Dark Realms (58 page)

Sara frowned. “You saw more of them in
town?”

“Yes, earlier in the
evening. They weren’t soldiers, either. Just regular ol’ people,”
she shrugged, “Or they
used
to be people. Anyway, the store is normally busy,
no matter what hour it is, but the past couple of days, there
haven’t been many customers. The flu, you know? It’s hurt our
business too, if you can believe it.”

Her voice was getting hoarse, so I offered
her a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” she said. “Anyway, I was leaving
the backroom of the store when I heard Paul yelling at someone by
the register, so I hurried to the front, to see what was going on.
Well, it was one of those…freaks and it was making these weird
garbled noises, and trying to grab on to Paul’s arm. From the back,
I thought it was just some angry fellow, so I hollered at him to
leave the store,” she sighed. “But instead of leaving, he turned
around and tried attacking me! Thank goodness Paul was there…oh
Paul!” she cried bitterly.

Sara handed her a tissue and squeezed her
shoulder.

“I’m sorry. It’s just the thought of never
seeing him again, you know?” she sniffled.

We both nodded. Sara handed her more
tissues.

“Anyway, Paul grabbed the thing before it
got too close, and it bit him in the shoulder!”

“You keep calling it a thing. What do you
mean? Are you sure it wasn’t just some crazy lunatic?” asked
Sara.

Hannah snorted. “I wish it
was. No…this
thing’s
eyes weren’t…normal. Something was wrong with the pupils. And
its skin looked grayish-white, almost like skin when it’s
decomposing. In fact,” she said, sitting up straighter. “That’s
what these things remind me of…dead people.”

“Dead people…like zombies?” I whispered.

“Exactly like that! You know, my father
owned a funeral home back in the seventies. Once I snuck down to
the basement and saw a couple dead bodies,” she shuddered. “Yep,
that’s what those things reminded me of tonight; dead people
walking around, without their souls.”

I’m not sure why, but I believed her. From
Sara’s expression though, she wasn’t convinced.

“What happened after your husband was bit?”
asked Sara.

Hannah sighed. “Well, Paul smacked it on its
head, repeatedly, until it finally let go of his shoulder and fell
to the ground. Then the damn thing got back up and rushed at Paul,
growling at him.”

“Did you kill it?” I asked, my voice barely
a whisper.

“Hell yes. I grabbed the gun behind the
register and shot the thing in the head,” she declared proudly.

Sara and I looked at each other, not sure
what to say.

“Did you call the police?” Sara asked.

“Well, we tried calling the sheriff, but the
lines were busy. So, Paul called a buddy of his on the police
force, Jim Nielson. Jim was around, amazingly. He said these things
were attacking people all over town.”

I shuddered. “All over the entire town?”

Hannah nodded. “Yes. And what’s even more
disturbing is that the ones that turned into these….zombies, they
were normal people just a few hours ago, people who live here in
town.”

Sara rubbed her forehead. “So, what you’re
saying is that normal people are turning into zombies?”

Hannah’s eyes narrowed and they darted back
and forth, looking at both of us. “First, let me ask you something.
Did either of you get the flu vaccine?”

We both shook our heads.

Hannah released a sigh of
relief. “Good, then I don’t need to worry about either of
you
turning
.”

Sara frowned. “Turning? Hold on. You’re
saying that the people who are turning into…zombies…are doing so
because they received the flu vaccine?” she shook her head. “You
can’t be serious.”

Hannah laughed bitterly. “I am as serious as
a heart attack. I wish it weren’t true, that Paul was still…alive.
But Jim, he told us everything, the entire ugly truth. The truth
the government is desperately trying to conceal and now fix.
They’ve even shut down most of the power to try and contain these
things.”

“They’re responsible for the power being
shut off?” asked Sara.

Hannah nodded. “Personally, I think someone
high-up was already losing their mind when they approved ‘that
call’”.

“Nothing makes sense,” mumbled Sara.

“What exactly are they trying to hide?” I
asked breathlessly.

She touched my shoulder. “Right now, anyone
who’s been vaccinated is doomed. They’ve all been issued a death
warrant. Only it’s their soul that dies, their bodies live on.”

I expected to hear a clap of thunder after
her terrifying revelation. Instead, Sara laughed out loud.

“That’s ridiculous! There’s no way the
government would release a vaccine that would create millions
of…zombies!”

“Well, that was our reaction when we heard
the story. But you see, the newest vaccine was never tested
thoroughly before it was released. The FDA actually never even
approved the vaccine, but it was still released.”

“How can that be? The FDA would have had to
have been involved in order for the drug to have been
released.”

“Well, I’m not sure the specifics of what
happened, dear. That’s just the story I heard, and after seeing
some of these walking dead things, I believe Jim.”

“How could a drug cause a person to make
decisions without a conscious soul?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’m just hoping those lost
souls are with their maker,” replied Hannah softly, drawing a cross
upon her chest.

This was too much for me to fathom.

“How many more of these zombies did you run
into tonight?” Sara asked.

“Well, after we got done talking to Jim, we
closed up shop so we could high-tail it on home. We didn’t really
believe Jim at the time, not until we saw the horror of what was
happening around town.”

“What did you see?” I asked.

“Innocent people were getting attacked by
these…zombies. Right on the streets! I felt like I was in some sort
of scary motion picture. My mind wanted to believe that all these
people were actors, that the blood and gore wasn’t real. That it
was just a scene they were shooting for a movie.” Hannah’s eyes
filled with tears. “But it was real.”

“How did you guys make it out of there?”
Sara asked.

“We own a Dodge Ram,” she sniffed, “with a
Hemi! I tell you that thing just plowed through those zombies. They
didn’t even know what hit ‘em.”

I looked at Sara in horror, picturing the
bodies getting hit by the truck.

“If you made it out of town, what happened
to Paul?”

Hannah shook her head sadly. “There was a
little girl, about ten years old. Only a couple blocks away from
here. Well, she was running and some soldiers were chasing her. We
had to stop. We could see that the little girl wasn’t a zombie, but
the soldiers…they’d already changed.”

“Why would the government allow soldiers who
received the vaccines to monitor everything?”

“I don’t think they know exactly who’s been
vaccinated, even with the military. You can walk up to the local
drug store and receive a vaccine. Anyway, the soldiers you killed
tonight were the two chasing the girl. We hit them with our truck,
and they were pretty messed up, you saw their missing limbs. But
that didn’t stop them from coming back at us. The taller of the two
is the one who got Paul. He was fast and strong. I couldn’t help my
husband,” she said, the tears flooding all over again.

“What happened to the little girl?” I
asked.

She shrugged, and wiped her eyes with the
tissue. “I don’t really know. Hopefully she made it somewhere
safe.”

“What do we do now?” I asked Sara.

Sara looked pale. She walked away,
speechless.

I felt like throwing up. The idea that my
mother, sister, and father were in this nightmare, probably trying
to survive, was horrifying. I didn’t know if I could believe this
stranger. Were there real-live zombies combing the streets, looking
for their next victim?

I turned to Hannah. “Um, what about the
people who aren’t zombies? What happens if they get bit or hurt by
one?”

Her eyes widened. “I don’t know, dear. I was
too busy running for my life to find out.”

Chapter
Twelve

I was overwhelmed and
emotionally exhausted from everything that had happened. Needing a
burst of caffeine, I walked i
nto the
kitchen to grab a can of soda and noticed that there was a message
on my phone.

Bryce?
I hadn’t allowed myself to think about him, it was just too
painful to consider that he might be among the walking dead. I had
no idea if he’d had the vaccine or his brother for that matter. It
might be a good idea to keep a close eye on Bobby!

I picked up my phone and sighed with relief,
it was Allie. I quickly dialed into my voicemail but my happiness
was quickly shattered.

“Cassie,” whispered Allie, I could tell she
was in tears. “Oh, my God…we need help! Dan is trying to…kill us.”
Next, I heard her scream in terror and then the phone went
dead.

Horrified, I tried calling her back but
there was no answer. Then I sent her several texts and waited. But
she didn’t respond. I threw my phone down and started crying; I
couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to Allie. Dan must
have turned into a zombie!

Then it hit me. I knew
exactly what I had to do; s
ave my little
sister
.

Wiping away my tears, I stood up and grabbed
my truck keys. There was no way I was going to sit back and allow
her to be a victim to Dan or any other zombies. If she was still
alive, I was going to find her.

Suspecting that Sara wouldn’t let me leave
the safety of the house, I decided not to tell her of my plans.
Instead, I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote her a note. I also
asked her to keep a careful watch on Bobby. Finally, I added
Paige’s address, just in case my mom or dad came home.

I went back down to the cellar and
nonchalantly grabbed more ammunition near the gun safe. Sara didn’t
even notice, she was too busy trying to console Hannah.

Yawning, I said, “I’m going to lie down for
a little while.”

She looked at me and nodded. “Okay, Hannah
and I are going to figure out what in the heck we’re going to do
next.”

I said goodnight, then ran upstairs to grab
the Berretta and my sectional staff, which is something I’d never
used away from my karate class. It could inflict a lot of pain; if
there was ever a time to use it, I knew it was now.

My truck was parked on the other side of the
garage. With my heart hammering in my chest, I took a fearful
breath and snuck outside, locking the door behind me. It was
deathly quiet except for the sound of an old barn owl hooting
somewhere in the distance. Thankfully, I was alone, nobody waiting
for me in the shadows. I hopped into my truck and locked the
doors.

“Please start,” I begged my persnickety
truck. And just like that, it started.

With a renewed surge of hope, I put it in
gear, backed out of the driveway, and took off down the street, not
putting on my headlights until I was far enough away from the
house.

As I drove through the neighboring streets,
I’d half expected to see dead bodies, but instead was surprised by
how calm everything was. No bodies, no walking dead, not even any
neighbors coming or going, which really wasn’t that odd after
midnight, although tonight, everything felt ominous.

I relaxed a little and turned on the radio,
but there was still nothing but static.

Should’ve brought my
iPod
, I thought.

About four blocks away, I
noticed Hannah’s truck parked recklessly in the middle of the
street. It was yellow with streaks of blood splashed across the
bumper and hood. I drove around it cautiously, expecting to see her
dead husband jumping out of it and coming for me. But thankfully,
it was empty.

As I neared the first major intersection, I
saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I really didn’t think too
much about it until I slowed down for the stop sign and a
bushy-haired male zombie rushed my truck. It then crawled onto my
hood while I watched, totally transfixed by its actions.

The zombie’s face contorted grotesquely and
it let out a dreadful moan. I recoiled in horror as it stared
hungrily at me with its insanely red eyes. He then pressed his
mouth against the window and began licking the glass, as if it were
trying to somehow taste me through it. The slimy residue its
blackened tongue left behind was enough to make me gag as well as
get me moving. I stomped my foot on the gas, thinking I might be
able to shake him off, but my truck had other ideas; it gasped,
sputtered and then stalled.

I locked eyes with the
zombie, who seemed aware of what just happened. Its grayish lips
curled up into a sneer, as if mocking me, which made me
furious
.
I raised
my middle finger and flipped him off, hoping he’d understand what
that meant, too.

When that obviously didn’t get me anywhere,
I restarted the engine, this time pressing much more gently on the
gas. When the truck started moving I wanted to cheer, but the
zombie was still holding onto the hood of my truck, putting a
damper on my victory.

“Get off!” I screamed, but the zombie only
stared at me with a cannibalistic yearning.

I gave the pedal more gas and watched the
speedometer go up, but the zombie still held tight, its brown hair
blowing wildly in the wind.

Screw it.
I pressed the gas to the floorboard, not too
worried about oncoming traffic.
This time I
felt a surge of exhilaration as the zombie tumbled off the side of
the hood and onto the pavement. I held my breath until I couldn’t
see it in my rearview mirror and then let out a shaky sigh. I’d
just survived round two against the zombies.