Chapter Four

 

Every last one of us jumped to our feet in perfect, alert synchronization. Haley and I gathered up Page between us and Tyler stepped in front of Miller.

The room roared with chaos and noise. All three of us girls seemed frozen in place. For a minute, I couldn’t remember where I’d left my backpack full of guns and ammo but I thought maybe near the front of the store. I also couldn’t decide whether to run towards the intruder or stay back here and cower.

Not that we were cowering exactly. But I only had two guns on me and not nearly enough ammo. I knew Haley would be in a similar situation and I doubted Tyler had any gun close by. She wasn’t exactly comfortable with them carrying them on her constantly yet.

Also, I didn’t want to run one way and miss the Parker brothers running the other way. The scientists were close to the front and I prayed for their sake that they moved back here with us. Their weapon situation was unclear, but I knew they didn’t get anything new from us. We had offered them food and sanctuary, but our hospitality did not go as far as giving up our own armory.

For painful seconds, I also contemplated the enemy. So much noise surrounded me that I couldn’t decide if Zombies or humans attacked. Guns fired rapidly, incoherent men’s voices could be heard shouting over the explosions. Then there were the women shrieking and crying.

That had to be the scientists.

My heart hammered in my ears and I looked desperately to Haley. She pulled out a silver handgun and checked the clip and flicked off the safety. She shrugged casually but fear glinted in her wide eyes.

Yeah, I didn’t know what to do either. But these girls were looking at me like I was the leader.

Well, shoot.

I pulled out my own gun and went through the usual routine before I motioned down an aisle to the left of the front door. We crouched lower than the shelving and moved quickly through the dark aisles.

I could hear Vaughan, Nelson and Hendrix yelling at each other, but I was too pumped full of adrenaline and fear to comprehend what they were saying.

I did realize that they had stayed in the front of the store. Their guns went off at regular intervals and their shouts seemed orderly if not informative for each other’s benefit.

I waved those behind me back and peeked around the corner. The prisoners, Kane and his mother, still stood bound against one wall. They flinched from the onslaught of gunfire and attack by the breaking and entering Feeders. Five Parker brothers, plus Gage, lined up in front of the store and aimed at anything and everything that forced their way through the front door.

The undead had apparently decided we’d overstayed our welcome. They clawed, fought and pushed their way into the building only to meet the business side of a Parker bullet.

A big, bloody mess of rotting bodies started to pile up in front of the door. I breathed in and instantly gagged. In the back of the store I hadn’t been able to smell them yet, or I hadn’t even noticed. Now, it was all I could do to keep from choking on their filthy stench.

My movement caught all the guys’ attention and they glanced my way in their own time. I waved at Vaughan and he shouted at me to stay back.

So far, the Feeders could only enter the store funnel-style, which made them easy to pick off. The scientists huddled on the other side of the large room with only a few guns drawn. Whether they didn’t have any more or they figured the Parkers had this covered, I wasn’t sure.

I had just decided not to get involved. I would hang back here and wait this out. Let the Parkers do the dirty work, while I watched over everyone else. I came to the conclusion that this wouldn’t be so bad and I might actually get a break from the fighting when the pounding started.

The antique store had been built in a barn, or at least built like a barn. The walls were windowless but without much insulation or metal framing. Basically, there were just slats of wood separating us from the cannibals wanting to munch on our brains.

What started as scratching turned into frantic clawing and then fully developed heavy beating. The Feeders knew we were in here and they would bring this entire building to the ground if that’s what it took to get to us.

I glanced up at Kane on impulse and saw his face go white with the vibrations at his back. He told his mom to duck down further and she listened without hesitation. He shielded her with his body.

I didn’t know why they stayed over there; maybe Hendrix or someone had told him not to move or maybe he felt safest the closer he stood next to the gunfire.

Obviously, that was a sarcastic thought. He was an idiot to wait over there.

And that thought was only reinforced when a slimy hand punched through the wall just two inches to the right of his head. The look on his face would have been hilarious if I hadn’t been scared out of my mind for his sake.

White-boned fingers barely encased in peeling skin blew through the wall. A greenish-blackish film had coated the back of the single hand and dripped off the ragged fingertips. It felt around wildly, slapping at the inside of the wall and dragging long, yellowed fingernails until they dug deep marks into the wood. They finally found purchase and pulled back, tearing a huge hole through the barn side.

Kane finally moved away from the wall.

It only took a Zombie at his back to get his ass in gear.

He nudged his mother forward, and they sprinted toward me and the shelving unit I half-hid behind. Linley was out of breath when they reached us and as pale a ghost. Kane looked at me with a determined look in his eyes that I didn’t entirely understand.

The hole in the wall increased as a Feeder pushed her rotting body through the wood. The wall shook violently with the force of their influx, and the entire structure wobbled over our heads. More Feeders scrambled behind her and met the fierce, fast bullets from the nearest Parker brothers.

The pounding and scraping sounded on the opposite wall near the scientists, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they made an alternative entrance over there as well.

Through the gaping hole in front of me, I could see that the horde of Feeders didn’t end. An insane amount of them all fought to get inside, to get to us. And I knew that I was only seeing part of them.

Where did they come from?

Had they gathered and waited to attack us as one army?

This seemed way too coincidental.

“Wait here,” I shouted over all the firing. I didn’t stick around for them to agree to obey; I just took off running. I skidded on the smooth floor but kept my balance. I ran behind the line of Parker brothers, who were spread out in a genius formation and dove for my pack sitting in the middle of the floor.

I wrestled with it to get it situated and tightly strapped it to my back; I glanced around for Haley’s pack and Tyler’s. If Miller and Page had one, I couldn’t take the time to look for them. Besides, we should be covered with three.

Hopefully.

“Reagan, get back to my sister,” Hendrix shouted over his shoulder. “Keep her safe.”

“I’m on it!” I shouted back. I finally located the other two packs and picked them up. I was just about to sprint back when Hendrix caught my attention again.

“Reagan,” he called and I turned to him. I stood right behind him, shielded by his body and his one objective to keep his family safe and together. “Be smart. Stay alive.”

His blue eyes glittered brightly at me. He wasn’t asking nicely. He was commanding me.

The strength and solidity in his voice made my knees weak, and I wouldn’t have argued with that resolute tone in any circumstance.

“You too,” I told him.

He gave me an arrogant smirk and turned back to his Zombies.

I missed those words, words that I desperately wanted to hear him say, but I supposed we were beyond that. I had found it so utterly obnoxious when he’d first come at me with all that “By me” crap, but it hadn’t taken long until I found it endearing and sweet, and a pillar of my courage and resolve. Now the absence of those words cut me to my core, and I wanted to beg him to want me by his side again. I didn’t. I wouldn’t. But it hurt in every possible way that he didn’t say those words.

I raced around the corner and threw Haley’s bag at her. I handed Tyler’s over a little more gently, but only because I figured she would probably drop it and blame me when everything inside broke.

I started pulling weapons from the sides of my bag and strategically placed them all over my body. I tucked a few knives into my cargo pockets along with some extra clips. I gave Page a smaller gun that she checked over with an expert eye and nodded at Tyler, who did the same with Miller.

My plan was to wait back here and stay out of danger for as long as we could. I didn’t really think that would be very long, but I wanted to keep Page out of the fighting. I just got her back; I sure as hell wasn’t going to lose her to another Feeder-induced coma.

But at least I knew she could live through it.

The rest of us? Yeah, I wasn’t so sure about that.

I looked at Kane. “Have you ever been through radiation or chemotherapy?”

He looked at me incredulously. “No.”

“Turn around.”

He obeyed immediately, and I couldn’t help but smile. I liked a compliant Kane. I liked to get my way with him.

I pulled a switchblade from my pocket and flicked a button so that the blade sprung free. With a quick, decisive slice I cut the zip tie that kept his hands bound behind his back.

His arms jerked forward, and he spun around wide-eyed and surprised. “You didn’t have to-”

“I did,” I told him. “Don’t read into that. But I had to do it.”

Linley noticed what I had done for him and turned around and wiggled her bloodied wrists at me. I focused on her tie and readied my knife when Kane’s calm hand over mine stayed the blade.

“Don’t,” he told me. “She will not behave.”

She threw a nasty look his way and let out a very vulgar curse word.

“Linley!” I gasped, honestly shocked. She was such the always-a-lady type.

She turned the word on me.

I couldn’t stop the laughter. Especially when Tyler exclaimed, “Mother!” And then to Haley she said, “I’ve never heard her use that word before.”

“Reagan,” Kane scolded, putting his hand on my arm. “Stop laughing.” But he was also helplessly chuckling.

“Listen up, you little assholes, untie me right now.” Okay, Linley Allen was no longer entertained.

“She’s not untying you, Mama. You’re going to have to stick close to me and try not to attract Feeders.”

“If you get me killed you can’t use me to carry out your hair-brained scheme,” she reminded me.

I looked at Kane. He shrugged. “We’ll just think of another hair-brained scheme. Nothing to worry too much about.”

“Who are you?” Tyler demanded. “Are you possessed? Are you turning into a Zombie?”

Kane shrugged again. “Reagan recruited me for Team Parker.” He looked back and forth at our stunned faces before finally landing on me. “What? You did.”

“I’m going to go kill some Zombies,” Tyler said. “That’s more normal than what is happening right here. Miller, come with me. I don’t want you to catch what those two have.”

And off they went.

“Is crazy contagious?” Haley asked with no small amount of amusement in her tone. “Should I remove Page from this potentially hazardous environment?”

I smiled at her. “Only if you take me with you.”

“But who will protect the hostages?” Kane asked innocently. “What about your hair-brained scheme?”

Linley went off on another cursing tangent.

By this time, there were two holes in the wall that had been torn open into gaping entrances. Feeders flooded through the spaces, knocking each other out of the way and gnawing on any body part that stood between them and us. Even if it was their own.

The noxious fumes they brought with them hit me like a punch in the face, and I swallowed back on my gagging reflex. The Parkers still held the line in front of them, but there were enough Feeders that our risk levels were escalating.

The scientists had been forced to engage on their side of the shop. They didn’t have enough weapons to defend themselves and the humanitarian in me desperately wanted to go over there and help.

“We should help them!” I shouted to Haley.

She looked around me and watched for a few seconds before agreeing. “Don’t give up your guns, but you’re right.”

“What about Page?”

“We’ll tuck her behind that register over there!” Haley shouted back.

I nodded, and we started to move.

Thankfully, the gunfight only went one direction. The five of us moved behind the Parker brothers with relative ease. They kept the Zombies at bay while we moved behind their human-wall of defense.

At the end of the line, Tyler had taken up position next to Gage. But it just needed to be said, Tyler was a terrible shot. Luckily for her, Miller, who was a natural at killing Feeders, helped flank her. He and Gage were able to keep her safe.

Kane kept his mother moving and when Haley tucked Page behind a solid wood-walled cash register stand, he shoved Linley down there as well. He shouted something at her, but I couldn’t make out exactly what he said. It looked like a threat of some kind.

I started taking aim and picking off what Feeders I could. I felt a little rusty at first, but I quickly fell into my old routine. Aim for the middle of their forehead, take a steady shot, and don’t miss. Simple.

Bam. One down.

Bam. Bam. Bam. Two down.

Bam. Re-aim. Bam. Bam. Three down.

I imagined it was from a scenario like this that the term “Like shooting ducks in a barrel,” came from.

However, as simple as this exercise in survival was, my nerves were still incredibly heightened. Adrenaline rushed through my body making me super aware of everything around me and super jumpy all at the same time. My weak hands trembled, but they held the gun securely and my shots were relatively accurate.

Haley was just as good next to me. I loved fighting with this girl. Not only did she have my back in every problem life threw my way, but she helped keep me alive. I couldn’t ask for more in a friend.

The scientists were another story. Why couldn’t they just fall back behind us? Brains before brawn and all that. I wanted to scream at them to protect their heads! But I didn’t think they would care.

They huddled in a corner with their few guns out in front of them. Their backs were to the side wall and they only had three weapons among them all. Haley and I tried our hardest to keep their Feeder situation from growing out of control, but those fast bastards filed through the openings in the walls faster than we could kill them.

I glanced back at Kane, who stood protectively over the cash register. Haley and I weren’t far from it either, but I couldn’t help relaxing with a bit more protection near Page. I had no doubt in my mind that nobody else felt reassured that Kane was watching over the littlest Parker, but at that moment I didn’t care.

The cash register sat away behind the scientists but along that same wall. I should have seen it coming before it happened but honestly, I was more preoccupied from the threat in front than the strategic attack the Zombies were executing around the building.

How the hell did they learn to think so intelligently?

And how the hell were we going to get out of this mess?

I’d already replaced my first gun with a second and I was working through my second clip when the wall behind the scientists exploded open. Feeder hands were everywhere, too many for me to count accurately when they moved that fast.

Blackish blood splattered along with their papery, slimy flesh as they punched holes through thick wood and clawed and ripped at anything and everything they could. Their strength was utterly superhuman and matched the freakishness of their speed. The four walls of the barn trembled and groaned under their structural attack.

I screamed out when the first blast of splintering wood erupted into our space. The scientists in front of it were taken off guard and scattered forward, trying to escape the assault from their rear.

Kane speculated what was happening faster than I ever could and ran forward to help the two closest to him scramble out of the way. He reached for one hand and clutched the back of another man’s shirt. He yanked them back, but he didn’t have Zombie strength and he only managed to grab their attention.

They were panicked and wild and impossible to corral. I turned my gun that way, unsure where to aim with so many bodies moving in every direction. Kane felt the same way and gave up trying to pull the man back.

He was able to use his strength on the woman though and jerk her out of the way just in time. The man wasn’t so lucky. A Feeder lashed out with clawed hands and slashed the man from thigh to kneecap. He collapsed under the pain and loss of muscle only to succumb to the same Zombie in the next second.

I shouted at the other scientists to move out of the way so they didn’t also become Feeder food, but they were tangled in a mess of hysteria.

Haley and I both found creative ways to shoot at the new flow of Feeders as they flooded our space so we didn’t accidentally hit a human. There were too many of them and they were way too close to Page for my liking.

I took a small breath of relief when the traffic of new Zombies seemed to come to an end and no more of their Feeder friends pushed through. Inside still afforded plenty to contend with, but the endless flow of Feeders seemed to finally bottom out.

I took three steps forward and shot at a Zombie that had launched itself at Kane. I caught it right in the ear, although I had been aiming for his temple, and when it landed on hard ground I took two more steps so I could shoot it in the head two more times.

Better safe than sorry. I lifted my arms up again, one hand bracing the other, and continued to attack at a closer range.

“Reagan!” Hendrix shouted down the line. “You told me you were going to be safe!”

I couldn’t stop the smile from stretching across my gore-splattered face. “I’m safe!” I hollered. “This is me being safe.”

“You should have stayed by me!” he called back and my heart took off in a different kind of rhythm.

I shook my head and bit my lip in an effort not to get carried away. I had to keep my head in the game. I had to be smart and not stupidly emotional. Plus, I wanted to sound put-together even if everything under my skin had started to flutter.

“Next time you’ll think of that before I start kicking ass!”

Okay, that sounded relatively not dumb. I could live with that.

His masculine chuckle floated my way and my spirit relaxed. Obviously, my body couldn’t do anything but stay tensed and ready, but inside of me my soul, my spirit, those metaphysical places I couldn’t name, took a big, deep breath and released the anxiety and heartache that had gripped me so completely.

Outwardly, I continued to vanquish my enemy in true video-game-style glory. I had just started to feel really good about my insane skills too, when another victim fell at the gnashing teeth of humanity’s greatest enemy.

My pride and sense of accomplishment were forced sternly back into perspective and I felt a small piece of me die.

Bobbi Jo had been one of the scientists wielding a firearm; she had done a great job of keeping the remaining four of them protected. Just when I thought we might finally be out of the woods, a lagging Zombie jumped through the hole.

I gasped at the same time he landed on her.

Her pretty red hair covered her face and blended with the blood that splattered the rest of her body.

The scientists around her immediately turned and started shooting at the hideous creature but their emotional attack never managed to hit it in the head. He devoured her throat with an addictive hunger that made me cringe and gag in disgust and despair. I could hear the sounds of him devouring her from where I stood and I just wanted it to end.

I moved forward quickly and shot at the creature until it stopped wiggling and writhing on top of her and until he stopped moaning and making those fleshy sounds as his teeth gnawed into her jugular.

I watched in horror as the Feeder’s life drained out of him and he stilled over her. Bobbi Jo’s screams still echoed in my ears, but her eyes were vacant and unseeing now.

I dropped my gun to my side, feeling helpless and frustrated. Her scientist friends looked at the gory remains of their two comrades and then helplessly at the scene around us. With an unspoken agreement, they pushed themselves to their feet and took off through that same hole.

I wanted to yell at them to come back, to convince them that it was safer here than it was out there. But we were parting ways anyway tomorrow and maybe they had the right idea. The blood, guts and dead would draw any wandering Feeder in here and they might have a few hours of free road before they ran into another Zombie.

Hopefully.

If they were lucky.

As mixed up as I felt about their interest in Page, I really did wish them the best of luck and I wanted them to succeed. I wanted a Feeder-free world as much as anyone. And I wanted a vaccine that would keep the rest of us safe in all future circumstances. I just didn’t want them to use Page.

Was that selfish?

I honestly didn’t care. That’s how selfish I was about the whole thing.

The gunfire started to die down around me and when I finally lifted my eyes away from the dead scientists, I realized we had fought the majority of the Zombies off.

I wiped at the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand and stood there panting and unbelieving for a long while.

We had been planning to leave in the morning, I reminded myself. I just expected a notice before anyone tried to forcefully evict us. Yeesh.

Rude.

Haley moved to stand next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “We almost all made it,” she mumbled.

My chest pinched for the frustrating loss of life. I replayed all the moments leading up to those two unnecessary deaths and couldn’t help but blame myself. Haley and I had managed to yet again pull out of this unscathed, while two other smarter, possibly more important, people weren’t as lucky as us.

She wrapped me in a one-armed hug and sighed. “We did everything we could,” she said, seeming to read my thoughts. “We do what we can. You can’t blame yourself for the rest.”

“What if it was you or Tyler? I have got to get better. Faster. What if it’s Page next time and they don’t stop at one bite?”

“Hey,” she snapped. “It’s not going to be Tyler or me because we’ve learned to defend ourselves. And it’s not going to be Page either. We take care of our own. They weren’t our responsibility. They were supposed to be taking care of each other.”

Her words did little to assuage my guilt, but I nodded because I did see her point. “Okay.”

Strong arms gripped my bicep and whirled me around and out of Haley’s hug. Nelson shoved by me and pulled Haley into his arms. Then they both walked over to retract Page from behind the cash register.

I looked down at the huge hand wrapped around my arm and up into the intense eyes of Hendrix Parker.

“Are you okay?” he demanded gruffly.

I nodded. “Are you?”

Something even hotter flashed in those blue depths. I didn’t understand what it was. I didn’t know why he reacted to my question like that, but something along his rough edges seemed to soften.

“I’m fine,” he said like it was obvious and I should never question his well being again.

Psht. Men.

With a fast glance over my shoulder he accused, “You cut Allen loose?”

I swallowed but talked myself into standing up for my actions. “I thought he should have a chance to defend himself.”

Hendrix snorted.

“I didn’t give him a gun or anything,” I told him with plenty of self-righteous anger.

“Why didn’t you cut his mom free?” He didn’t exactly sound placated, but he did sound… Less angry.

“He told me not to. He said not to trust her.”

“But you trust him?”

“Are we going to do this every time I make a decision regarding Kane?” I yanked myself out of his big hand and slammed my arms across my chest. “And I don’t trust Linley Allen. And I kind of hoped that a Feeder would find her and make lunch out of her ugly face, but obviously I didn’t get that lucky.”

Hendrix’s lips twitched. “Just lucky enough to stay alive.”

I met his gaze. “You too.”

“Glad you made it, Willow. Next time don’t wander off. I can’t save your life for the umpteenth time if you’re across the state from me.”

And then he walked away.

Just like that.

Our breakup had somehow made him simultaneously more of a jackass and infinitely more sexy. How was that even possible?

Especially when the same tragic event only made me more pathetic?

Dumb. Boys were dumb.

I whirled around to Kane, “Don’t try anything stupid,” I hissed at him. “I’m not in the mood.”

He put his hands up in surrender and smiled innocuously.

I heard a car whiz by on the highway out in front of the store.

“Oh, no,” I groaned.

“Sons of bitches!” Harrison shouted.

“Cuss jar,” Page whispered next to me but she sounded distracted.

When all the Parkers took off through a giant hole in the wall, leaping over dead bodies and slipping through puddles of blood, I picked up Page and took off after them.

Haley, Nelson, Kane and his mom followed behind me. It wasn’t until we’d rounded the corner and saw the one Suburban gleaming in the moonlight that I realized what happened.

“And this is why I hate humanity so much these days,” Gage growled and kicked out at the tire.

“They stole our car?” Tyler gaped. “That is so rude!”

It was a lot more than just rude. I hoped they found what they were looking for after all we’d done for them. Bastards.

“Harrison, King and Nelson, go grab whatever is left in the store. And keep your guard up.” Vaughan ordered tersely. “The rest of you pile in. It’s going to be tight, but there’s nothing I can do about that now.”

We followed orders. Our food and water supply had been all but diminished these days. Vaughan and Hendrix hadn’t planned to be away from the compound for this long and they’d only stocked up for so many days. This left the trunk relatively empty and so we shoved Linley and Kane in the back.

I crawled into the back seat along with Nelson, Haley, Tyler and Miller. We basically sat on top of each other in an effort to fit. Harrison, King, Gage and Page took up the next seat and Hendrix and Vaughan took their regular places as captain and co-captain.

When everything was loaded and the spaces at our feet piled with our packs and remaining ammo, we sat quietly in the car while we processed the events of the night.

We were dirty, sweaty and some of us were covered in blood and guts. We had no place to stay now and people we had chosen to show some degree of trust had just stolen one of our nice vehicles.

The compound had most likely been taken over by Matthias Allen and his soulless militia and I’d just watched two people die gruesome, horrific deaths.

I was so over the end of the world.

“We’ll go straight to the storage units,” Vaughan announced after a while. “Maybe we’ll take them by surprise at a weird time.”

Nobody argued.

“I have a plan,” Vaughan continued. “We’re going to kill the bastard responsible for all of this. We’re going to take back our home and then we’re going to figure out what to do with ourselves. Yeah?”

“Yeah,” we all mumbled with half-hearted efforts.

Although, Vaughan’s speech really did rouse something warrior-like and bloodthirsty inside of me. I really wanted to kill Matthias Allen. Like really bad. I wanted to make him pay for all my recent suffering. I wanted to torture and abuse him for the way he’d treated his children. I wanted to snuff out his life in the same way he tried to destroy every living thing that didn’t bend and conform to his will.

I wanted vengeance and retribution.

I wanted justice.

This short skirmish with Feeders helped put this world into perspective. I wasn’t supposed to be fighting other groups of humanity. My real enemy was a disease that threatened to take all life on this planet and extinguish it.

Matthias was a thorn in my side. A speed bump on the road to my real goal, my real mission. He didn’t belong on the top of the food chain. He belonged six feet in the ground.

Or better yet, a pile of ashes that would blow away with the next strong breeze.

The sooner I got rid of him, the faster humanity could get back on track and remember that we were not the animals; we were not the monsters haunting society and ruining civilization.

We were the good guys.

We needed to work together and overcome our common enemy. Nobody could save humanity but humanity itself. And we couldn’t do that until we ended Matthias Allen’s crusade.

And I would gladly let Linley Allen go down in a blaze of martyred glory with him.

Kane was a different story. While I didn’t believe I was capable of killing him, I didn’t imagine he would be in my life much longer either. After this, I would find a way to say goodbye.

I would find a way to let him go and move on with my life.

If he chose to follow me, I wouldn’t stop him. But I wouldn’t encourage him either.

It would be hard. Letting Kane go would be impossibly hard. Part of me didn’t think I could do it.

But then Hendrix turned around once we got on the highway and for a few seconds our gazes crashed together and his intense blue eyes beat through me with a palpable force. He held me there, suspended in time and space while he worked something hot and consuming through me. And then he released me. He faced forward again and our connection was broken.

After that, I knew which part of me would win out. I knew I would let Kane go just so I could share one more moment like that with Hendrix. I would spend my life for those moments if he let me.

I felt something for Kane. But not what I felt for Hendrix.

And that was all that mattered to me.

My life had decayed into a rotting corpse of its own making, but it would be love that saved me.

It would be the love I felt for that one man.

And the love I knew he still felt for me.