DEAD: Confrontation (17 page)

Gemma sat down on the fire escape landing and dropped her head. The ball cap she had been wearing fell off and fluttered to the crowd below. It vanished into their midst, unnoticed by her or the creatures who were straining in futility to reach her. Every so often, one of them would grasp the ladder and make it up a rung or two, but they lacked the coordination to make it any fa
rther and usually fell back into the group. Some vanished underfoot, others simply bobbed a few times until their feet managed to hit the ground once again.

Gemma finally gave in to the feelings that she had kept i
nside since all of this began; since the day her best friend had been yanked through the window of her car and eaten while Gemma escaped and ran away. Since the day she had stumbled on to a small group of survivors and seen their numbers grow…triple…then diminish to less than half from when she’d first met them…to the day that she decided to follow Vix because, of all the people in the group, she seemed to know what was going on.

Gemma cried. Below her, some of the zombies joined in.

***

Vix shoved the girl and stayed just on her heels until they reached the mouth of the alley. As soon as they reached the fire escape and Gemma started up, Vix ducked into the doorway of the building just across the alley. A quick look revealed that, d
espite their best efforts at staying low and not drawing attention, several walkers were headed their way.

She glanced at Gemma who was almost to the first landing. She was out of harm’s way. That was perfect for what needed to be done. It wasn’t that she did not believe the girl could not ha
ndle the next phase of the plan that she was really just piecing together as she went, it was just that she did not want the girl’s death to come because she was following blindly.

“She hasn’t even asked what we are doing,” Vix whispered to herself.

Sure
, Vix thought with a smile,
she asks a million other questions. Just not the important ones.

As the crowd began to gather at the base of the ladder, Vix stayed long enough to confirm her suspicions that those infernal things could not climb. Sure, none of them could in all the st
ories that she had read, but she had long since stopped relying on her knowledge of fiction to act as her guide. The truth was, none of those books taught anybody what to do besides aim for the head and not get bit. No real revelation there.

Once she was certain that Gemma would be safe, Vix slipped out of the shadow of the doorway and dashed to the next building over. She was putting an awful lot of faith in her ability to guess. If she ended up being wrong, she was
going to feel absolutely ridiculous. And she had no idea what she would say to Gemma. This entire trip would be all for naught.

She stepped over the remnants of a door that had been ripped from its hinges long ago. The hallway was dark, but she had been here enough to still be able to walk it with her eyes closed if need be.

Back when she’d attended University, she’d met the boy she thought would be the one that would sweep her off her feet. He was sweet and charming and doted on her like no other…and turned out to be gay. Geoff Bentley had remained her dearest friend and had actually been the one to come to the hospital when one of the biggest mistakes in her life had expressed his displeasure with her announcement of being pregnant by beating her until one life was lost before it had the chance and hers hung by a thread.

Shoving the unwelcome memories back into the box she usually had no problem keeping locked tight, Vix proceeded up the stairs. She
knew what waited at the top of these stairs. It was something she had to do. Of course she would also get the keys that would open up a world of possibilities.

A tiny tremor of excitement rippled through her and settled in the pit of her stomach. Her mind flashed to that last convers
ation.

“I sent you that invitation,” Geoff
said, but his voice sounded wrong.

“I got it and can’t wait to come. I think Ivor will love it,” she replied.

“Yeah…well, I think things have changed.”

“How so? You didn’t get sacked did you?”

“No…” Geoff’s voice faded and she heard him cover the receiver. She thought she heard him be sick. She knew that she heard him make a pained whimper.

“What’s the matter, Geoff?”

“Last night on my way home…this guy jumped out of the alley. He attacked me…bastard bit me and I think he gave me some sort of illness.”

Vix remembered thinking at that moment that it sounded far too much like one of her favorite stories. However, she just as quickly dismissed it. This was serious and no time for her to be acting ridiculous.

“I can’t believe the lousy timing,” Geoff continued. “Jerrold is flying in this weekend for the premiere of the display with the dinner and we were told that Charles would be there in person to make a speech.”

“You poor dear,” she had commiserated. “Well hopefully this will all pass in a day or two…it would be awful for you to miss the opening.”

“Yes…well I have the keys to the vault…and because of the security involved…I have the
only
keys to the main display.” Geoff broke into a fit of coughing.

“Yes…well I imagine they would send somebody over to fetch them if it came to that,” Vix laughed.

“Let them try,” Geoff had growled. “I worked long and hard to secure this display…I’ll be damned if some other twat is going to—” Once again Vix heard Geoff cover the receiver as he became violently ill.

“Perhaps you should go to hospital.”

“I just need to let this burn its way through my system,” Geoff said weakly.

The rest of the conversation had been small talk. That was also the last time that they had spoken. When things started ma
king the news about large outbreaks of a peculiar illness, she had tried to call but there had been no answer. The next night was when things had gone crazy at work.

She reached the door and stopped. It was almost pitch black. Fortunately—for her, obviously not for the former residents—more than one of the apartments had had its door busted in. That allowed in just enough light from outside
for her to be sure that there was nothing in the corridor.

She took a
deep breath. If she was wrong about anything, this was a wasted trip and she would look the fool. A scratching on the door behind her made Vix jump. She took another deep breath and grabbed the door knob and tried to turn it as gently as possible.
Locked
. She was not surprised, but she reached up above the jamb and found the key that was tucked in a tiny recess.

She eased it into the lock and turned. It was almost as if each section of the lock was its own little explosion of sound. At last the door was unlocked. Now, all that remained was for her to turn the knob and open it.

Like ripping off a bandage or piece of tape, she decided to just fling it open and be done. For just a moment she felt her heart soar. Geoff was standing at his window looking out at the dead city of London. He was fine!

And then he turned around.

“Oh, you poor baby,” Vix sighed.

Geoff’s eyes were filmed in white and shot with the black tracers. His skin was a mix of grey and green, and
she could see an angry rip on his hand that had tendrils of black shooting up the arm and vanishing under the tattered sleeve of a filthy flannel pajama top.

Vix stepped into the entry hall and shut the door behind her. Geoff continued to stand there, simply staring with his dead eyes and cocking his head every so often as if he was trying to figure out who she was and if she posed a threat.

For the briefest of moments, Vix believed that perhaps something inside him remained and he would not attack. Then he opened his mouth and made a harsh mewling sound and started towards her. His arms came up and his hands opened and closed as he sought to grab her.

Pulling the machete free of its leather scabbard on her hip, Vix stepped forward as if to meet her dear friend. She threw open her arms as if to take him into a hug.

“I am so sorry you had to endure this alone, Geoff,” she managed around the lump in her throat.

With a single swing, she buried the blade in the crown of his head. Geoff—or the shell of him anyways—
stopped and crumpled to the ground. Vix pulled her weapon free and then went to the bedroom. She opened the closet and found a blanket to cover his body with.

Sitting beside the shrouded figure, Vix spent the better part of ten minutes crying. Finally content that she had it out of her system (as much as it ever could be), she went to the antique desk that sat in one corner of the living room.

Opening the top drawer, Vix smiled. A ring of keys sat right in the tray in the front. She slipped them in her pocket and then went through a few drawers and cabinets. By the time she was finished, she had a small wheeled travel case full of a few handy items as well as a few luxuries.

Now it was
time to go fetch Gemma.

***

Jody rubbed his full belly and sighed in contentment. Danny was sprawled on a large sofa and already snoring. Selina and Kat were both gathered around a roaring fire in the company of several other women with big smiles on every face. Selina would occasionally laugh out loud and then flash a series of signs to Kat who would smile big and shudder in silent laughter.

“You haven’t been having a good go of things for quite a while, have you?” George Rosamilia handed a steaming mug to Jody as he took a seat across from him.

“That’s one way of looking at it,” Jody said as he let the unfamiliar fragrance of fresh brewed coffee fill his nostrils.

“You were part of that military outfit down around Bald Knob?” Although George phrased it as a question, Jody knew better.

“Yeah…well there is not likely much left of them…or the people of Bald Knob.” Jody related the events of the last days of the small town. He left out specifics when it came to Slider or the captain. There was no real reason to dredge up things like that as far as he was concerned.

“I guess a few of the folks bugged out early on,” George said after it was clear that Jody had said all he intended. “We took them in here.
”

“So where is…here?” Jody asked after another sip of coffee.

“Cash, Arkansas…well…what is left of it at least.” George sat up and looked around the open room.

They were in a small school. Other than that, Jody hadn’t really seen or noticed much that indicated a town. And from what he had seen, there had been a nasty fire nearby that did some pretty extensive damage.

“Folks around here probably could have made it through the worst of it if the fertilizer factory hadn’t blown up,” George began. “In fact, we hadn’t seen any of them monsters that the news was showin’ for the first several weeks.

“Wait a minute,” Jody interrupted. “You aren’t from around here, but you keep saying things like ‘we’ and ‘us’ when you talk.”

George was quiet for a moment. If Jody didn’t know better, he would say that the guy was blushing. He had a strange look on his face, but with all that scar tissue, it was tough to read.

“I came out here to meet a girl,” George finally blurted. “We met online…one of those dating sites. I drove down from New Jersey about two weeks before all the madness started.”

Jody was quiet. In reality, he simply did not know what to say. It wasn’t that he thought it was a big deal…he was just not sure how to continue the conversation. Obviously George was more bothered by the revelation. When he resumed speaking, it was as if he suddenly felt the urge to explain himself. Since Jody was interested in obtaining information and George seemed in the mood to give it, Jody listened.

“I was in security at one of the big casinos before all this. And actually, before that, I was in the Marines. Unfortunately, I ruined my knee ten years in and had to leave. The security job was okay and the casino
paid well.

“
One night, on a whim, I bought a lottery ticket…and the damn thing hit. Nothing crazy, but still, I won sixteen million bucks. I opted for the lump sum and decided to take a six month leave-of-absence from the job. The first month was crazy. But believe it or not, I actually got bored.

“Just before I won, I had been dipping my toe in that online dating thing. That was how I met Brittany. She was really sweet and had no idea about my
money situation. She taught third grade here in Cash. So, one day I asked her if she would like to meet, and I drove out.”

George picked up his own cup of coffee and took a long drink. His face clouded over and his hands clenched.

“The whole way here, every time I turn on the radio, I start hearing all those crazy reports. The thing is, I wasn’t really paying attention. I just kept hearing the word ‘illness’ being used and wrote it off to another SARS scare or some other equally overblown bit of crap that the news likes to make a big deal about.

“When I arrived in Cash, I was met with a roadblock. The people of the town had sealed themselves off. I was telling them who I was when I heard her voice. She was even prettier in pe
rson than she was on Skype,” George said with a sigh.