ever visit his home. There was no common ground between us and him.

  The apocalypse had brought those invisible lines down, though. In this world, we had no choice but to rely on each other. And although Kellan didn't necessarily have to have us, somewhere in his mind, we served a purpose. Jayden, because he was additional manpower, but I hadn't figured mine out, yet.

  My body trembled as my muscles visibly showed the strain they were under. “Relax,” Kellan muttered, his voice barely a whisper. “They might suspect we are here, but they aren't certain. Otherwise, they'd be hammering at the doors and walls, instead of just walking around.”

  I nodded, slightly shifting my body around on the hard floor. After this, I doubted I would want to sit again for a long, long time.

  The minutes, and then hours, passed by slowly. Physically, it was definitely on my top five of worst moments. The mud dried, my skin and scalp itching underneath it. We were still alive, though, and that was all that mattered.

  Through the tattered drapes, the sun lowered and then disappeared. It was a new moon, which meant the interior was all but pitch black. Outside, the yard had grown silent, much to my relief. As the minutes passed by, I had to wonder if the zombies were gone, or if they were just watching and waiting.

  Stealthily, Kellan got to his feet. He was so quiet, I wouldn't have known, had I not been seated beside him. I held my breath as he walked to the door. He moved the blanket just enough to peek out, but he didn't speak. After a moment, he left it fall back into place before walking back to us.

  “I didn't see any zombies,” Kellan told us, his voice still low. “But that doesn't mean they aren't still out there. It should be safe enough for you to stand up and stretch your legs, though. Just keep your voices down.”

  I struggled to my feet, my body stiff after all those hours spent on the floor. The shack was still hot, even though the sun was gone. I was thirsty, muddy, sweaty, and miserable... And on top of that, nature was calling.

  “Do you think it's safe enough to leave?” I asked, with a desperate note in my voice. His home was like heaven, compared to the hellish shack we were in.

  He shook his head. “No, not yet. I'm willing to bet that there are still plenty of zombies in the woods. Even if we made it to the Suburban, the engine and the headlights would be like a beacon to them. We'll wait till morning. It's going to be a miserable night, but we have no choice.”

  Jayden softly grunted as he stood next to me, but that was all he had for a response.

  “I've got to go,” I said, and I didn't mean out to the Suburban.

  Kellan got my meaning, He bent over to pick up something at the edge of the couch. When he held it out to me, I saw it was an ice cream bucket. I took it from his hand. It was the large size, meaning it could hold a gallon. With the way my bladder felt, though, I could only hope it was big enough.

  There was no way I was using it in front of them, zombies or not. Quietly, I made my way from the living room and into the bedroom, but I didn't risk closing the creaky door. Knowing my luck, it would fall off and alert every zombie in the area. I hated peeing so close to them, it was even worse than using the outhouse. They'd be able to hear me, and despite the horror of our circumstances, that bothered me, a lot.

  I did my business. I had no choice. It's one of those things in life that you have to do, whether you want to or not. Kellan and Jayden did too, if the sounds I heard were any indicator. Zipping my pants back up, I set the bucket on the floor in the tiny closet. In a shack with no toilet, there were only so many places to put it. I didn't even want to think about what Jayden and Kellan had found to use.

  Zombies. They drew people together in the weirdest ways.

  I eased back into the living room. Kellan was at the door, staring out into the dark night, but Jayden was at the window. I sat on the couch. The seating was limited.

&n
bsp; After several minutes, Kellan turned around and straddled the arm. “I think it's safe enough to talk, if we continue to keep our voices low.”

  Jayden left the window. He tentatively sat beside me, his body poised and ready to leap back up at a moment's notice. Smart man. The couch had some bare springs that could easily cause some serious damage, if sat on the wrong way.

  “I can't stop thinking about what we saw at the Arkansas border,” Jayden whispered, his voice hoarse. He was probably thirsty. None of us had drank anything since coming into the shack. I wondered what Kellan was waiting on. Why bring coolers if you weren't planning on using the contents inside?

  “It looked like someone came along and simply tore Louisiana off,” he continued. “What do you think happened? Was it an earthquake?” His voice sounded doubtful at the end.

  “No,” Kellan replied, shaking his head. His hair was caked to his head, as was all of ours. In the dark, I couldn't see him well, but I didn't need to. All of us had spent hours staring at each other.

  “I don't think it was an earthquake. The chasm was too precise. If it were natural, it would be jagged.” He fell silent for a moment, as if he was considering his next words. “In the same breath, though, I don't see how it couldn't have been anything but natural. Yet, we didn't hear, see, or feel any of it. As big as the divide is, half of the state would have known something.”

  “Where did it end at?” Jayden asked, curiously. I frowned. He must have missed a lot, standing back with the Suburban.

  “It doesn't,” Kellan retorted. I shivered at the finality in his words. “I can't explain what caused it, but I can say this. It effectively separated us from Arkansas. As deep as it is, and as wide, there is no way to cross it.”

  “What about Mississippi and Texas?” I asked, forcing the words past my frozen lips. I hadn't considered that we might be totally cut off from the rest of the world. Nobody knew if there were any more survivors out there, but now, we had no way of finding out. Not if the chasm extended all the way around.

  “Is it some kind of fault line?” I choked out, fear making my throat feel tight. “I mean, do the borders sit on a fault line?” I hadn't heard of anything like that before, but it was worth asking.

  Kellan shook his head. “No, a fault line isn't the cause of this. Before we try to guess, we need to evaluate it further. Establishing how widespread it is will be a clue in itself.”

  “What do you mean?” Jayden asked, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees.

  “That's easy,” Kellan replied, and for the first time that night, he smiled. It was a dangerous sight. “A natural chasm doesn't separate one state from three others. In other words, if we can't leave Louisiana, it will be time to ask who, not what, did this.”

  It was a sobering thought. Jayden and I exchanged a puzzled look. Who, indeed? None of it made any sense to me.

  I was still dwelling on it when Kellan stood up and asked quietly, “So, who wants a bottled water?”

  * * * * *

  Stepping out into the balmy night, I left the scarred wooden door open behind me. It was dark, but I was able to see everything with perfect clarity... Including the zombies that awaited me.

  Distantly, I was aware that I was no longer covered in mud. In fact, I was perfectly groomed. Instead of muddy jeans and a ruined t-shirt, I was wearing a voluminous white nightgown that teased my ankles. My feet were bare on the rotted planks, but I didn't feel the splintered wood. All I felt was them, the zombies that awaited me.

  My fear was gone. They stopped their never ending quest, each one slowly turning to face me. And there they remained, like a crowd greeting their queen. For a moment, all was still. I was home.

  Despite the decay on their faces, I was still able to see their very excitement at my presence. And it felt good. To the zombies, I was their everything. My word was law.

  The fog swirled around their bodies, originating within the still waters of the bayou. Taking another step forward, I smiled. If I were a bride, they were my bridegroom. Nothing felt more right to me than this. I was destined to join them in the swirling fog, the fog of the dead. I was them, they were me. I'd resisted their call for far too long, but no more. I was as dead as the ones in the grass, I just hadn't realized it until then.

  My hand trailed down the rough wooden railing as I glided down the steps. “I'm here,” I reassured them, but I didn't speak out loud. I didn't need to. We were of each other. They knew my thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

  Leaving the porch behind, I slowly walked between them before stopping in the middle of the horde. Had I known this was my destiny, I would have found the shack a long time before. I'd wasted so much time, running from the very thing I was. But no more. I spread my arms open wide, a huge smile of acceptance on my face. I was theirs. Forever.

  The first zombie grabbed my arm. And then another. I was painfully yanked forward, my smile slipping from my lips. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. “Go easy,” I said softly, struggling to hold onto the peace I'd finally found. “I'll never leave you again.”

  My words fell upon deaf ears. A hand tangled in my hair, pulling hard enough to bring tears to my eyes. The peacefulness was gone. Now longer quiet, they were now ravenous, their red eyes animated by their need to eat.

  The zombies were suspended over me like a huge tidal wave. They were about to crash down on me. Time stilled for just one moment, my heart beating like a drum in my ears. And then it was over. As I was pushed to the ground, the last thing I noticed was a large mirror hanging on the porch wall, next to the door.

  I cried out in fear and despair. Nothing was sacred to them, after all.

  “What the hell, Tabitha? Wake your ass up, now,” a furious male voice demanded, his voice close to my ear.

  Immediately, I became aware of several things. One, I was tearing at the wooden frame of the door with everything I had in me. Two, Kellan and Jayden were fighting to get me away from it without hurting me, and three, I'd been sleepwalking.

  The fight left my body. In my sleep, I'd climbed onto the decrepit couch on my knees, leaning over the back of it in my desperation to make it outside. My fingernails stung. From the pain I felt, I'd more than likely torn the nails off. Even worse, though, was the sick feeling I still had in my gut from the dream.

  The men backed off, but neither one of them spoke. Pushing myself off the couch, I shakily turned to face them. And then I did something shocking, something I would have never willingly done, not in a million years.

  I burst into tears.

  Now, for some women tears are weapons. Their wet eyes and tear-stained cheeks are enough to start wars over. Crying only adds to their beauty, their tears emphasizing the delicate perfection of their features. But not me.

  When I cry, it's loud and emotional. My nose gets clogged, and my eyes swell so much it's painful. And that was before the mud and heat. No, I would have never picked that time to cry, but once I got started, there was no way to turn it off.

  Jayden stared at me helplessly, his hands reaching out to hug me. I pulled away from his grasp, though. I was humiliated, scared, exhausted, and miserable. He was trying to quiet me, just in case a zombie was nearby, but a hug wouldn't have helped me. Not then.

  Although, I'm young, I have a lot of pride. I didn't want to be a burden to them. Since the apocalypse, I'd done everything I could to be tough. By crying, though, I'd just shown them how much of a baby I really was, and I hated it. Allowing Jayden to comfort me would have only emphasized how incapable I was of handling bad situations.

  Kellan watched it all, his eyes wary in the early dawn light. I looked away from him, breathing through my mouth as I struggled to stop crying. I expected a snarky comment from him at any moment, but to my surprise all he said was, “Just let her be, Jayden. She's earned this one.”

  With that, he walked over to the window and resumed his watch. He was giving me space. I appreciated the gesture, although, I was floored by his words. Kellan wasn't e
xactly known for his understanding of anything weak.

  “What's wrong?” Jayden asked, his eyes concerned. “Were you having a bad dream?”

  Already, I was feeling better. The combination of stress and worry had built up over a long period of time, but the crying spell released a lot of it. “Is it safe to talk?” I whispered back, patting at my face the best I could. With the dried mud, rubbing would have hurt, and I didn't want to get it in my eyes.

  I expected Jayden to answer, but instead, Kellan did. “Yes,” he said from the window, turning to look at us. He crossed his arms, leaning his muscled shoulder up against the wall to support him. “I'm interested in hearing this story, too.”