Love and Decay, Vol. Two

by Rachel Higginson

  He sounded slightly panicked when he yelled after me, “Where are you going? I thought you were going to help me!”

  I shot him a smile over my shoulder, “That’s adorable. You’d better hurry!”

  He glared at me and I knew this wasn’t over. If we survived the night, and I planned to, he was going to make sure I got my payback.

  Bring it, Vaughan. Just as long as I didn’t have to wake up the sleeping harpies.

  “You good to go?” Hendrix asked near the door where he waited with Andy.

  I patted the vest I’d thrown on that was packed with guns and ammo. “So good. I haven’t killed anything in a while. I’m feeling a little trigger-happy tonight.”

  I was trying to make a joke, but Andy leveled me with a serious frown. “We don’t know what’s out there. It could be a few strays or it could be a warlord with an army. I’ve made my fair share of enemies in the last few days and there’s a power grab now that Raphael is dead. That’s not even taking into account the list of angry folk you’ve been accumulating along the way.”

  I sobered immediately. That was reason enough to take this seriously.

  “I hate hunting in the dark,” Harrison whined as he stepped up next to me. “I’m always afraid I’m going to shoot someone by accident.” He gave me a double take and jumped back a step. “And it might be you, Reagan. Did you swallow a dead animal? Yikes.”

  I pressed my lips together and gave him the middle finger.

  Andy passed me a piece of gum. “It’s at least three years old, but it helps.”

  “Thank you,” I said as soon as I’d chomped the tacky piece of spearmint into submission. It wasn’t exactly chewy anymore. The texture was more mealy or slimy… or really anything but how I remembered gum tasting. But, I would put up with it to keep Harrison from accidentally shooting me.

  “We’re going to have to sprint to the road,” Andy explained. “I would drive us there, but I don’t want to risk missing any of them and accidentally giving them access to the house. We’ll spread out into a straight line and hope to catch them all. Joy will hold down the fort, just in case. Luke went out the back to see if they are trying to surround us. He’ll let off a flare if they are.”

  “Luke went by himself?” My adrenaline finally kicked in and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through me.

  Andy gave me a patient stare. Even in the dark, I could feel his strangled frustration. “It’s nice that you’re all here to pitch in tonight, Reagan. But we’ve been defending our home with just the three of us for the last few years. My son might be young, but he’s clever and he’s very fast. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “You’re right,” I said quickly. “I’m just used to the buddy system. I’m worried. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “You didn’t. I just wanted you to understand that I would never willingly put my son in circumstances I didn’t think he could fight his way out of.”

  That spoke pretty highly for the eleven-year-old. I didn’t know much about Luke, but I was starting to respect the kid. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.

  Vaughan put his hand on my shoulder and said, “We are still on the buddy system though, Reagan. Remember that.”

  Andy smiled at us, “There is safety in numbers. Two are better than one and a strand of three is not easily broken.”

  Was that Jedi?

  “Right,” Hendrix chuckled. “But Reagan also has this bad habit of getting caught and starting wars. We’re trying to avoid that. Er, anymore of that.”

  “I want to go kill something now,” I announced, choosing to ignore Hendrix’s jab. “I’m officially ready to kill something.”

  Vaughan laughed behind me and pushed on my shoulder blade. “If you can deny that it’s true, Hendrix will apologize.”

  I tried not to roll my eyes. “I’m not denying anything. This takes skill. Not every person can just make people hate her at the drop of a hat, okay. You guys wish you could make this many people want to kill you.”

  Andy ignored me, “We ready?”

  “So ready,” King cheered listlessly. Apparently I wasn’t the only one having trouble getting into the killing spirit.

  Vaughan moved over to jostle King awake and Hendrix filled Vaughan’s void. I felt his chest press against my back. His body heat settled over me with buzzing energy that vibrated through my bones.

  “Be my buddy?” he asked in a low voice, right next to my ear.

  “You’re my favorite person to slaughter Zombies with,” I told him. “I wouldn’t dream of finding a different partner.”

  My actual dream flashed through my head again and it took concentrated effort to push it back. I needed to talk to Hendrix and Vaughan about my revelation, but now was obviously the wrong time.

  Hendrix hummed with approval. “Good to know.”

  Andy opened the door and we pushed through the bottleneck our enthusiasm created. Hendrix and I gravitated back together and stood against the black night and unseen dangers of this desert.

  “Am I the only girl out here?” I asked him while we raced over hazardous, uneven terrain.

  “Vaughan wanted to leave you in charge at the bungalow, but I knew you’d be pissed if you missed this.” Hendrix flashed me a smile in the dark. His white teeth gleamed under the starlight.

  “Thank you,” I told him sincerely. “I have a lot of tension I need to work out.”

  I heard Hendrix’s choked cough and glanced over at him just in time to meet his wide-eyed stare. “Do you now? You should have come to me sooner.”

  I just shook my head at him. “And you should stop being such a pervert.”

  “Well, that’s probably not going to happen.” He quieted down and pointed ahead. I could hear them and see them now.

  The number was not small. They raced over the distance between us, uncaring of how their feet stumbled or tripped. I could smell them from here and it was not a good smell.

  Nervous energy jumped beneath my skin. I hadn’t fought a Zombie in a while and suddenly I felt like it was my first time.

  “Reagan?” Hendrix felt my anxiety.

  “Performance anxiety,” I told him. “I’m nervous.”

  He looked down at me and smiled, “It’s just like riding a bike. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  That was one comparison I never really thought anybody would make. But I hoped he was right.

  There was a natural ridge in the landscape. It sloped down into an even plateau, but we had the advantage. The plan was to stand at the top and pick off Feeders as they tried to climb up to us.

  There wasn’t a huge distance between us and the lower level, but it was enough to give us a significant head start on the body count.

  I planted my feet shoulder-width apart and quickly checked my gun. I usually didn’t get this opportunity to be so set up, so I made sure to be extra grateful when I picked off my first Zombie.

  Right between the eyes.

  God, I was good.

  That’s how it went for a while. We stood strong against the horde. There were lots of them. Some weren’t as agile as others and some were so freakishly fast that in the dark they looked like they could fly.

  I gasped more than once, barely biting back a surprised scream, when a few of them suddenly appeared right in front of me.

  It was hard to keep track of them all because there were so many of them. They moaned and garbled their greedy cravings at us and as one unit we fought to kill them all.

  As much of an advantage as we had, it was still dangerous. I would mark one and focus all of my attention on it, making sure to take it out with as few bullets as possible. But taking out one Zombie left me wide open to all of the others.

  I had just managed to take one out at an impressive distance when another popped up not three feet from me. This time I did let out a panicked scream. I swung my gun straight in front of me and pulled the trigger.

  The bullet ripped through the night, plunging deep into the Feed
er’s soft head. I didn’t have time to make sure that he was dead before I had to shift again and shoot another close call.

  The stench was more than I could take tonight. I hadn’t been up close and personal with Feeders for a few days and it was pretty amazing how quickly I could forget how overpowering it was. In fact, tonight it felt almost debilitating. I had to swallow back the urge to gag. My eyes watered the entire time, making it difficult to aim straight.

  Their numbers had dwindled. I still couldn’t decide if this was a targeted attack or a wandering horde, lost in the desert, looking for the Promised Land.

  Promised Land? Andy’s missionary vibe was rubbing off on me.

  Still, at the same time there were too many of them and not enough of them. It didn’t make sense.

  Anxious to finish this up and go back to bed, I took a step forward, forgetting for a second how close to the edge I already stood. My foot came down heavily, expecting hard earth to be waiting for it. Instead, I found nothing but air and I completely lost my balance.

  My arms flew over my head as my entire body dropped and rolled. I felt my ankle snap unnaturally and while a startled shriek wrenched out of my chest, I prayed that it wasn’t broken. Sprained I could handle. Broken? Might as well shoot me like the lame animal I would become.

  I didn’t roll far, but it was enough to completely lose my balance. I stopped, face down in the dirt, grime and chalky earth coating my tongue. I flipped over as fast as I could and tried to focus on the spinning stars overhead. My gun was still clutched in my shaking hands and before I did anything else I let the relief of not having shot myself on the way down wash over me.

  My ankle throbbed, tingling up my calf and into my knee. I wanted to roll my foot and test the damage, but I knew there wasn’t time.

  I could hear the Parkers shouting above me. Their deep voices bellowed over the screeching Zombies. They were the only reason I could keep from going into hysterical shock.

  My stomach flipped with a slippery queasiness. I glanced to the right just in time to catch a Feeder launching itself at me. It’s hungry, red eyes gleamed under the moonlight. Its rotting face was smeared with black pus and the little hair that remained on its head had become stringy and wet. I knew its bones would be soft and brittle just by looking at the advanced decay covering its mangled body.

  I lifted my weary hand and pulled the trigger just in time. The breath whooshed from my lungs as it dropped to the ground just a foot from me.

  My lungs rattled as I tried not to cry. Okay, maybe I wasn’t as held together as I wanted to be.

  I needed to get up and move.

  I popped up into sitting and had to take out another one just as fast. This one crawled toward me, zipping over the rough terrain with supernatural speed. It didn’t have legs, or at least that’s what it looked like from here. Maybe they were too-far gone with the disease or maybe it had eaten the flesh and bone itself. It didn’t matter though, because it scurried after me, undeterred by the disability.

  I was off balance when I sat up so I didn’t get this one as quickly as I needed to. My bullet tore through its hunched shoulder, barely impacting the creature. I panicked and adjusted too far. My next bullet didn’t even hit it. It soared into the blank space over its head.

  My breath wheezed in my chest. It had almost reached me.

  I adjusted my hand again, this time not trying to conserve bullets in any way. I pulled the trigger over and over again, shooting like an amateur.

  When my gun clicked empty, a frustrated groan pushed through my chest. I tried to scramble into standing, but as soon as I put pressure on my left foot, I immediately collapsed in an awkward tangle.

  Gravel pelted my back as someone slid down the incline behind me. Gunshots popped above me so close that I instinctively covered my head with both arms and curled into a tight ball.

  When the gunshots aimed another direction and I hadn’t turned into Zombie food, I peeked through my forearms and saw the Feeder that tried to eat me lying in its own puddle of blood. The thick, black blood seeped over the ground, sinking into the earth and reaching with long fingers toward where I sat still huddled.

  I crab-crawled away and managed to jump to my feet with Hendrix’s protective shots giving me cover. I stood next to him and finally felt that deep breath of relief. Changing out the magazine with the one I kept in my pocket, I reloaded safely.

  “Thank you,” I told him, loud enough for him to hear me over the cacophony of other battle sounds.

  “Focus, Willow. We can discuss your acts of gratitude later.”

  I tried not to smile, more afraid of getting Zombie blood in my mouth than Hendrix seeing my misplaced grin. I could feel his walls, the ones he had built to keep me out. They surrounded him as if they were tangible barriers to protect him from me.

  But I wasn’t sure that mattered anymore. Maybe pride should have spoken up or dignity; maybe my self-confidence should have wavered, warning me to save myself. But I was beyond those things.

  I loved this man.

  And I was pretty sure he still loved me.

  We were our own worst enemies. I had broken us apart, but he was keeping us that way. If we could just move beyond our own stubbornness, this whole Zombie Apocalypse thing might just have a bright side.

  I turned to the horde still attacking us and got back to work. I hadn’t realized how far I’d fallen. The incline was steeper than I gave it credit for and now Hendrix and I were stationed at the bottom while the other Parkers stood at the top.

  Hendrix and I couldn’t exactly sprint up there with Feeders surrounding us, but our presence in the middle of the fray created a problem for everyone else.

  I pressed my back to Hendrix’s and tried to see an end to this. I had successfully ruined our advantage.

  Thankfully there were only a handful of Feeders left to take out.

  “You couldn’t have fallen a little to the left?” Harrison yelled down at me. I threw up my middle finger and hoped he could see it in the dark. “Real classy, Reagan. You’re an inspiration to young women everywhere.”

  “Your brother has a death wish,” I told Hendrix.

  “Yeah, you two have that in common.”

  I growled something that supported Harrison’s snarky comment and restrained myself from elbowing Hendrix in the back. I felt his low chuckle at my expense rumble through his chest from where our backs pressed together. A shiver chased the feeling down my spine.

  I allowed myself that one moment to appreciate everything that was Hendrix Parker and what he did to me and then I got to work.

  The Feeders were obviously closer now. I picked the nearest one and aimed for the head. The lucky bastard ducked just in time, clearly anticipating my attack. I followed him, wrinkling my nose at the stench wafting from his rotting body.

  He lunged for me and I zeroed in on his broken teeth dripping with puss and mucous. The fanglike protrusions were jagged and pointy, tearing apart his lips until they were nothing but shredded, dangling flesh.

  When he opened his mouth, I saw the black hole that meant to consume me. It grew and spread until it had swallowed every bit of light and life from this world.

  It was only a matter of time before it swallowed me too.

  I blinked, bringing the true proportion of his mouth back into focus.

  I jumped when he lunged again unexpectedly and then I started shooting. I got him first in the neck and then the face. The bullet tore through his cheek at just the right angle, lodging itself in his brain. He toppled and twitched once before it was over.

  No time to dwell on those horrors.

  I turned slightly and aimed at the next creature loping toward me. Falling gravel caught my attention and I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see the remaining Parkers and Andy skid down the incline, guns blazing.

  Vaughan came to a halt next to me and grinned. “You were ruining all of our fun.”

  King slid to a stop on Vaughan’s other side. “It’s nice t
o have guns again,” he said dryly and proceeded to blow a Feeder’s face off.

  “No kidding,” I mumbled.

  With all of us lined up and full armed, it didn’t take long before we had finished off the wayward Zombies.

  When they lay at our feet in disjointed heaps, I felt like dusting off my hands and patting myself on the back. I hadn’t been too rusty after all.

  That had actually been relatively easy.

  Vaughan sounded casual and satisfied when he turned to Andy and asked, “Do you usually burn-”

  His words were cut off by a horrendous screech that ripped through our just-claimed peaceful atmosphere. The Zombie scream was louder than any I had ever heard. It was both high-pitched and growlingly low. It sounded agonized and hungry, desperate and determined. It sounded dangerous.

  It sounded deadly.

  I lifted my eyes in the direction that it came from to find a lone Feeder standing atop a jutting rock. His tattered clothes whipped in the sudden breeze and his gaping mouth stayed open, revealing Pandora’s Box of addiction and greed.

  His crimson eyes flashed our way and slowly, as if he were a tiger prowling through jungle grasses in search of dinner, his black tongue flicked out to swipe along his wet lips.

  My heart pounded in my chest and I gripped my gun tightly.

  “This isn’t a coincidence,” Andy declared as more Feeders joined the first along the ridge.

  Now they had the advantage. Now we were downhill from them.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the incline, frantic to get to the top of it.

  Hendrix’s hand landed on the back of my neck, squeezing tightly. “We need to run,” he announced as more Feeders joined the horde army. “Now!”

  I started to backpedal, unwilling to turn my back on them. They watched us with too-intelligent eyes. I could feel their ravenous hunger; I could see their single-minded focus and their refusal to let us go.

  We were their next meal.

  Unless we made them our next kill.

  Chapter Two

  I had just decided it was worth the risk to turn around and run when they jumped.