Savannah's Only Zombie (Book 2): A New Darkness (21 page)

The police station was dark. When they pulled
through the rear gate, White jumped out and locked the gate behind them. A
cyclone fence topped with razor wire surrounded the back lot. Several police
cruisers sat next to the building, their windshields dirty from time and the
elements.

Jeremy pulled the truck up as close as he could
to the back door. He did not want to take any chances in case they needed to
make a run for it. He shut down the truck and noticed that the fuel gage read almost
empty. They would have to find diesel soon to refill the truck.

They walked up to the back door, White removing
the keys from his belt.

“Home sweet home,” he said.

He unlocked the door and swung it open into the
dark building. Both police officers removed their flashlights and shone the
beams into the corridor. The station appeared to be still empty, no one
bothering to try to make it their home.

“We shut off the backup generators before we
left, so once we turn them on, we should have power,” Black said. “I’ll be
right back.”

Jeremy nodded, but doubted that Black saw him in
the darkness.

Several minutes later, the lights flickered and
came on.

“Shouldn’t we be worried that the zombies can
see the light from the street?” CJ asked.

“We covered the windows, so it shouldn’t be a
problem. It wasn’t before. C’mon, this way,” White said, turning off his light
and motioning for them to follow him.

The last time Jeremy was in a police station was
a field trip he took in elementary school. It was super cool at the time to him
and all his friends, but he later realized it was just a sneaky way for the
cops to get fingerprints on all these kids.

White led them to the kitchen, where Black
rejoined them.

“You give them the grand tour yet?” Black asked,
as he reached into the fridge and pulled out a Coke.

Jeremy noticed Lexx, who had been quiet and
moody the entire trip, light up at the sight of his favorite drink.

“No, not yet,” White responded. “Was waiting for
you to get back.”

“You got any more Coke in there?” Lexx asked.

Black reached in and pulled another can. He
handed it to Lexx, who cradled it in his hands, before opening and chugging it.

“Jeez, you like Coke or something?” Black said
with a chuckle.

“He loves it,” Jeremy answered for Lexx.

Lexx gave a thumbs up.

“Alright, glad everyone’s happy now. Y’all
follow me,” White said.

He led them through the building. The first room
he took them to was where they would be sleeping. It was a simple bunkroom,
cots lined up in rows, nothing fancy. Adjoined to it was a sort of break room.
Several couches, chairs, TV, and a Ping-Pong table furnished the space. White
explained that Black was the reigning Ping-Pong champion for the precinct, to
which Black nodded and held up two middle fingers.

The next room White took them to was the armory.
And armed they were! Rows of semi-automatic rifles, fully automatic rifles,
combat-styled shotguns, bulletproof vests, stun grenades and cases upon cases
of ammunition lined the walls.

“Sweet Jesus,” Jeremy said, his mouth falling
open. “We could clear the entire city with this stockpile.”

White laughed.

“Well, it was kind of our plan to eventually,
but between me, Will, and José, it was a pretty big task. We would go out every
now and then, take out what we could, but there’s just so many of them. The
gunshots would draw them in like moths to a flame.”

“Yeah, we were in the middle of a clean-up when
we ran into you people,” Black added.

“More like ran into the hospital,” Lexx mumbled.

“Hey, that was an accident. Freakin’ José spilt
coffee all over my crotch! My nuts were on fire!” Black said.

Everyone laughed at this except for Black, who
looked offended at the others finding humor in his scalding testicles.

“Is that why you wear your police uniforms?” CJ
asked once the chuckling subsided.

White nodded.

“Yes. In case we ever did come across living
people, we didn’t want them to think we were some post-apocalyptic, ass-less
chaps wearing, psycho rape gang.”

“Wow, that’s very descriptive,” Jeremy said.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” White said,
remembering CJ was with them.

CJ was too enamored with the guns behind the
cages.

“Do all police stations have this much
weaponry?” He asked.

“More or less kid,” Black said, walking up
beside him. “All thanks to the Iraq war and our President’s wonderful buy-back
programs. We tried to get a tank, but it ended up going to some po-dunk county
upstate.”

“A tank?” CJ asked. “What would you do with a
tank?”

“I dunno. Run stuff over?”

CJ shook his head.

“Was it necessary to have all this? Y’all aren’t
even a big town,” Lexx said from the doorway.

“Necessary?” Black said, perking up. “No. Cool
as shit? Hells yes!”

“But why would a police station need so much
fire power?” Lexx pressed.

“It’s not so much as we needed it,” White said,
taking the conversation over. “But, it was nice to have. No one ever really
though the kids over at Georgia Southern would riot, if that’s what you mean.
I’ve seen those kids. They can barely cross the street.

No, it was more as a precaution. With the war
ending in Iraq, and I use the term ‘ending’ loosely, there was this huge
surplus of arms left over. Our thought behind it, if God-forbid, war ever came
home, the police would be able to handle it alongside the military. Yeah,
there’s probably some racist jerk-off who’s going to ruin it for everybody, but
it was mostly about homeland defense.

And now look at us. America, as far as we know,
has been completely overrun by the living dead. It was nowhere near what we
planned for, but now that we’re stuck in the middle of it, aren’t you a little
glad we have all these guns now?”

White’s question lingered in the air for a
moment, before Jeremy finally spoke up.

“Yeah, but if that’s the case, where the hell
are all the other police officers and military?”

White’s question was easily answered, but
Jeremy’s hung there like a heavy fog.

***

Jeremy sat up on the roof of the precinct,
staring at the blanket of stars. He leaned back in the lawn chair as his eyes
scanned eternity.

“There sure is a lot of them,” White said.

“Yeah, I noticed last night when we slept
outside. It’s crazy right?”

White nodded and handed Jeremy a beer. Jeremy
looked at him questioningly.

“I’m not gonna arrest you for underage drinking,
if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Jeremy smiled.

“I don’t know. It’s just weird okay?” he said as
he took the can.

White looked very different in his civilian
clothes. A solid white polo shirt, designer jeans, and a pair of Jordan’s, he
looked more his age now than when he had his uniform on.

Jeremy tasted the beer and was surprised that he
liked the taste. He remembered his Dad giving him a sip as a child, but he
remembered very clearly not liking it and spitting it out. Now, it didn’t taste
so bad. It was cold and refreshing.

“Thanks,” he said.

“No problem.”

CJ and Black were asleep below in the bunkroom;
Lexx was moping around downstairs. Jeremy was hoping Lexx would eventually snap
out of it. Yeah, he worried about Josh and Tori too, but he knew that the two
of them were tough and if anyone could make it out there, it was those two.

Of course, he had no idea Josh was taking the
loss of his family. Jeremy could only assume that the Rage overcame him,
causing him to mutilate Abraham. Josh never spoke of experiencing the rage
before, but if something were going to set it off in him, the death of his wife
and unborn child would definitely be it.

What Jeremy was not sure of was how it this
affected Josh’s faith. Killing someone is not really what Christians were
about. He wondered how Josh was dealing with that.

“You alright?” White asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah. Just thinking about my friends,”
Jeremy said.

“I’m sure they’re fine.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Jeremy thought about back when they were in
Savannah and they were stuck at the construction facility. When Lexx sacrificed
himself in order for them to escape, Tori had shut down and become almost
catatonic.

Has she done that again?
He thought.
Is that
what’s taking them so long?

His mind filled with all sorts of possible
outcomes. Were they attacked? Did they crash? Did they get lost?

Wrapped up in his thoughts, Jeremy almost did
not hear it at first.

It was a light “thwump, thwump, thwump,” at
first. White also perked up in his seat, leaning forward, listening carefully.

“Do you?” he asked.

“Ssh!” Jeremy hissed.

They both listened as the sound grew louder and
closer.

“Is that, is that what I think it is?” White
asked.

Jeremy stood up and stared at the sky, the sight
of what made the sound coming into view.

It was a helicopter.

Tori woke up with her head pounding. She sat up
in the bed.

Where am I?
She thought.

The white walls and furniture helped her
remember. She was in the underground base of the pot farmers. And she was naked
in the bed.

Oh no…

She noticed that Josh was absent from the room.

“Did we?” she said aloud.

Springing from the bed and gathering her clothes
up off the floor, she quickly dressed and made her way into the main room. Josh
was not there either. She did not remember much from last night, except her
breath tasted like stale smoke and alcohol. A pile of crushed cans sat beside
the recliner.

Tori rushed to the ladder and made her way up
into the shack. She noticed that the magazines were missing from the table as
she ran outside the door.

Josh was standing there, his back to her,
staring at the marijuana plants. A small pile of smoldering ash was on the
ground beside him. He turned around and smiled.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Did we? Did I? Did we-”

Josh laughed.

“Haha, relax. No, we didn’t.”

Tori felt herself calm down, if only slightly.

“But you did end up taking all your clothes
off.”

Oh God,
she thought.

“Don’t worry; you were pretty blitzed last
night. I think the alcohol finally caught up to you,” he said, still smiling.

“But we, we kissed right?” She said as she
remembered.

He nodded.

“We did. But that was it. It kind of sobered me
up. You on the other hand…”

“Oh my God, this is so embarrassing.”

He laughed again.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it. I tried my
best to get you into bed and not to look. Promise.”

Tori moaned and rubbed her temples. The headache
seemed to be getting worse.

“I tend to loose clothes when I drink,” she
said.

“I noticed.”

“I’m so sorry. For everything.”

“It’s really okay, Tori,” He said, walking over
to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “I appreciate you trying to comfort
me last night. As unconventional as some of your later offers were.”

She groaned again, causing him to laugh.

“C’mon, let’s get some food in you,” he said.

***

After a breakfast of Funyuns and Gatorade, they
packed up what they could. They took the remainder of the drinks, snack food,
and stuffed it into a duffel bag. The bag reeked of weed.

“While you were sleeping this morning, I also
found these,” Josh said, opening a cabinet.

He pulled out an AK-47 styled rifle, most likely
a Ukrainian knock-off and a 12-gauge pump shotgun.

“Nice!’ Tori said, reaching for the AK.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Josh said. “Who says you get
the AK? I found it.”

“So? What’s that got to do with anything? I’m
the better shot.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, I didn’t get too drunk last
night and run around like a crazy naked person.”

“Nice try, you already used that for the last
bag of Funyuns,” Tori said, taking the rifle from his hand.

“Dangit! Knew I shouldn’t have used that so
early!”

They loaded up the ammo into the bag and looked
around for what else to take. Several machetes sat on the counter top, next to
the gun cabinet. They were most likely for harvesting the marijuana, but the
blades would serve well for removing the heads of the undead as well. Tori
picked one up and handed it to Josh.

“I think I’ll stick with the hatchet,” he said,
patting the head of his axe.

She shrugged and took the machete for herself.

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand,” she said.

***

They found the road again and began walking
south, according to the compass. Tori’s ankle was doing better, but they still
took their time, trying not to push it too hard. She continued to lean on her
walking stick for support.

“You sure you don’t want me to carry the rifle
for you?” Josh asked.

“No, it’s not that heavy, but thank you.”

He nodded.

“So, I came onto you last night?” she asked.

“If you want to call it that. It was more like
you took off all your clothes and said, ‘Come here baby, momma will make you
feel better.’”

Tori stopped.

“I did not say that.”

Josh turned and looked back at her.

“Yeah, yeah you did.”

“No wonder you turned me down,” she said,
picking up her pace again.

He laughed.

“Is that bothering you, Tori?”

She shrugged.

“I don’t normally get turned down,” she said.

Josh burst into more laughter. He tried his best
to stop when he saw how annoyed she looked.

“I’m sorry, nothing personal. I just, I just
miss my wife that’s all. If we were in some other apocalypse in another
universe, maybe we would have.”

Tori felt like an idiot.

“I’m sorry, Josh. Here I am with a bruised ego
because you wouldn’t sleep with me and you just lost your wife. I’m such a
bitch.”

Josh stopped again. He turned and walked up to
her.

“You’re not a bitch. You were just trying to
help. Thank you.”

He leaned in and placed a platonic kiss on her
cheek. He smiled again.

“Let’s focus on finding out where we are.”

She nodded, but felt a conflict of emotions
beginning to well up inside of her. Did she have feelings for Josh? How messed
up was it that he just lost his family and here she was bothered by the fact he
didn’t sleep with her?

And Lexx was still out there somewhere.

He’s probably going banana sandwich looking for
me.

She felt guilty for toying with feelings for
someone else besides Lexx. But what if she never found him again? What if
something happened to the others while they were gone? What if their paths just
never crossed again?

Oh girl, you are in trouble.

***

“This is a town?” Tori asked.

“It’s got a Wal-Mart,” Josh answered.

“Oh, well that makes it official then,” she
said.

The booming metropolis of Swainsboro was thirty
minutes west of Statesboro, fifteen from the cabin’s driveway. Josh had no idea
how they ended up this far away, but Tori did go a little crazy on the
four-wheeler.

They avoiding the few lingering zombies that
wandered the small town’s streets. Most were in late stages of decay, meat
falling off the bone, like a slab of ribs fresh from the smoker.

“They’re starving,” Josh said quietly as they
ducked behind abandoned cars.

Tori never thought about the dead running out of
food, but it made sense in more remote places and small towns like Swainsboro.

“Less people, less zombies, right?” She said.

He nodded and pointed up ahead.

The Wal-Mart sat in all its glory across the
street. They would have to get across the mostly empty parking lot without
being noticed. A handful of corpses roamed the lot, but for the looks of it,
they did not look like much of a hassle.

Josh pulled the hatchet from his belt loop and
put his finger up to his lips. Tori nodded and grabbed her machete.

They ran across the parking lot, Josh taking out
the nearest zombie before it could moan and alert the others. He ran up and
planted the hatchet’s blade in between the eyes of the grey-skinned automaton.
Its black eyes bulged out, one popping out completely and left dangling like a
tiny tetherball.

Tori wasted no time reaching the next zombie,
cleanly removing the head before it uttered any sound. The machete slid easily
through the rotten flesh, the only resistance from the brittle spine in the
neck.

They leapfrogged their way to the store’s
entrance, taking down the unsuspecting z’s outside.

Once inside the store, Josh looked around to see
if any dead had wandered inside.

“Looks mostly clear. Want to split up?” He said.

Tori looked at him as if he was stupid.

“I was just kidding, relax,” he said, holding up
his hands in surrender.

They made their way first to the food aisles,
the stench of rotten fruit and meat soaking the air. Tori gagged and put her
hand up to her mouth.

“I don’t think I want to eat anything in this
place,” she said.

“We’ll just get some canned food and leave,”
Josh answered as he pulled the neck of his t-shirt up over his nose.

Tori did the same.

When they collected several cans of tuna fish,
beans, and corn, they left the horrible smells behind and headed towards the
outdoor section. Josh suggested they find a small camping tent to take with
them in case they were unable to find a place to sleep by nightfall.

There was one left.

It was technically a one-person pup tent, but
they could squeeze in there together for a night. Tori looked forward to the close
quarters.

If I could make a fool of myself in an entire
room, I wonder what damage I can do in a 3x6 tent.

“Is there anything else you can think of?” Josh
asked, interrupting the embarrassing premonitions in Tori’s head.

“Not really. The guns and ammo are all cleared
out. Not like they would have ammo for this thing,” she said, motioning to the
AK-47.

Josh chuckled.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. It is Wal-Mart after
all.”

They made their way back to the front of the
store, Tori making a quick stop to grab a box of tampons.

“It’s a good thing zombies aren’t like sharks
and sense blood from miles away,” she said as she walked back up to Josh by the
registers.

He quickly yanked her down to the ground and
pushed her up against the conveyor belt’s base.

“What the hell?” She got out before he clamped a
hand over her mouth.

What has gotten in to him?!
She thought.
Now he
wants to get handsy? Helluva time for it! Wait-

Josh peeked over the edge of the cash register
and ducked back down quickly.

Oh no, zombies,
she thought.
How
many?

There must have been a lot if he pulled her down
to hide like that. He looked at her and his eyes asked if she was going to keep
quiet. She nodded and he removed his hand.

“How many?” She mouthed.

“Four,” he mouthed back.

Four? What the hell? That’s not much to be this
worried about.

She sat up in order to peek over the counter.

Standing inside the store’s entrance were four
people.

Four living people.

At first, Tori’s heart leapt, thinking it was
their friends who found them, but very quickly, she realized these people were
strangers.

Two men and two women stood there, all four of
them armed with either a rifle or shotgun. The two women, one black, the other
white, both looked tough. These just weren’t some girly girls out for a picnic.

Out of the two men, only one of them looked
gruff. He was an Asian guy with a leather jacket on and a scar running down the
side of his face. He held up the AR-styled rifle like someone with military
experience.

The fourth guy did not look so menacing. He was
a curly-headed blonde who wore a flak jacket with the word “Sheriff” across the
front. His smile looked vaguely familiar.

“Alright,” the blonde said. “Let’s see what we
can find. Keep your heads up.”

Upon hearing the man’s voice, Josh’s face
dropped. He slowly stood up with his hands raised.

“What are you doing?” Tori asked, but it was too
late.

Josh stood there, hands up, and just stared.

Tori looked over the counter and realized the
blonde was telling his crew to lower their weapons. He tilted his head to the
side and stared at Josh.

“Josh?” The blonde said.

“Avery?”