The Undead World (Book 5): The Apocalypse Renegades (13 page)

After a few miles, Jillybean began to see ghostly white faces among the trees. There were gobs of them, and she suggested to the others, “Maybe we should turn off all the flashlights.” They were clicked off quickly and yet there were more faces and now they were closer. They came to investigate the Suburban as it slowly passed by. They were so close that their hands reached out and greased the sides of the SUV in slimy zombie goo.

Eventually, their path was blocked by scores of the beasts. “Everyone under your blankets,” hissed Marybeth. The blankets had been a “just in case” preventive measure that Ipes had insisted on. Now, even Michael was under one, squinting through the countless holes in a colorfully crocheted quilt. Jillybean sat with hers clasped across her face. She left a crack to see through and the sight was horrifying. The road was blocked both in front and behind, while the trees on either side kept them hemmed in.

Michael had no choice but to slowly plow through the undead, crushing many under his tires. Jillybean plugged her ears to deal with the sounds and retreated fully beneath her blanket, no longer even the slightest bit curious as to their surroundings.

They suffered through twenty minutes of this before the horde broke up and they were able to pick up speed again. “After that, I’m going to need therapy,” Michael joked. From then on, the trip wasn’t so bad and once they crossed over the Ohio River on a decaying bridge that was rusting through in spots, they were back on a two lane black top that curled them back westward and to the little town of Elco. The directions were simple and they found the school Ernest had designated as their meeting place easily enough.

It was dark and coldly uninviting. Michael pulled up in front, parking behind the line of SUVs and trucks that the others had driven. There was no one to greet them. It was more than a little unnerving and Jillybean’s sense of doom that had clung to her all evening was jacked to its highest. William got out. “I’ll check the school,” he said simply. He left with his gun at the ready but came back with it slung on his back. “They’re in the gym,” he reported, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

That broke the spell. Everyone got out eagerly and Jillybean was back to her old self in seconds. “They shouldn’t leave all these cars and such right out front like this. It’ll attract attention. And you know what? They should have a look out stationed on the roof. That’s where I’d have one, plus he should have a radio or an alarm or something.”

“I’ll bring it up to Fred,” Michael said.

Tell him Fred’s not the leader of the group
, Ipes said.

“Naw,” Jillybean whispered. “What good would it do? Until Neil gets back he’s going to boss everyone about.”

If he gets back
, Ipes said, gloomily.

“He’ll be back,” Jillybean replied, shouldering her Ladybug backpack and holding Ipes in his customary spot in the crook of her left arm. She followed William into the school. It was dark with exaggerated shadows making everything underfoot seem to swim in an inky black soup. The place was an unruly mess; chairs and desks were over turned and Jillybean was constantly treading on pens and chalk and who knew what else.

The gym was better by far. There were high windows that let in enough light to see by and on the floor was nothing but soft mats that were used for tumbling and the like. Fred was waiting for them in the center of the gym and he started in right away. “Just as I figured; your little detour was nothing but a waste of time and gas. You kept us all up, Jillybean worrying that something had happened to you.”

“Well, nothing did,” Michael said, omitting the fact that they had very nearly been swallowed up by a giant horde of zombies.

“That’s not really the issue here,” Fred said in a carrying voice. “The problem is this girl has become paranoid. She sees spooks everywhere and danger where there’s nothing but road. And worse, Michael, is that you place too much emphasis on everything she says. We wasted an entire day just sitting around and then when we do get going she wants to drive willy-nilly across the state simply because roads converge? Here’s what I think, Jillybean, you should give up the stupid zebra and find some normal toys that don’t talk to you, because crazy isn’t a good thing.”

The room was dead quiet until Marybeth said in a whisper, “That’s not really fair.”

“Nothing’s fair anymore,” snapped Fred. “What’s important is that I’m trying to keep us safe and Jillybean, with her insane talk of rescues and her wild goose chases, is going to get us all killed. All of you have got to stop indulging her insanity or it’ll just get worse.”

Jillybean was too stunned for words, but Ipes was alight with indignation:
How can he dare say that? After all you’ve done for him and this whole group? He’s the one that’s crazy, not you. You’re just enlightened
.

She wanted to tell Ipes to shut up, only she thought with everyone staring at her and thinking she was crazy already it wouldn’t be a good idea. Instead she just stood there trying to fight off the tears that were on the verge of spilling from her eyes.

“Hey, Fred, why don’t you shut your damned mouth?” Ernest asked, his words dripping with venom. He no longer seemed like just a regular guy; his eyes were flinty and black as coal and his right hand rested on the butt of his pistol. It might have been a .22 but from this distance it could kill as readily as any other gun. Fred started to splutter, indignantly and Ernest repeated: “I said, shut your damned mouth.” When Fred shut his lips, Ernest bent down to Jillybean’s level and asked her, “You want to go outside with me? We can talk if you want.”

Jillybean was so mortified and ashamed she could barely speak. “No, thank you.”

He straightened. “I need to get something from my truck if you want to find me. I think the rest of you should get some sleep.” With a last glare Fred’s way he walked out of the gym.

The group was quiet and Jillybean felt the weight of their eyes on her even in the dark. “Excuse me,” she said in a little whisper. She wanted to run out of the room crying, but she held her feet in check trying to retain the last of her dignity. The tears couldn’t be stopped. They came and with them her chest hitched and she let out a little sob. She wished she hadn’t.

Once out the door she ran through the corridors until she found stairs leading up. They were just as dark as could be. Luckily, there was nothing dangerous blocking them.
Don’t listen to him
, Ipes said.
Fred is a jerk. You’re not crazy
.

“I am! Look at me, I’m talking to a toy. You are a toy!”

I’m a special toy. I have personality
.

She found the door to the second floor stairs and opened it, quietly, her instincts overriding her emotional state. Half in the doorway she paused, listening for monsters. The school was quiet. “You’re still a toy,” she whispered, heading to the western side of the building. “No one else hears you, no one else sees you move.”

It doesn’t mean I’m not…whoa what’s that?
A distant light had caught their attention. Due west a great fire was burning in the night sky. It seemed to be floating.

“What is that?” Jillybean asked, walking up to the glass and touching it lightly with her fingertips.

It’s a sign
, Ipes said.
A beacon! Someone’s trying to warn us.

Her small hand formed into a fist; she pounded the glass, saying, “You’re the crazy one here. That’s just a fire.”

Just a fire? No, it’s not. Look at where it is. What’s the only thing over there? The remains of the bridge. Someone lit a fire on the last remaining suspension tower. Who would do that? I’ll tell you, someone trying to send a message
.

“What message? It’s a fire, what message can it be sending?”

Ipes scratched his chin, thinking.
It’s a warning. The River King’s coming. You have to warn the others
.

She laughed wildly, feeling her sanity much like the blanket she had hidden under earlier. There was a crack in it and something was peeking through. “You want me to go to Fred and tell him that I know what a fire means from two miles away? He already thinks I’m nutso.”

Ok, don’t tell anyone
, Ipes said, reversing course on a dime. He then bit his lip and would’ve whistled if he could.

Jillybean practically growled, saying, “It could be a prank…or a…” She didn’t want to say a message, but she couldn’t think of any other reason someone would climb all the way to the top of the tower, carrying who knew how much gas. “Ok, maybe it is a message. That doesn’t mean the message is meant for us.”

Maybe not
, Ipes said.
But it is a message for someone who can’t communicate in a normal manner, like
…

Like Neil. He had left without a two-way radio and they hadn’t agreed to a certain frequency beforehand.

And it would have to be someone desperate who’d make that climb. Do you know anyone desperate?

If Neil knew the River King was coming, maybe if he knew he was coming right for this school, Neil would make the climb even if he were afraid of heights.

And if that fire is meant to be seen by someone on this side of the river, it could only be for us. Ernest had said he hadn’t run into anyone in days.

“So, you’re saying Neil lit that fire to warn us? Of what? The River King? How would he know what the River King is doing?”

I don’t know, precisely. I just know that we have to respect that warning even if it’s not meant for us. Even if there’s only a fifty-fifty chance, we should still act on it. So are you going to tell the others?

“They won’t believe me. Fred won’t for sure and he’ll turn the others against me, I know it. But maybe Ernest will believe me. He may be our only chance.” She ran for the gym.

The renegades had, as usual, segregated themselves into cliques. Jillybean rushed to each but was still too humiliated to ask about Ernest who was nowhere to seen. She couldn’t even bring herself to tell Michael about the fire because Fred was standing nearby. Frustrated, she quit the gym and made her way to the front door of the school. In spite of the anxiety growing in her, she paused just outside, letting her senses become attuned to the night.

Ernest wasn’t in sight and she dared not call his name. For some reason the night was exceedingly quiet and it worked on her nerves. Moving slowly, cautiously, Jillybean went to the parked vehicles on the street, going down the line, pausing at each up on tiptoes to peer inside; again Ernest wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

He could be using the bathroom
, Ipes said, indicating the forest just across the street. Brooding dark forests bordered the school on three sides, while the open land to the south consisted of a baseball field and thirty acres of beet-farm.

“We should wait for him inside,” she whispered. In the last few seconds her anxiety had throttled up turning into an insidious fear that had her breath catching in the high part of her throat. The quiet night was no longer as quiet as it had been seconds before. From deep in the forest there was the sound of crackling leaves and snapping twigs. “Those aren’t zombies,” she said to Ipes. When the dead walked, they moaned and made no attempt to hide the sound of their passage. The creatures moving through the forest made sly sounds, little ones, first thirty yards to her right, and then just to her left, and seconds later in front of her across the street.

Though the sounds formed a picture in her mind of a great undulating snake slithering across the entire forest in front of her she knew what was actually causing the noise: all the clues slid into place; it was the River King’s men coming to ambush them.

“We have to tell the others.” If they had any chance at escaping, they’d have to be warned. She turned on the spot, about to race for the front doors, when her legs suddenly locked. Her feet, too were unresponsive; they felt as life-like as if they were made of clay. Something was dreadfully wrong with her body. She was literally paralyzed from the waist down and she guessed the reason why. “Ipes! What are you doing to…” Now her jaw clicked shut in mid-sentence.

Sorry
, Ipes said.
You can’t go. I can’t allow it. At best you’ll be trapped with the rest of them, at worst, they’ll shoot you
.

No Ipes!
She screamed internally.
You can’t take me over. You promised.

Yes, I did, but when I made that promise, I didn’t know you’d be trying to kill yourself, look.
Ipes turned Jillybean’s head so that she could see out into the forest. At first it looked just as dark and still as before, then she saw the shadows moving. There were so many of them, it looked like the forest was marching in her direction.
You see why I did this to you? You let your emotions get the better of your logic
.
I’m going to release you now.
Ipes told her
. Whatever you do, don’t move
.

Just like that her body was her own again. Against orders, she moved, dropping down into a crouch, going bunny. She was beyond furious with Ipes yet, at the same time, she realized he had saved her.

You can thank me later
, Ipes said, sarcastically.
Right now, you should
…

“I know what to do,” she whispered, angrily. She had stopped next to a big black truck; now, she slithered beneath it and watched as the shadows became more distinct, turning into men. Men with guns. They were ranged in a long line and she could see more coming up from the woods to the north—the school was being surrounded. As they crossed the street, more than a few of them paused at the line of vehicles and glanced under the tarps.