Dying To Live & Fighting To Live-Book One and Book Two (Zombie Overload Series) (12 page)

As my eyes adjust
from being in the bright sunlight, I see a bunch of people running
toward us. Finally, my vision adjusts enough that I can make out who
they are. My door is flung open and before I can even turn my head, I
have people all over me. My boys, my husband, my parents. I hug them
back and laugh in relief that I actually
did
make it back ok.

They release me and
my husband pulls me out of the vehicle, snatching me back to him
almost before my feet are touching the ground. He covers me in kisses
and tells me over and over he loves me. I finally push away from him
and take a deep breath. Will goes to Jake and shakes his hand,
thanking him for getting me back safe. Jake tells him it was no big
deal.
You got that right, Jake. It was no big deal for YOU, now
was it? Considering I was the one who killed all but
ONE
of
them. Bet you won't mention that, huh?

"But, actually,
your wife is the one who saved
my
ass." I'm shocked.
Did
he really just say that?
Have I mentioned how much I like that
man?
My husband looks at me and laughs.
What the hell are you
laughing about, Punk?

He says, "for
some reason, that doesn’t surprise me."
Oh.
Ok.
Sorry about the punk part.

Jake calls over all
the adults and hands them each a gun with ammo. After they have all
been given a weapon, he does a quick walk-through on how to use their
guns and load the ammo. After he's done they all go back to their
vehicles and put the guns away. Kneeling down, Jake picks up a rifle
and looks up at me.

"You any good
at sniping on those games of yours?" He asks me with a grin.

Grinning back, I
tell him, "As a matter of fact, I kick ass at sniping."

He hands me the
sniper rifle. "Better take this, then. You got enough ammo for
both
those handguns?" He asks me with a wink.
Gulp! He
caught me.

Handing me more
ammo, he stands. Looking past me, I see his body stiffen. I turn and
see the others standing in a group, facing us. One of the guys, I
think his name is Bart, but not positive of that, asks if they can
speak to Jake. I move behind Jake and kneel down, moving the extra
few guns around in one bag, pretending like I'm not listening.

"Look, we
appreciate everything you've done for us. A safe place to sleep for
the night and the guns. But none of us want to go to the hospital
with you. I'm sorry, but we want to live and the worst place to be is
in a hospital." Says another guy, whose name I don't know.

I can't believe
they are doing this!
Jake has done so much and he only wants one
thing, his brother. Good or bad, he needs to at least know the truth.
And they won't help! We'd have a much better chance with all of us
going in. I stand up behind Jake and suck in a deep breath, ready to
give these ungrateful people a piece of my mind, when Jake turns and
puts his arm around my waist and turns me around. He pushes me toward
Will and gives him a look meant to say 'keep her quiet'.
As if!

Turning back to the
group, he says, "I understand and I respect your decision. The
protection for the night and the weapons were given freely with no
expectations on my part. I hope you all stay safe and get where
you're wanting to go." He then turns, kneels at the weapons
still lying on the floor, and starts putting them back in the bags. I
glare fire at the group. They walk away, some with shamed faces. Some
relieved.

Kneeling beside
Jake, I tell him that we aren't deserting him. Will agrees but says
we need to come up with a solution to protect our boys and the other
kids that are with us now.

As we're talking,
Lily, the teenage babysitter, walks over and informs us she's leaving
with a couple who are going to check on family near where her parents
live. That scares me. The couple she's planning on leaving with seem
unable to take care of themselves, let alone someone else. But what
can I do?

"Alright.
Please be careful. Did you get a gun?" She nods yes.

Then she asks me,
"Can you keep Kaleb and Grace? It would kill me if something
happens to them." Honestly, I never had any intention of letting
her take them. But I nod yes and say of course. I watch her as she
walks to the other couple's vehicle, knowing I will probably never
see her again. Sighing, I stand and ask Jake what the plan is.

"None of you
are going. Just leave. Go where you had planned to go and stay safe.
I really don't think I will get out of that hospital alive now, and
I'm not putting your lives in danger. I really appreciate all the
help.

Riled up, I tell him
how it's going to be. "Sorry, Jake. Not happening. We
are
going and that's that. Don't you dare think for one second that we
are going to desert you. You
will
come back alive and so will
we. So what's the damn plan?"

He runs his hand
over his face and sighs. He tells us the only plan he has right now
is to get there, get in, find his brother, or at least what is left
of his brother, and get out. You can hear that the small hope he had
in finding his brother alive is nearly gone. I want to tell him not
to lose hope but I can't. I reach over and pat his arm. He shrugs my
hand off and walks away with his head down, his body stiff. I watch
him walk away and sigh. What he finds at that hospital could very
well break him. I'm terrified of what he may do. I turn away and walk
toward Will.

Will and I talk
about a few different options on how best to keep the kids safe and,
once we agree on one, discuss it with Mom and Dad. We have decided
they will drive out of Springfield and wait for us on the Interstate
outside of the city,
if
they can get there and
if
it
seems to be clear of zombies. If not, they will either find a safer
place or continue to Missouri, where we will catch up. No one makes
any reference to the fact that one or all of us might not make it.
That just isn't an option.

We strap both babies
in and help the boys load some of their stuff. After holding on to
each of our boys, hugging, and kissing and not wanting to let go, we
finally help them in the Hummer. Mom and Dad hug us tight and tell us
to hurry up and get back to them and stay safe. We say we will. But
we don't promise. I walk away and get inside our Hummer, where I bawl
like a baby for a few minutes. The pain of leaving my boys behind is
almost too much. But I know my parents will take care of them. Or die
trying.

Will gets inside and
tells me he had just talked to Jake. I didn't notice as I was lost in
my own misery. Jake told Will that we'll follow him to the hospital
and stay in touch through the cellphones in case we should happen to
get separated. Once Jake scopes the hospital and decides the best way
in, he will call us. The others will follow us out of here and then
go their own way. I just nod to let him know I heard him.

Jake starts his
vehicle and moves toward the big door. I hear the others start their
own engines and Will starts ours, and then we all line up behind
Jake. I watch as he gets out, listens at the door, then shoves the
door open wide. Jumping back in, he drives out into the bright
sunlight. We head toward the front gate where Jake slows but then
continues on. Hundreds of zombies outside that gate. As we drive
past, they seem to get a little agitated but it's not to the point of
a feeding frenzy. It's odd to me to see them in the daylight. I guess
I always attributed zombies to nighttime. Not sure why. They aren't
vampires, after all. Being able to see them better in all their dead
glory, is worse, for me, than at night when you can't see what they
look like very well.

Jake drives us
around to the right side of the armory and we see another gate. Not
as big as the main gate, but big enough for our vehicles to get
through. We only see a few zombies wandering around on the other
side, but none pressed against the fence. Jake stops, opens the gate,
and gets back in. We follow him through and he makes a left turn,
away from the mass of zombies in the front. We drive through several
intersections before I see the Hummers behind us start turning onto
side streets. Dad finally turns off on the road that will lead to the
Interstate. I'm overwhelmed with terror. But I breath through it and
try to put it out of my mind. No way am I going to stay alive if I'm
worried about what-ifs.

We can see the huge
hospital up ahead. As we get closer, my stomach dips in fear. I've
been to this hospital several times and so I know it's big, but now
it looks much, much bigger. This is not going to be easy. This isn't
even going to be hard. More like impossible! We follow Jake all the
way around the hospital. The undead are thick here. And that's just
on the outside. Jake heads up the parking ramp and climbs to the top
level. We only see a couple zombies and Jake takes them out with his
Hummer. He pulls up next to the stairs and we park next to him.
Getting out of our vehicle, we take a look around.

"I think it's
best if we go in here. We can go down one flight and be at the door
of the cancer wing of the hospital. No need going through all this
shit to get here when we can just do like this."
Uh, yeah.
Makes sense to me!

I pull out my guns
and make sure they are both fully loaded. Jake opens his back door
and pulls out a smaller bag. Opening it, he takes out some metal
tubes. Handing me two, I study them and realize they are silencers.
Screwing them on each gun, I put one of the guns in my holster but
keep the other in my hand. The men put their silencers on and Jake
asks if we are ready. We nod yes and he picks up his rifle, straps it
over his shoulder so it lay on his back. Obviously, it's meant as a
backup since we want to stay as quiet as possible and not draw more
of the undead to us. He begins to walk toward the door for the stairs
when he stops suddenly and goes back to his truck. Pulling out three
nice-sized knives, he comes back to me and shows me where the knife
sheath on my pants are. I stick the knife in and Will tucks his into
the back of his jeans, handle sticking out.
Hope he doesn’t
stick himself in the ass.
I almost laugh with the image of him
doing so.
Wouldn't that be just like my hubby?
I probably
should have grabbed him a military outfit, as well, but I just didn't
think about it.

Jake resumes his
journey toward the stairs. He looks through the small narrow window
on the door and then slowly and, as quietly as he can, pushes it
open. He looks down the stairwell, and we all three hear the grunts
and bangs. We follow him down the stairs cautiously. On the landing
before the door we need to go through, we see a single zombie. She
shuffles to the door, unable to open it, banging and pushing against
it, although it opens out this way instead of inside. Giving up, she
turns to the stairs going up toward us and, never lifting her feet,
falls on the first step. She rolls off, gets back on her feet, and
shuffles back to the door. Jake looks back at us, motioning for us to
stay where we are, but before he gets the chance to go down more than
a couple stairs, the zombie goes near the edge of the landing leading
to the floor below and disappears with a series of thuds. Jake looks
back at us and shrugs.
Well, that was easy!

We meet up on the
landing and Jake peers through the window on that door. He backs away
and lets out a breath that seems to come from the bottom of his soul.
He hangs his head for a moment before turning back to us. I'm afraid
of what he's going to say.

"There's at
least fifty walking around in there. And that's just the ones I see.
You sure you wanna do this?"
Nope. Not really!
But I nod
my head yes. If it were my loved one, nothing would stop me. Not to
mention, Jake has already proved he would help us and other
strangers, too.

Will says, "No
sense in turning back now. We can do this. I have a plan. We seem to
be safe here, unless there are some outside on the top level that
push the door open." Stopping, he looks at the door and we see
one of those door locks that you can push down to lock the door into
the floor. He goes over and pushes it down, locking it in place. Will
runs back up the stairs and soon after, Jake and I hear the top
stairwell door lock. He runs back down and says that now we don't
have to worry about falling zombies. We grin. Then he continues
telling us his plan.

"So, we open
this door and get on the stairs. They can't climb so we will be safe
and can take them out."
Wow. Brilliant idea, Babe!
Jake
and I nod at him, and I give him one of my winks, which is a blink of
both eyes. I c
an't wink, remember.
Bite me! Well,
considering the current situation, don't bite me.
And anyway,
Will thinks it's cute and laughs every time. This time is no
different. Will and I climb the stairs, him a few steps above me.
Jake goes to the door and, making sure we are ready first, flings it
open, and smashes the door prop down. Running to the stairs, he
climbs up beside Will.