Broken World (19 page)

“This one’s full!” Axl yells from a
small, black two-door car.

Angus has the gas can. He limps over to
his brother.

The vending machines rattle and the
moans get even louder. Are the bodies getting anxious, or are there more of
them? I just pray we can get back to the safety of our hotel. Soon.

The screeching of metal fills the air. I
spin around just as the vending machines come crashing down.

“Shit!” Mike backs away with his gun
raised.

I’m frozen. Dozens of dead spill out of
the stairway, tripping over one another, climbing over the vending machines.
Clawing their way toward us. Moaning. Screaming. Desperate to get through.

Mike yells, “They’re coming! Let’s get
out of here. Now!”

I snap out of it and take off after
Mike. The moans follow us as we charge toward the minivan. Fear twists inside
me, like something alive, coiling around my intestines. I don’t stop running,
but I glance over my shoulder to make sure everyone else is okay. Looking for
Axl. He’s with Angus, helping him walk. Angus must have really hurt his ankle.

“Get in the driver’s seat!” I shout to
Mike, spinning around to face the horde of undead charging us.

I switch weapons. The dead stumble toward
me, their mouths hanging open and their arms raised. Unearthly moans come from
their bodies that grow louder with each step they take. The stink of decay
floats through the air, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up. I take a
deep breath and aim my gun at the head of the closest one. I squeeze the
trigger and barely register the loud boom that echoes through the vacant
parking garage, briefly cutting off the moans of the dead. The body drops to
the ground and I turn toward the next one, hitting him in the skull. I do the
same with another and another, but they keep coming.

Axl is beside me, pulling my arm toward
the van. “Let’s go!”

I walk backward, firing as I go. Two
more go down, but there are five left. They move faster, like the sound of our
gunfire is driving them forward. Their moans have morphed into angry screams,
and their outstretched arms flail around as if they’re trying to grab me from
five feet away. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

I throw myself into the van, right
behind Axl. Mike doesn’t wait for the door to shut. He hits the gas, peeling
out as I pull the door shut.

I’m out of breath and my heart pounds.
“Are we all here?”

“Angus and Winston are in the Explorer,”
Axl says.

“Did we get enough gas?” Mike calls
back.

“May have ‘nough to get us out of the
city, but I doubt it.”

My hair is sticky with sweat. I rake my
fingers through it. My hands shake. “We can always siphon from the other cars
and split it up evenly between the three if we have to.”

Axl cocks his head to the side and the
corner of his mouth turns up. “Damn girl. How’d you get so smart?”

I shrug. “Necessity.”

21

WHEN
THE CARS PULL INTO THE PARKING LOT of the Mark Hopkins, it draws the attention
of every body on the street. Before we even have a chance to turn the cars off
the dead are stumbling across the parking lot toward us.

Luckily, we aren’t far from the front
door. I hop out of the van and charge toward the entrance of the hotel with the
others. I make it just as one of the dead grabs Winston from behind. He easily shakes
the man off and slams his club against the side of his head. None of the other
bodies even come close to us.

We stumble inside and I lean against the
wall, trying to catch my breath. Winston locks the door, and I will myself to
relax. We made it. Too bad my heart hasn’t figured that out yet. It’s pounding
faster than a dozen charging horses.

Axl stops next to me. How does he still
look so laid back? “You notice the other car in front of the hotel?”

I shake my head, still gasping.

“Big red Cadillac SUV. Somebody’s here.”

“Maybe it’s Trey and Parvarti,” I say
hopefully.

He purses his lips. “Could be. Then we
could get the hell outta this city.”

“Well, let’s be prepared,” Winston says.
“Keep an eye open for others, just in case. Especially when the elevator comes
out on the eighteenth floor. I don’t want to be taken by surprise in case it’s
someone hostile.”

“Good thinkin’,” Angus says grudgingly.

Guess he still isn’t thrilled to be in
such a mixed group. Seems like an idiotic concern with everything else that’s
going on in the world. He should just be thankful none of us are trying to eat
his face off.

“Maybe we should stop on one of the
lower floors and sneak up the stairs, just in case?” Mike suggests.

Makes sense. The others nod their assent
and we hop on the elevator, riding it to the fifteenth floor. From there we
take the stairs, walking as quietly as possible. I’m tense and my heart is
racing yet again. I’m probably going to have to get used to it. Seems like
things are going to be tense from now on. At least until we find somewhere safe
to live. If there is such a place.

When we reach the door to the eighteenth
floor, Winston pauses. Luckily there’s a small window so we can get a better
idea of what we’re dealing with.

“It’s clear,” he whispers.

No one says anything, and the muscles in
my hand clench automatically as I follow him down the hall, flexing around my
gun. He slowly swipes the key, turns the doorknob as silently as possible, and
pushes the door open. But the deadbolt is on, just like it’s supposed to be.

“Coming!” Jessica yells from inside. Her
voice is level and calm, so I immediately relax.

The door swings open. Winston looks past
her, into the room. “Everything good?”

“Yeah.” She turns to Angus, Axl, and me.
“Those friends of yours showed up.”

I let out a sigh of relief and tuck the
gun back in my waistband. “Thank God.”

I hurry inside, smiling when I spot Trey
and Parvarti in the sitting room with the others. Good thing Joshua stayed
behind since he was the only one here who would have recognized them.

“Thank God you’re okay!” Parvarti says,
running over to hug me. “I was so worried when got here and Joshua was the only
person we knew. I thought for sure something had happened to you!”

Trey’s eyes meet mine and he smiles, but
it’s strained. His demeanor is different. He seems older and not as soft.

“What happened?”

“They were gone. My parents, my
grandparents, my brother and his family. All dead before we even got there.” He
turns and tilts his head toward a teenage boy across the room. He’s tall and
thin, and Asian. Clearly not related to Trey. He looks like he’s around
seventeen. “Found my neighbor’s son, though.”

The kid waves and smiles. It looks
genuine. Guess he’s happy to be with other survivors. “I’m Al. Nice to meet
everyone!”

“Great,” Angus mutters. “More
diversity.”

My jaw clenches. So does my fist. I want
to punch him, but Trey catches my eye and shakes his head. He handles Angus’s
bigotry better than I do, and it isn’t even directed toward me.

I put my back to Angus. “I’m sorry,
Trey.” I pause and bite my lip. I’m hesitant to ask the next question. “Had
they turned yet?”

“No, thank God. Although I wish I had
known before we left so I could have put them out of their misery. I hate the
idea of them walking around like that…” He clears his throat and looks away.
“We didn’t know about the zombies until we got to the city. We saw a few people
walking around and stopped to see if we could help them. Al told us not to,
that they could be zombies. We thought he was nuts of course.”

Axl raises an eyebrow at Al, who just
shrugs. “I was a huge fan of
The Walking Dead
graphic novels. Living it
isn’t quite as exciting.”

There are a few nervous and strained
chuckles throughout the room. His face turns red, but he smiles.

“I’m just glad Vivian suggested meeting.
I don’t know what we’d do if Parv and I were on our own.” Trey puts his arm
around Parvarti, who leans into him. “Although, meeting in the city may not
have been the best idea I ever had.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Angus grunts.

“We didn’t know there were going to be
zombies,” I say, rolling my eyes. “How the hell could we have guessed that?”

Axl throws himself on the couch and
closes his eyes. He looks exhausted. “If it weren’t for the dead walkin’
around, this place would be ideal to hang out in for a while.”

I move closer to him without thinking,
then stop when I remember our argument. He doesn’t want me around. “You should
get some sleep, Axl.”

He snorts and shakes his head. “I’ll
sleep when I’m dead. Long as one of them bastards don’t get me.”

“Is it just like the movies, then?” Al
asks. “Do you turn if you get bitten?”

“We don’t know anything really,” Winston
says. “We’re just guessing at this point.”

“I ain’t takin’ no risks.” Angus spits
into his can. I’m not the only one in the room who cringes. “One of them
bastards gets near me and I’ll bash his brains in.”

He spits into the can again and I look
away. My eyes land on Ava, who sits on her mom’s lap. Where’s Emily?

My insides constrict. I’m not sure why.
A gut feeling maybe, but something just doesn’t feel right. “Emily?”

Sophia looks up. “I haven’t seen her for
a while, but she’s around here somewhere. The girls were playing but Ava looked
tired, so I made her sit down. Emily was coloring just a little bit ago.”

I head back toward the master bedroom.
“Maybe she got tired too.”

She isn’t in bed, and the room is empty.
The bathroom door is shut and I knock lightly, but there’s no response. I push
the door open. Empty too.

“She back here?” Axl comes in the room
behind me.

“No. Maybe she’s in the other bedroom.”

“She ain’t,” he says, turning around.

“What do you mean she isn’t?” I call,
running after him.

“I mean, ‘she ain’t.’”

My heart pounds and my stomach twists into
knots. Where could she be? How could she have disappeared?

“Where’s Emily?” Axl yells at Sophia
when we get in the other room.

Sophia’s eyebrows shoot up and her eyes
get huge. “She’s not back there?”

“If she was back there would I be
askin’?” Axl snaps. “When’d you see her last?”

“I—I don’t know. She was coloring at the
table—”

“She couldn’t have gone anywhere,”
Joshua says. “The deadbolt was on the whole time you were gone.”

“Except when we went down to the car,”
Trey says.

The room spins. I grab onto the back of
a chair, trying to steady myself. “What do you mean?”

Trey clears his throat and looks down.
He won’t meet my eyes. Why won’t he meet my eyes? “Joshua and I went out to the
car to get an atlas. We left the deadbolt off while we were gone.”

“You went out and just left the door
open?” Axl yells. “What the hell was you thinkin’?” Axl gets in Trey’s face.
Trey chews on his lip. Parvarti steps to his side and rubs his arm. She tries
to comfort him.
Him
. Emily is the one missing and Parvarti is checking to
see if Trey’s okay.

I want to throw up. She could be out
there. Alone.

Joshua’s face is white, but he steps
forward. “We weren’t thinking.” His body shakes, like he’s afraid Axl may deck
him. Maybe he will.

The severity of the situation hits hard
and the room roars to life. Everyone talks at once, Sophia’s crying. I’m
frozen, squeezing the back of the chair like it’s her neck. No. This isn’t her
fault. It’s mine.
I
should have been here.
I
should have been
watching Emily. But I was out running around, trying to prove I’m some kind of
hero.

Jessica pats the sobbing Sophia on the
back, whispering that it’s okay. That we’ll find her. Then reality slams into
me like a baseball bat to the head and I start to shake. Emily’s gone and she’s
alone. And there are zombies.

Tears come to my eyes and the knot in my
stomach twists even tighter. Crying isn’t like me. I guess this world has
changed me into a blubbering fool. “Where could she have gone?”

“Maybe she went lookin’ for her
parents,” Axl says.

Jessica’s head snaps up and her eyes
narrow on me. “I thought you were her mom.”

My face gets warm. “I am. I mean, I’m
not but—It’s complicated.”

“You done yappin’?” Axl snaps. “‘Cause
we got a little girl to find.”

Arthur gets to his feet slowly, like the
movement hurts. But his face is determined. “What’s the plan?”

Axl grabs a few more guns out of a bag,
not even looking up. “You comin’?”

He nods and Axl thrusts a gun at him.
Arthur puts his hands up. “Never shot one before, doubt I’d be able to hit
anything. Give me a knife.”

Axl practically throws a knife his way.
He straightens up and surveys the room. “We’ll split into groups of three.
Winston takes the old man here and Trey. Hit the middle floors. Angus, take
Mike and the Chinese kid down to the lobby.”

“I’m Korean,” Al says, taking the gun
Axl holds out to him.

“Whatever. Vivian, the Doc, and me’ll go
on up to the restaurant and work our way down. Chances are she’s there.
Probably got hungry or somethin’.” He looks everyone over. “Let’s go! Time’s a
wastin’!”

We head out, and I try to keep it
together. She couldn’t have gotten far. There’s no way she would have left the
hotel. She’ll be fine. She has to be. But I’m still trembling. I put my gun
away and pull out the knife instead. With the way my hands are shaking, there’s
no way I’d be able to hit a thing.

Joshua and I follow Axl up the stairs,
calling Emily’s name as we go. Axl’s back is to me, but I can tell he’s pissed
by how stiff his shoulders are. I’m not sure if it’s at me or the situation,
but it doesn’t matter. I’m plenty pissed at myself.

When we get to the restaurant, Axl says,
“Check out the eatin’ area. The Doc and me’ll check out the kitchen.”

I nod and head toward the dining room.
It’s big and has a raised area in the center where the grand piano sits at the
back. The bar’s off to the right. Other than tables, there isn’t much around. I
can tell right away she isn’t here, but I walk through the room anyway,
checking under tables and behind the bar. Nothing.

Axl and Joshua come out of the kitchen
after only a few minutes. Axl’s face is hard and his eyes are even stormier
than usual.

“She ain’t up here,” he says. “Let’s head
to the next floor, check that out.”

Joshua and I follow him once again. He
pats me on the back as we head down the stairs and gives me a tense smile.
“We’ll find her. This is isn’t your fault.”

“Damn right,” Axl mumbles. “It’s your
fault, you moron.”

Joshua stiffens and glares at Axl, but
doesn’t say anything.

“It’s not,” I say. But Joshua doesn’t
look at me.

We sweep the next two floors, calling
her name and checking every unlocked door we find. There aren’t many. But there
isn’t a sign of her anywhere, so we head down to the next floor. The second we
leave the stairwell I hear movement.

“You hear that?” Axl asks.

Joshua and I nod, but stay quiet. I
strain my ears, hoping to hear something to indicate it’s Emily and not a body
wandering the halls. It’s quiet, though.

“Emily?” I call hesitantly. My voice
shakes down the empty hall and my heart beats even faster than before. We wait,
but there’s no response, so I call out again, “Emily?”

This time there’s definite movement down
the hall. I start to take off, but Axl grabs my arm and pulls me back.