Mail Horror Bride (One Nation Under Zombies Book 1) (21 page)

“Shut up.”

The zombie growled louder, straining to reach her, its arms stretched as far as its bones would allow.

“Shut up.” She tightened her grip on the katana, started to raise it, but stopped midway. The katana was too clean for such a creature.

It groaned, saliva dripping out its open, hungry mouth and the sound seemed to amplify until it was all Raven could hear. It taunted her, the sound of death, the last sound Sky ever heard as she’d strained to hear her sister come to her rescue.

“Shut up!” Raven screamed as she brought her foot down onto the zombie’s rotting face. Bone crunched as blood and other fluids gushed beneath her boot. A small sliver of satisfaction crept inside Raven’s chest and she repeated the action. More bone crunched. She stomped again. And again. The crisp sound of bones smashing was the most beautiful sound she’d heard in a long time. She continued stomping, unaware of the tears streaming down her face, the vile words leaving her mouth as she cursed the zombie and others like it, or the creature approaching her from behind.

“Raven, look out!”

She turned just as the zombie fell upon her, and lost her footing. She fell backward, sprawled over the lap of the zombie she’d been stomping on, the other zombie on top of her. It opened its mouth and the smell of blood and decay washed over her.

“The least you could have done was popped a mint you nasty bastard.” She pushed at the zombie, but her shoulder had taken all the physical activity it could handle. The zombie didn’t budge. Raven cried as its teeth drew closer.

A gunshot blasted and the zombie’s head exploded. Raven reflexively turned her head sideways to avoid getting its blood and other gross bits in her mouth.

“That gunshot could draw more!” Damian scolded.

“There wasn’t time,” Cruz replied. “Just get her up. I’ll stand guard.”

The zombie’s body was rolled aside and Raven looked up to see Damian reaching down for her, his nose scrunched in disgust.

“That bad?” She asked, grabbing his hand with her good one and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

“Not unless you consider zombie brains a good hair treatment.”

A chunk of brain matter dripped from her hair and hit the road with a sickening plop. Raven gagged.

“Try not to think about it.”

“It’s in my hair. How can I not think about it?”

“You all right?”

Raven looked over to where Cruz stood with his gun ready to fire if needed, his gaze scanning the perimeter.

“Yeah, my shoulder’s just really messed up.”

“What happened?” Damian frowned.

Raven’s gaze locked with Cruz’s for a brief moment before he turned away.

“Just came down on it the wrong way,” she answered, seeing no reason to share Cruz’s role in her injured shoulder with Damian. Tensions between the two were already high. “You think you two can get this thing running again?”

“I don’t know anything about mechanics,” Damian said, turning to Cruz, “but I’ll stand guard while you take a look.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Cruz put his gun away. “Raven, you should clean up and check on Jeremy.”

“We all should clean up.” She nodded toward the men’s clothes which were also heavily splashed with blood.

“Sweetheart, you have brain sludge in your hair,” Damian pointed out. “We’ll survive with some blood on us but that shit’s gonna start drawing bugs and I’m about two minutes away from puking already. Use one of the water jugs and rinse that out. We’ll deal with our nasty, bloody clothes after we get this thing running and get somewhere safe. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a mall.”

“I don’t want to waste our water.”

“We have enough to last until we reach Kansas. We’ll stock up there,” Cruz said. “Clean up. You’ll feel better.”

Raven went to the back of the SUV as Cruz went to the front to take a look under the hood. Damian kept a watchful eye on their surroundings in case another group of zombies popped up on them.

She opened the trunk and reached for one of the remaining jugs of water, pausing as she caught sight of Jeremy over the seats. The young girl sat huddled at the edge of the middle seat, still holding her knife protectively pointed out in her shaking hands although her head was bowed to her knees. No doubt trying to block out all the horror that had happened outside the safety of the vehicle.

Raven started to say something, to tell her it was all going to be fine, that she was safe, but stopped herself. She didn’t have a mirror but she knew the sight of her would frighten the girl more. She needed to clean up first.

She rooted around the contents of the trunk, finding a hand towel and  a comb to help with her task. She opened the water jug and poured a small amount on her hair to wet it. More clumps of brain matter fell from her hair, sliding in a trail down her T-shirt where she saw bits of bone and other gore.

Disgusted, she removed the shirt and shook it out, fighting back bile as gross, slimy things fell from it. Cursing under her breath, she balled the shirt up and flung it to the ground before sitting on her haunches and lowering her head into her hands. Her fingers touched something soft and slippery and she choked back the sob forming in her throat. She’d survived the loss of her sister. She could survive a little gunk.

“Hey. What’s wrong?”

She looked up to see Cruz standing in front of her. “There are pieces of the inside of someone’s head in my hair and all over my shirt.”

His eyes softened. “Sorry.”

“Can you get us moving again so we can get the hell out of here? Find some new clothes somewhere, maybe a bath?”

“I came back here to get tools.” He went to the trunk and picked up the comb she’d left there. “Stand up. Let’s get you cleaned up first.”

“I got it.”

“You helped me when I was going through something rough. Let me help you. Come on.”

She stood and let him run the comb through her hair, wincing as it snagged on tangles she hadn’t bothered to comb and various bits of zombie remains.

“Sorry. I’m being as gentle as possible.”

“No problem. It’s not easy combing through a rat’s nest. Extra zombie gunk makes it even worse.”

He alternated between combing and rinsing with water from the jug then instructed her to close her eyes.

“Relax,” he coaxed her, sensing her hesitancy. “I’m just getting the blood and other nasty stuff off your face. I won’t let anything creep up on you.”

Taking a deep breath, Raven closed her eyes and trusted Cruz to keep her safe while she stood there blind to her surroundings. A few months ago she’d been walking in the mall and seen this man’s cardboard cutout staring at her from one of the shops. He’d been nothing to her, just some rich movie star who made way too much money and thought far too highly of himself. Now he was her friend, her family. Her curse. She didn’t want anyone to care about, to protect. She shouldn’t have saved Jeremy, or Damian, that day. She should have stayed by herself where she was safe from losing anyone again. Now these people were her people and she couldn’t lose them. She couldn’t lose a single person ever again, even if it meant continuing to live like this, beheading zombies and being soaked in their blood and guts.

“Feel better?” Cruz asked, drying her face with the hand towel.

“Yes.” She opened her eyes to meet his concerned gaze. “Thanks.”

“No problem. It’s the least I can do after hurting your shoulder. I’m really sorry about that.”

“You didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for not telling Damian. I don’t think he’d be as understanding.” He stepped back and looked her over. “You can’t go around dressed like that.”

Raven looked down at her sports bra. Some blood had soaked through her T-shirt and stained the white cotton material but it was a lot less gross than the T-shirt. Her jeans were streaked with blood but she couldn’t feel it. “I’m not indecent. Women wear sport bras in public all the time.”

“Yes, but that’s a lot of exposed skin. Even a flimsy T-shirt is some form of a barrier between you and zombie claws.” He took off his T-shirt and handed it to her. “Wear mine. I can handle the gunk on yours.”

“What the hell?” Damian came around the back of the SUV, eying them quizzically.

“I was just helping Raven clean up,” Cruz explained, his tone suggesting Damian not make any smart comments before he turned back to the trunk and found the tools he’d been looking for. “I’m going to see if I can get this thing running but you all might want to start thinking about a Plan B in case I don’t get lucky.”

Raven pulled on his offered shirt, which was also bloody but not in nearly as bad of a condition hers had been in and shot Damian a warning glare as he leaned against the Escalade with his arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.

“It’s not like that.”

“Mmhmmmm,” he responded. “Guess it’s a good thing you got all those birth control pills at the pharmacy.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“I told you it’s not like that.” Raven drank what little water was left in the jug she’d used to clean up so she could toss it aside. The world was already destroyed so she didn’t feel any guilt over not recycling it, or littering for that matter. They’d already littered the road with zombies.

“Yeah, it may not be like that for you but what about him?” Damian stepped away. “That guy’s already got a few screws loose. Don’t get him all infatuated with you if you’re not interested. The last thing we need is for him to get even crazier on us.”

Raven bit her tongue as Damian left to circle the area and looked over the seats again to where Jeremy still sat curled into a ball. She grabbed a jug of water and a bag of beef jerky before making her way around the Escalade.

Cruz fiddled with things beneath the hood as Damian kept a watchful eye out for danger.

Raven opened the passenger side door and climbed into the SUV, not wanting to use the rear side door and step through blood to reach Jeremy. She turned in the seat so she faced the girl, worrying as she noticed how Jeremy’s arms still trembled.

“Hey, Jer. It’s all good now, sweetie. The zombies are all dead. None of us were hurt.” She waited for a response but Jeremy didn’t acknowledge her. “I have some water and some jerky. You want some?”

Jeremy still didn’t acknowledge her.

“Talk to me. It’s over now. You’re safe.”

“It’s not over.” Jeremy raised her head and met Raven’s gaze with tear-filled eyes. “This is just the beginning. We haven’t seen a single soldier or cop. The power’s gone. And those things are multiplying. They’re going to keep coming after us until eventually we become them.”

“We aren’t going to become them,” Raven assured her. “We look out for each other just like we did today.”

“I almost got bit.”

“I know.” Raven swallowed hard. “I almost got bit too but we made it because we are together. We’re going to stay together and there may be close calls but we’re going to make it.”

“Can you promise me that? Can you promise that you’ll always save me?”

Sky’s sweet, innocent face appeared in Raven’s mind, stabbing her in the heart, and she heard Cruz’s voice telling her how he couldn’t be a hero, that people had to save themselves.

“I can only promise that we will stick together and protect each other at all costs. Jeremy, I know you’re scared and you have every reason to be, but we need you to help us. I want to curl up into a ball and pretend this is just a nightmare at least twice a day but I can’t do that. You can’t do that. We aren’t allowed to anymore. We have to be brave. We’re all soldiers now. Soldiers, hunters … survivors. We are going to help each other to live so we can see the day this virus is destroyed.”

“Even if a cure is found and we somehow manage to kill off all who are already infected, our memories won’t be destroyed. I’m going to spend the rest of my life knowing I killed Miley Cyrus and that woman who almost bit me today. What if she was someone’s mom?”

“She wasn’t anybody when you killed her. Neither was the zombie who may or may not have been Miley Cyrus. You didn’t kill anyone. Those women were already dead. All you did was destroy the monsters wearing their dead bodies.”

Damian opened the driver’s side door and slid inside.

“Did Cruz get it going?”

“We’ll see.”

Raven held her breath as Damian turned the key in the ignition. Nothing happened. He muttered a curse before turning to her. “So what’s Plan B?”

“We can’t just stay here in the middle of nowhere camped out in a vehicle that doesn’t run.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

“What are you talking about?” Jeremy asked, her voice an octave higher than normal. “What’s going on?”

“The Escalade broke down,” Raven explained. “If Cruz can’t get it running we’ll need to pack up and travel by foot until we find another mode of transportation.”

“By foot? You mean just walking around without any protection against the zombies?”

“We’re sitting ducks here, Jeremy, and our supplies will run out if we stay in one place using them up.”

“Somebody could come by and help us.”

“When? The only people we’ve seen in days aren’t people anymore. Most people were smart enough to go to the military camps as soon as this happened. Stragglers like us are on our own.”