Dying Days 6 (15 page)

It made Eve smile.

"Can you cook?" Eve asked the woman.

"Yes."

"Good. I think we'll stop feeding everyone the swill we find on the side of the road. I'm putting you in charge of setting up a cooking station in the end zone. We'll need some tables and chairs for everyone, too. I think the men are going to need to build up their strength now that I've eliminated the focus of the women. They'll need something to do. Rebuilding the stadium will take on a new priority, and the women will need to clean and cook," Eve said.

"Why are you suddenly being nice to us?" the woman asked.

"You don't think I was always being nice?" Eve asked.

The woman wisely kept her mouth shut and Eve didn't need to read her thoughts to know the real answer.

"I need all of you alive. I need men and women to have normal relations and make babies. Children that will someday form the basis of my empire. Babies born out of violence and rape are not the answer. Child-bearing women are going to be held in reverence from now on. I'm going to build private housing in the skyboxes above for the women. You'll be fed well and taken care of. No more hiding in the bowels of the stadium," Eve said.

"And in return?" the woman asked.

Eve grinned. "In return for your safety, you'll begin giving me what I want: more children. Amber will lead the way for a New World Order."

Chapter Twenty

The river below looked so peaceful. If Bernie focused on the flowing water and ignored the smoking buildings on either side of the river or the sunken cargo ship, she could imagine a simpler time.

She was halfway across the bridge but had to stop and take a break. She was exhausted, her nerves frayed and every sound startled her. She wondered if she was suffering from PTSD or just having a nervous breakdown. This was all too much for her.

Something splashed in the water below but when she looked all she saw was flowing water. Was she now hearing things? She needed to rest but she had no idea where.

The bridge took her to the downtown area, the area her group had skirted a week ago because it was probably filled with zombies. Most big cities were packed with them, yet here she was.

About to walk right into the biggest city in the continental United States and a horde of zombies.

Bernie wondered if Darlene was also in Jacksonville, and what she'd do if she saw Bernie.

A metallic clank behind Bernie turned her around in time to see three zombies, entrails dragging behind their ravaged bodies, heading in her direction.

She could probably run around the trio and escape, although she could see a few more moving in sight up the bridge now. She wondered if she'd made a noise they were drawn to or she just happened to be in their migratory path.

"Not that it matters, right?" Bernie decided to take them out because she didn't want them at her back, and she had some aggression and frustration to work out.

A tire iron she'd found in the weeds a few miles back now came in handy as she slammed the closest zombie in the face and watched it split the skull like a knife through butter, the brain sliding to the side before slipping to the ground.

One of the zombies had an empty holster and Bernie wondered where the gun had been dropped. It could be on the other side of the bridge or a hundred miles away.

Bernie spun and dropped the second zombie with little effort, the tire iron a good weapon in her hands. It didn't draw attention but did the job.

A few feet away another zombie came into view and Bernie stretched and set her feet, letting it come to her. She felt like she had all the time in the world right now and maybe she did. She wasn't in a rush to do anything other than survive. If Darlene or anyone else was in the city, she'd eventually find them, or they'd find her.

She heard a noise behind her and turned to see two zombies bobbing in and out of the cars on the bridge. Quite a few were following behind and she knew she couldn't use that way to retreat now. Not that it mattered because she was only going towards Jacksonville.

"Shit," Bernie said when she turned back to see a wall of zombies coming up the bridge, their heads appearing as they slowly moved.

She went back to the side and stood on the railing to get a better view, holding onto the thick ropes of the bridge so the wind didn't knock her into the water.

Bernie was in trouble.

She hadn't seen so many zombies approaching but she'd been too busy daydreaming as she looked at the water below.

If there was a gap in either direction, she'd need to take it.

There wasn't.

A tire iron and her wits weren’t going to get her through more than a few of the zombies before their numbers overwhelmed her.

She needed to go on the offensive so she rushed the lead zombie she'd been toying with and bashed its head in with two strikes, pushing the body in front of her. With any luck she could knock down enough of them to trip up their friends.

It didn't look promising for an escape but Bernie focused on the next zombie coming at her, swinging and connecting with a blow to the head. It knocked the zombie down but not out and before Bernie could hit it again another was in her face. She took it down but she was breathing heavy and her hands were shaking. She was going to have a panic attack and die.

"Come on. Let's do this," Bernie shouted, trying to motivate herself and show the zombies who was boss. She needed to prove she could do this.

With each blow, Bernie jumped back or to either side, trying to strike at the lead zombies without letting any of them get around her. It was hard work, but she was able to move forward about twenty feet, where two cars had been in an accident months ago. They acted like a natural funnel for the bulk of the zombies, though too many were still coming around either side.

If Bernie could keep them at bay maybe she'd have a chance to eventually clear a path. There couldn't be an infinite amount of zombies... could there?

A zombie got too close for comfort and Bernie pushed it away. Her arm was tiring and she was sweating from the heat and the fight. One wrong move and the tire iron might slip from her fingers and then she'd be lost.

Bernie jumped up onto the hood of the car and then the roof, hoping to catch her breath. Hands tried to pull her down and she stomped on a few fingers but it didn't deter the zombies.

"Holy shit," Bernie said when she looked down both sides of the bridge. The few extra feet higher up she was had shown her what she didn't want to see: zombies as far as the eye could see in both directions.

There were many zombies crowding on the bridge. She saw, every now and then, a zombie getting pushed against the sides and falling off into the water below.

A zombie got a hold on her shoe and Bernie struggled to get free, falling onto her ass but luckily staying on the roof of the car. She was face to face with so many zombies she began swinging wildly, connecting but not doing much damage from a prone position.

She tried to stand but couldn't break free of the zombie's grip and another touched her other foot. They were struggling to get onto the car and some had flip-flopped onto the hood and trunk.

The car began to shake with the sheer numbers of unwashed bodies being pushed against it.

Bernie managed to shake a foot loose and swung around, landing upright on one knee. She used the tire iron to bash the hand holding her other leg half a dozen times until the bones in the wrist shattered and finally let go.

She stood on wobbly feet, bending at the waist to hit zombies as they crawled up the hood and trunk. Bernie figured she had a few minutes before one or more got to the roof, or the zombies shook the car with such force she fell off.

Bernie danced on the roof as hands tried to get her, keeping her balance like she was riding the waves on a surfboard.

Her blows were becoming more lethargic and infrequent at a time when she needed to get a burst of energy and get out of this situation.

Am I going to die this way? After everything I've been through? No one will even know I existed. I'll be ripped apart and then join this horde, wandering around Florida looking for someone else to add to our ranks
, Bernie thought.

She looked down at a female zombie, teeth chattering in anger and ruined hands trying to grab at Bernie.

"Do you even know what you're doing or what you are now?" Bernie asked, knowing, even if the woman could hear the question, she couldn't respond.

Bernie swung the tire iron, slamming the zombie in her face.

She pulled back and the tire iron slipped, banging onto the roof of the car.

Bernie dove for it but the tire iron fell off the side and was lost forever.

She began kicking the zombies on the hood of the car, managing to push them off or at least to one side to block the others.

Bernie was going to die unless she got off this bridge.

"I'd rather fall to my death than become a zombie," she yelled before running off the car, punching and kicking anything in her way.

She felt a zombie grabbing at her shirt and she ripped the front of it, losing the shirt as she made it to the side of the bridge.

Bernie prayed there was a God and he wasn't going to let her die as she jumped off the bridge and into the river below.

Chapter Twenty-One

The man and the woman were blaming each other like it was a comedy routine. Darlene was starting to get a headache, not from using her powers, but because of their talking over one another.

“Shut up… both of you shut the fuck up. I’ll just shoot you both and be done with it,” Darlene finally said. She aimed at the man’s head because he was the only real threat right now.

He put up his hands and tried to smile, staring at the Desert Eagle.

“No need to kill anyone. I’m Keenan. I was minding my own business, trying to survive, when I ran into this chick. She lured me into the building and smashed me in the face with a chair. When I came to I was the one tied down.”

“He’s lying,” the woman said.

Darlene aimed the gun at her head. “You’ll have your turn. Quiet.”

“I managed to untie myself and turned the tables on her. She was going to put me on the third floor with the rest of the zombies. Did you see the one in the bathroom? It was wandering around because she keeps one as a damn pet,” Keenan said.

“What were you going to do with her?” Darlene asked, concentrating on the man as he spoke and monitoring the woman’s thoughts as well. She was getting the hang of this. Maybe she could jump out the window and fly for the finale.

Keenan  shrugged. “I was thinking about giving her a taste of her own medicine and dragging her ass down to the zombie floor. I’m not sure I can let her live. Seen it too many times: she swears she’ll take off and I’ll never see her again, but then she sneaks back in and kills me in my sleep.”

“If you let me go, I really will go away. It’s a big world,” the woman said. She turned and smiled at Darlene. “I’m Michelle, by the way. Thank you for saving me. He was about to kill me.”

Darlene stared at Michelle for a few seconds and probed around in her mind. She hadn’t always been this twisted but things had happened to her. Many sick things. She just wasn’t right anymore.

“You do know she’s lying, right? She’s already wondering if you know about the basement entrance. She has an extra set of keys hidden in the lobby, too,” Darlene said.

Keenan shrugged his shoulders again. The man looked tired.

Darlene lowered the Desert Eagle and took a step back.

“Where are you going? You’re leaving me to die. You know it, right? Get back here you stupid bitch and save me,” Michelle screamed. She began struggling in the chair.

Darlene nodded at Keenan before she turned and walked away. She didn’t want to know what the outcome was going to be. She no longer cared what happened in this building or any building in this rotting town. She needed to find her son and get back to Daytona Beach and hope the Lich Lord hadn’t played her for a fool.

As she got back outside into the unrelenting sun and heat, she wondered if she would be able to read his thoughts when next they met. The Lich Lord hadn’t been able to read her mind but did it work both ways? Darlene needed to practice more and see what else she could do.