The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (6 page)

I crossed my arms defensively. “You’re really something, Nick. Why are you so blunt? I don’t see why Claire doesn’t run a million miles away from you. She must see something in you that you hide from the rest of us.”

“Look, Dean, I’m just stating the facts. We don’t know if they’re going to change or not, and since we don’t know, I won’t risk your life or theirs by leaving you alone with them. If they turn, we can tie them up and see if one of those scientists can help them.” The emotion in his voice was overwhelming. “But we can’t do that if you have to kill them in self-defense when they lunge for your carotid artery.”

I felt my brother’s pain and instantly regretted my comment about Claire, but I was sure that if the girls were destined to become hybrids, it would have already happened. “Wouldn’t they have changed by now?”

“We have no idea how that serum acts in the body,” Nick said. “Since we don’t know, we can’t afford to take any chances. Until we can find someone to tell us about that serum, Val, Claire, Asia, and Jackie have to be watched at all times by either, you, me, Lucas, or Kate.”

“So you need patrol guards for
us
?” Claire said. “Nick, I think you’re getting carried away.”

“I didn’t take the necessary precautions when Darla was bitten, and that turned out…well, horrible. She killed my friends and I had to put her down.”

“I’m not Darla!” Claire screamed.

“No, you’re not, but I don’t wanna wake up to you nibbling on my neck, unless it’s in the good way.”

She clenched her mouth shut for a moment, then glared at him. “That’s sick, Nick!”

“Maybe, darlin’, but it’s reality!” he shouted back. “I refuse to kill another girlfriend.”

Val shook her head. “Okay, uh…there’s something very morbid about that statement.”

Jackie glanced up. “In the normal world, yeah, but in this zombified hell we live in now, it sadly makes perfect sense.”

“Whoa,” Claire said, taking a step back. “Did I hear you right, Nick? Did you just call me your girlfriend?”

He met her gaze, and a big smile lit up his face, revealing just how smitten he was with her. Clearly, Claire saw it too, and she obviously had no intention of taking the advice I’d given her back at the nursing home, when I warned her about my brother breaking her heart.

Lucas shot Nick a look. “Girlfriends? Seriously? We’re out here in the middle of the United States of Zombie, and you’re getting all romantic and mushy?”

Nick slugged his arm, then focused on Claire. “The only reason I stayed in that nursing home as long as I did was because I couldn’t leave without you. I was crazy with worry when we couldn’t find you. We’d have left the second the mayhem broke out if you hadn’t gone missing. I had to stay and find you, Claire, because…well, heck, I’m crazy about you.”

She touched his face. “Oh, Nick. You braved all those hybrids for me? You really are my knight in shining armor.”

He pulled her in and gave her a slow, tender kiss.

“Ick,” Lucas said, rolling his eyes. “And I thought that lemonade was too freakin’ sweet.”

Val cleared her throat. “Knight in shining armor? Pssh. That’s just…cheesy.”

“I think it’s cute,” I teased, grinning at my big brother, who’d turned several shades of red.

“Okay, well, enough of the mush,” Val said. “I think Nick makes a valid point. We don’t know if we’re going to turn back into those monsters, so it’s best we take precautions.”

Lucas gripped her hand. “I agree 100 percent. We can only hope for the best, but we don’t wanna put anyone in a compromising position in case your bodies do react poorly to the serum.”

Val leaned in close to him. “I say we use our girl power to beat that stupid hybrid complex.”

“Right,” Claire agreed. “When those hybrids turned, they didn’t want to hurt the ones they loved. At least there’s that.”

“At first,” I said, “but then all hell broke loose.”

She held up a hand. “I know, but please let me finish. I was just trying to point out that we have a window of time before we become cold-blooded killers.”

Nick wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t want to hurt you, but we need to take every precaution, babe. You know how much I care about you, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep anything bad from happening to you. I’ll be there for you, Claire—zombie, human, hybrid, or even, God forbid, fashion model. Please trust me and know I’m just trying to do what’s best for all of us.”

She heaved a sigh. “Are you gonna tie me up while I sleep?”

“Great. We’ve gone from sappy to kinky in five minutes,” Lucas joked, making Val break out in a more girly giggle than I’d ever heard coming from her.

“No, but somebody will have to stay awake and watch you,” Nick said to Claire.

“I hate this,” Claire said, touching his face.

“Nobody hates it more than me…and it’s not just you.” He glanced over at Val. “Do you think I like treating my very own sister this way?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Val said. “Don’t feel guilty. I’d do the exact same thing if things were reversed,” she said.

Jackie kissed my cheek. “Your brother is right, Dean. I’m a risk to all of us, even to myself. I want you to go do your guard duty with Kate. I’m totally fine with it,” she said with a smile. “I know I’m the only half-zombie girl for you.” She winked playfully at Kate, who just smiled back at her and looked at the floor. “Besides, it just means I’ll get a little extra beauty sleep.”

“Trust me, you don’t need it,” I complimented, pushing some of her hair behind her ear. I couldn’t help admiring her all the more for trying to be so brave, all things considered. “See you in the morning.”

She blew me a kiss. “Goodnight, Dean…and be safe.”

Chapter 5

As Kate and I headed toward the door, Asia ran to catch up with us. “I’m going too,” she said. “I’ve got a gun.”

“You could just let them borrow it,” Nick said.

The comment didn’t even faze her. She walked boldly up to him and said, “I respect you, Nick. I really do. But you can’t stop me from doing what I’m best at. I can kill a zombie faster than you can draw your weapon, and I want to be of help where I’m needed.”

“I love that you’re willing to fight for us,” Nick said, “but you’ll be putting my brother and Kate at risk if you go out there with them. If you turn while you’re in here, we can—”

Asia’s gaze never wavered as she held up her hand to stop his lecture. “Look, Nick, I completely understand why you didn’t want Val and Jackie going with Dean, since that could have ended up being two possible hybrids against one, but this will be two humans against one hybrid. I’ll look after them, and they can keep an eye on me.”

Kate nodded. “Don’t worry, Nick. If she gets out of line, I know what to do.”

Asia shot Kate a look. “You’ll shoot me?”

Kate laughed uneasily. “No. I’ll tie you up.”

We argued with Nick for what seemed like an eternity before he finally agreed to let Asia go with Kate and me. Asia was tough and had no problem standing her ground, even with hardheaded types like my brother and sister. Nick wouldn’t dare admit it, but I could tell he was impressed; she was just like him, a brave, strong asset to our group.

I wrapped my hands around a baseball bat I’d found in the closet of the cabin. Kate had a crowbar, and Asia had the rifle. We walked around the perimeter, shining the one flashlight we’d found. The night sky was dotted with thousands of shining stars, which helped a lot.

Asia nudged me. “Hey, you see that in the grass?”

I glanced to the ground where she was pointing and saw something silver glimmering in the moonlight. “What is it?”

“A ladder,” she said. “Help me drag it over to the cabin.”

“I think we should keep perimeter checks on the ground,” Kate said, her blonde hair blowing in the night breeze.

“Afraid you’ll break a nail?” Asia teased.

“What? Heck, I chewed them all off when we were under attack by hybrids.”

“We’ll have a better advantage at a higher elevation,” Asia said. “We’ll be able to see better and get the drop on the enemy from the roof. C’mon.” She positioned the ladder and began to climb from rung to rung.

“You cheat,” Kate said. “Not all of us have night vision.”

“Trust me,” Asia said, “I’d rather be…normal.”

“If you insist on playing sniper, why don’t you just stay on the roof yourself, and we’ll stay down here. Heights aren’t really my thing.”

Asia glanced down at me. “Care to join me?”

Kate chuckled and whispered, “Careful, lover boy. She’s got a mad crush on you.”

I smiled. “Pssh. I’m not worried about that. I already have a girlfriend,” I said, even though it was quite flattering that such a hottie would have the hots for me.

Asia stared down at me with her dark eyes, casting a gleaming smile my way. “Well? You comin’?”

“I can’t let a girl outdo me, can I?”

“Right. Then what are you waiting for? Get up here!”

Grinning, I nodded at Kate. “You gonna be all right down here by yourself.”

“With two guardian angels watching me from above? Sure. Why not?” she said.

“Good. Just holler if you see anything,” I said. I turned and climbed the ladder to the sloping roof, then eased over to where Asia was. “You sure you don’t wanna come up?” I called down to Kate.

“I’m good. I’ll just patrol down here.”

“I don’t like us splitting up like this,” I told Kate.

“I’m not like Claire,” Kate insisted. “I’m tough enough to handle it.”

“Hey, for your information, Claire’s getting a whole lot better,” I said, sticking up for her. “She actually took down a zombie with nothing but a rock.”

“Impressive,” Kate said. “I took down half a dozen.”

I smiled as she walked off, shining the flashlight into the dark foliage.

“You watch the north and east sides,” Asia said. “I’ll keep my magic zombie eyes on the south and west.”

I held the Louisville Slugger tightly and found the perfect position on the roof next to Asia. She diligently kept watch in the opposite directions, so we never made eye contact. I watched the forest for any movement; in our new reality, a snapping twig usually had far more to do with a zombie than a deer, and we had to be ever vigilant.

After about an hour, Asia finally spoke to me again. “Hey, Dean?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not a hybrid. If I thought there was any chance I might be, I wouldn’t have asked you to come sit with me up here.”

“Good, because if I really thought you were going to turn into a hybrid, I wouldn’t be sitting up here with you either.”

She laughed. “I’m sure we would’ve turned already if it was gonna happen.”

“Me too.”

“Thanks for believing in me.”

“Not a problem. So…what’s your story?” I asked. “What makes you so tough?”

“I grew up an Army brat, with nine older brothers.”

“Whoa! Nine? I can hardly handle one.”

She laughed again. “Heh, I know, but I didn’t get any special treatment just because I was the youngest and the only girl. I learned how to handle a gun when I was thirteen, and all ten of us kids joined the armed forces.”

“Really?” I asked, only half-surprised.

“Yep. I decided to be all I could be, and I was at Army boot camp when this whole zombie thing broke out.”

“What about your brothers? Where are they?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea if my family is alive or dead.”

“I know how you feel. I’m not sure about mine either.”

“We can’t give up hope, Dean. I’m gonna put all the training my brothers and my parents gave me and put it to good use so I can survive out here. I refuse to die, not without one heck of a fight. I might be a woman, but I’m also a warrior, and those zombies don’t wanna screw with me. Most of ‘em got nothin’ on my nine older brothers, and I survived growing up with them.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re part of the team,” I said. “You’re so much like my sister.”

“Yeah, Val’s a tough cookie, and those little fashionista girlfriends of yours and Nick’s are catching on pretty quick too—becoming real G.I. Janes in their own right.”

I glanced below us and saw the beam of a flashlight waving around. “Kate’s pretty tough too,” I said.

“Yeah, but she needs a thicker skin and a bit of a reality check. She still thinks this whole zombie mess is just temporary, like some nightmare we’ll all magically wake up from and return to our normal lives in a couple years.”

“You don’t think we can rebuild?”

“No. Dean, we’ll never get rid of those dead freaks, not even with that deadly magic potion of yours.”

“The serum just needs to be researched and adjusted, like all medicines. Don’t give up just yet, Asia.”

“I’ve been running, running, and running some more, and I’m tired, Dean. Still, I’ve accepted that this is how the rest of my life is going to be. Kate has a long way to go…and so do you.”

“Wow. You’re almost as blunt as Nick,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess we’re both straight-shooters. Thing is, I admire Nick. He’s tough, loyal, and clearly always has your back. He doesn’t put up with any crap, and he tells you how it is, whether the truth hurts or not.”