Life After The Undead Omnibus [Books 1-2]

by Sinclair, Pembroke

  I looked at Quinn. He fastened a nylon rope around his waist. It was one we always kept in our bag for emergencies, but I didn’t think it was thick enough to actually do any good. It could have tied our bags up into a tree if need be, but other than that, it seemed almost worthless. I knew what he planned. There was no way I could shimmy down a pipe to the roof. My arm wouldn’t allow it. I just didn’t think the plan would work. He approached and laced the rope around my waist.

  “I’m going to lower you down,” he said.

  Well, it was pretty close to what he said. I couldn’t really hear him.

  “Are you sure the rope will hold?”

  He shrugged. “I hope so. If not, it’s not that far of a fall.”

  I glanced over the edge again. It may not have been deadly if I fell, but I still didn’t want to experience it. I had enough pain to deal with, I didn’t want to add more. I crossed my mental fingers, hoping the rope would hold.

  “You ready?”

  I sat on the edge and swung my legs over. “No, but do I have another choice?”

  He took up the slack in the rope and I slid my butt of the building. There was a small jerk as I was suspended in the air and he caught my weight. He slowly let the slack out, and I bobbed toward the second roof. I kept an eye on him and the landing and made sure I didn’t bounce off the side of the building. My jaw was sore from clenching it, adding to the pain that already flowed through my body. An eternity later, my feet touched the solid surface. I waved with my good hand to let him know I was down. He nodded, then grabbed the drainpipe and slid down.

  I glanced over the side toward the street. A few zombies milled around, but they weren’t paying attention to us. If anything, they’d be drawn to the explosion. At least I hoped so. We still weren’t sure how they tracked people. In any case, we’d be able to make it down, then we’d have to run like mad. God, I hoped my body would allow me to do that. Quinn stood next to me and took up the slack in the rope.

  “Where are we going once we’re down?” I asked.

  “Back to the mall.”

  I might not have been able to hear very well, but I couldn’t mistake the anger in his voice. I assumed he wanted to find Duncan and put him through the same death he attempted to put us through. I know that’s what I wanted. I wanted him to suffer, hear him scream, and see him eaten bit by bit. How dare he put us through this when all we wanted to do was make sure he was safe. He deserved a horrific death, and I wanted to be the one who gave it to him. It wasn’t the nicest thought, I know. My hatred for Duncan at that moment rivaled my loathing for Liet. Forget compassion. It was hard to care about how the history books were going to tell your story when you had to shimmy down a building to save your life.

  Quinn signaled he was ready, so I went over the side. This trip down was a lot faster than the first. I assumed it was because there were zombies in the neighborhood and he didn’t want me to be a piñata. When my feet touched the concrete, I pulled out my gun and stood ready. I shot a couple of creatures in the area. I’m not sure if they noticed me, but I wasn’t going to take the chance. It only took one moan. The bags plopped onto the ground next to me. One of them almost hit me, but that was my fault, I walked in circles, trying to take in my entire surroundings. Still, I looked up at Quinn with a scowl.

  He cringed and mouthed “Sorry,” before heading down the drain pipe.

  Once he was on the ground, I went for one of the bags. He stopped me.

  “We’ll come back for those,” he said. “We need to find a vehicle.”

  I glanced around the street. There were plenty of abandoned cars sitting around, but they’d been sitting there for years. More than likely, the batteries were dead or they didn’t have keys or they were occupied by undead. The situation sucked. There was no other way to put it. We ran through zombie-filled streets with nothing but our wits and what ammunition we had left. There was the distinct possibility we would die or get bitten. The one thing that kept me moving was my intense anger. I was so mad at Duncan and his people, I would have jumped through fire to make sure I got my revenge.

  The adrenaline pumped through my veins, making it easier to move. I still couldn’t hear very well, but my sense of sight and smell heightened. At least it felt like it did. Quinn and I stayed close to each other, shoulder to shoulder, and made our way methodically down the street.

  It wasn’t any different than clearing a building. We stayed alert and in contact so we didn’t accidentally shoot one another. We checked the first vehicle that looked like it might run. It was a compact car. It was small and not my first choice, but anything was better than being on foot. I would have taken a go-cart at that moment.

  Quinn stood guard while I checked the door. Locked.

  I glanced in the window. If there were keys, it might be worth breaking the window to get in. Nothing. I turned to Quinn and jerked my head to the side. We continued down the street.

  The next car we came to was an SUV, which would have worked out great. It had plenty of room and was well protected. I went up to the window and glanced in. Keys were inside. I reached for the handle. Something slammed against the back window. I jumped back. A young girl, probably no more than 12, smashed against the glass. Her black hair was stringy, her face gray with black spots where the flesh was about to fall off. Her teeth clicked against the window as she snapped at me. I took a deep breath, and we moved on.

  My hope faltered, and the streets were getting more crowded with the walking dead. Luckily, none of the creatures had spotted us, but that could change at any moment. I was surprised we hadn’t been seen. Why didn’t they notice us? We weren’t hiding; we were walking down the middle of the street. Quinn even killed a few creatures who came too close. But none of them moaned, not one of them sounded the dinner bell.

  We came to an extended cab truck. I didn’t hold out any hope. After the last two, I was sure we’d be running the entire way back to Dashton. I glanced in. The keys were in the ignition. That was lucky. I pulled on the handle and opened the door. Finally! Something went our way. I turned the key. The engine turned over but didn’t start. I tried again. Same thing. Quinn stood with his back against the truck.

  “Anything?” he whispered.

  I poked my head out, annoyed he would even ask. Couldn’t he hear? “Nothing.” I tried to keep my anger in check. I wasn’t mad at him. He was in the same situation I was. Yelling wouldn’t help anything.

  “Our chances of finding something on the street are not good,” I told him. “We have to find something that wasn’t abandoned. Like a car dealership or something.”

  He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “The closest place is five blocks away.” He pointed to the right.

  “We’ve made it this far. We have to chance it.”

  I climbed out of the truck and took one step when it happened. The moment I’d been dreading since we got off the roof. A low, loud moan echoed through the streets. I glanced at Quinn, his face was a reflection of mine: disbelief and anger. Zombies crawled out of everywhere, from under cars, from buildings, from cars that were open, and converged on our position. There was no way we were going to make it to the end of the block, let alone five to find a car.

  I jumped back into the truck cab. Quinn fired at the closest of the creatures. The truck whirred again. I pumped the gas. I knew it wasn’t going to start. I didn’t know a lot about cars, but I knew the whir, whir, whir wasn’t a good sound. Tears threatened to fall as my life flashed before my eyes. That street was going to be my grave. I turned the key again. Whir, whir, whir. I slammed the steering wheel and pumped the gas a few more times.

  “C’mon!” I screamed.

  I turned the key again. The engine roared to life. I stared at the wheel, confused, not believing I heard what I actually heard. For a moment, I thought it was all in my imagination. Then, I thought maybe I was dead. Maybe a zombie grabbed me from under the vehicle and devoured me on the street, but in my mind, I was still
in the truck.

  The passenger door slammed shut, and I turned to look. Quinn was next to me, sweat on his forehead, horror on his face. Beyond him, through the window, the zombies closed in. A few more steps and they’d be at the truck. Still, I was convinced the truck wasn’t really running.

  “What are you waiting for?” Quinn asked. “Go, go, go!”

  I put the truck in gear, slamming my foot onto the gas. The tires squealed before pushing the truck down the road.

  The zombie horde was huge. I couldn’t move the truck anywhere without hitting an undead. The truck bounced and bucked its way through the streets, blood and body parts covered every inch of the outside.

  Keeping control bordered on impossible. I only had one hand and attempted to drive at a high rate of speed. The truck wasn’t as protected as a semi. It was way lower to the ground, making it possible for the creatures to break the windows. Plus, it was a lot lighter, so if enough of them surrounded us, they could tip us over. I had to get out of the crowd as quickly as possible.

  Something clunked in the bed of the truck. I glanced in the rearview, but couldn’t see anything. Quinn heard it too, he turned in his seat, gun in hand, waiting. The creature plastered itself against the back window, pounding on the glass. I jerked the wheel to the right.

  The zombie flew to one side but didn’t fall out. It tried to regain its balance, but I zigzagged through the streets. A group of five creatures emerged in front of me, and I pressed further on the gas. Two of them bounced off the side, one went over the top, and the other two were sucked under the tires. I’m pretty sure we caught air, and we came down hard. The creature in the back bounced out. I glanced in my side view and saw his head shatter in blood and bone on the sidewalk. After a few blocks, the zombies thinned, the road cleared, and I was able to ease up on my speed. As a moving target, they still followed after us, but we could outrun them. I headed toward the mall.

  I pulled into the parking lot and put the truck into park. There was no way to sneak up on the mall, no secret entrance we could take so Duncan and his people couldn’t see us coming. Even if there was, I probably wouldn’t have taken it. I was infuriated. I wanted them to see me coming. I wanted them to know vengeance was on its way. I half expected to have been gunned down before making it that far, but was thankful we weren’t.

  We stared at the building. The particleboards that usually covered the windows had been torn off. A few articles of clothing and a suitcase lay in front of the doors. A zombie lurched around the corner and walked freely into the store. Quinn sighed next to me.

  “They left.”

  “What?” I jerked my head to the side to stare at him. “Where would they go?”

  Quinn shook his head. “Who knows? I’m sure they have another safe house somewhere. That guy we saw on the roof was probably the last to leave. I bet they left five minutes after we did.”

  I wanted to hunt them down, find out where they had gone. It wasn’t fair. They couldn’t just up and leave after sentencing us to death. I felt cheated. I wanted my revenge. In actuality, though, I wouldn’t have gone through with actually feeding Duncan to the zombies.

  Liet shot me, and he was still alive. I was pretty confident I would have punched Duncan, however. I couldn’t let him get away without some punishment.

  I looked at Quinn. “Do you want to go in? Just to make sure?”

  He shook his head. Disappointment covered his face. He probably had visions of revenge dancing through his mind, pushing him through the zombie-infested streets, and they were dashed, just like mine.

  “Nah. We need to get back. Figure out what that building is behind the caves and formulate a plan for invading Florida.”

  “Do you want to head back and get our stuff?”

  He thought for a moment. “No. I think we’ll just leave it there for a while. Even with the creatures following us, there were still so many. I doubt the place is safe. It’s just some clothes and food. We’ll get it later.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Works for me.” I rubbed my shoulder. “Do you think you can drive?”

  “Oh, yeah, sure.” He tossed his guns in the backseat and opened his door.

  I scooted over to the passenger seat and leaned my head against the headrest.

  Quinn put the truck in gear, and we headed to the highway.

  “Do you think the spotter saw us?” I asked as we drove out of town.

  “At the mall?”

  I nodded.

  Quinn sighed. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. If he was smart, he would have just high-tailed it out of there after the truck exploded.”

  “Do you think they’ll come after us?”

  Quinn glanced at me. “No. They wouldn’t waste their time.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because we don’t know where they went. If we followed them and threatened their new sanctuary, I’m sure they would just shoot us on the spot. They’ll fade back into the shadows and live their lives like this never happened. I doubt we’ll ever see them again.”

  I placed my foot on the dashboard. “For their sake, I hope we don’t.”

  Quinn placed both hands on the wheel. His knuckles turned white as he gripped it tighter. “Yeah, I have to agree with you. That was pretty messed up what they did. But you can’t blame them.”

  I chuckled. “Oh, yes I can. And I will. The last thing we need is another bounty on our heads. There’s already enough people trying to kill us.”

  We both sat in silence for a while. I replayed the whole scene from the jail in my head. We were lucky to get out alive, especially with the shape I was in. My hearing started to come back, along with the ringing in my ears. I hoped that wouldn’t last for long. My whole body hurt, too. Every muscle felt like it was on fire, and my bones ached. My shoulder hurt so bad it pulsed. I desperately wished I had a pain killer, but those were in the bags lying in the street. It made me hate Duncan and his crew that much more. It made me continue to hate Liet, too. I wanted so badly to make him feel like I did, to shoot him in the shoulder and see how well he handled it. If he was still in our possession, I probably would do it. It would relieve a lot of anger and make me feel better. Too bad he wasn’t still in our possession.

  “Do you think they found Liet?” I asked.

  Quinn clicked his tongue. “I doubt it. He’s not stupid. He won’t go back to the camp. He’ll head to Florida. He’s needs backup if he wants to take us down.”

  I looked out the window. That was the first thought to cross my mind too, but I was never sure with Liet. He didn’t always act logically. I chewed on my thumbnail. I really hoped he headed to Florida, but something at the back of my brain told me not to count on it. I hoped I was being overly cautious.

  CHAPTER 9

  In the time we were gone, the survivors had placed a barricade across the only road into Dashton. It was a tree, so it looked like it happened naturally. It wouldn’t raise suspicion. They also had lookouts in the forest on either side. If someone tried to get into our safe haven uninvited, they wouldn’t make it far.

  Quinn pulled up to the log and slowed, cursing under his breath. At that point, we didn’t realize it was done on purpose. He leaned forward and glanced out the windshield, sizing up how easy it would be to move the tree. The bushes on my side of the truck rustled, and a worker stepped up to the road, an automatic weapon slung across his chest. He glanced into the truck and signaled the others. I rolled down the window.

  “Sorry, guys. We didn’t realize it was you. Didn’t you take a semi out?”

  I scowled. “Yes. We ran into some trouble.”

  “Sorry to hear that. You’ll be back at camp in no time.” He turned and disappeared into the trees.

  The others moved the tree out of the way, swinging it open like a gate. I glanced out the back window and wondered how they rigged it to do that. It was a short-lived curiosity. I was just happy they looked out for everyone’s wellbeing.

  We parked the truck next to the
other vehicles and stepped out. My knees gave out and I almost fell, but I caught myself on the door handle. I still couldn’t believe how sore I was. It bordered on ridiculous. My first task was to find some pain pills and something to eat. I took a few cautious steps on shaky legs. When I knew they weren’t going to give out, I went to find a First Aid kit.

  Quinn and I met at the fire after I found what I was looking for. The group had made a stew, and we ate heartily. They wanted to know what happened out there. The looks of defeat on our faces increased curiosity, along with the fact that we lost a semi. Nobody asked, though, and we weren’t ready to talk about it. There was no point in causing any more undue stress. The survivors had enough to worry about, they didn’t need to know more humans might try to kill them. Besides, the events were too fresh, too real. The emotions ran deep, and I doubted either Quinn or I could get through the story without getting overly agitated. Eventually, we’d tell the story. When it didn’t irritate every fiber of our being. Pam sat across from us at the fire, and she would surely ask what happened. Of course I would tell her, and then it wouldn’t take long for the story to get out. That was a nice thing about such a small community, but it was also the bad thing. One person could twist the facts and panic would follow. I hoped it didn’t happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

  The pill took effect. My body was still sore, but the pain didn’t border on unbearable. Quinn put his arm around my shoulder, and I snuggled closer to him. We stared at the fire. In any other circumstance, it would have been romantic. It was still pleasant, but far from ideal. One day, I told myself. One day we’ll be able to spend every night like this and not have to worry about anything. However, given the recent happenings, I highly doubted that day would ever come.