Trepidation (7 page)

“Thanks, man,” I said sheepishly, hating all the fuss.

“Um...can somebody please fill me in?” Asia asked. “I’m totally in the dark here.”

I explained the entire story to everyone from start to finish, in vivid, gory detail.

Val was horrified and swore revenge, and Lucas and Asia were ready to sneak into Z’s lair and slice his throat.

Finally, Claire and Nick returned to the living room, and Claire was instantly pulled into a hug by my sister.

“We gotta get that Z,” Lucas said, seething.

“We can’t do anything foolish,” Nick said. “I think Max has a pretty good idea about making a plan and attacking in a week. We’ll get our revenge, if it’s the last thing we ever do, but we gotta be smart about it.”

“We’re coming with you,” Asia said.

Nick nodded. “Fine. Let’s all go.”

And with that, we headed out the door, eager to plan Z’s destruction.

M
ax had been scheming for a couple days about the most effective way to take Z down. His goal was to neutralize him without harming the women, children, elderly, and any men who refused to fight. He wanted to spare as many lives as possible, to come out victorious with very little bloodshed. He knew cutting the head off the snake would cool the tempers of the others, and he wanted to help the survivors after Z’s demise.

To boost the arsenal, we offered many weapons from the back of our U-Haul. Max graciously left some for us, as he knew we wanted to get back to Ohio and would need firepower for that journey. In his heart, he hoped we’d stay, but he knew Nick was dead set on getting home eventually.

To drum up some extra support, more to fight for our cause, Max traveled outside the city. He promised the would-be soldiers a safe place to live if they’d help take down the gang, and several joined up after his motivating speech and all the promises he made. He housed many of them down the hill from us, and they were very grateful to be granted lodging in our special, very unique city that so many had worked so hard to rebuild and secure.

Max assigned us to scavenge for supplies, and we all went except for Claire and Asia, since they’d already gone with another team to scavenge for guns, weapons, and useful items in a nearby town that hadn’t yet been pillaged. Nick, Val, Kate, Lucas, and I had to go a little farther out, because everything around the city had been depleted; we drove for about an hour outside the city border. We were pretty lucky, even though it started to rain, because the weather was warmer than normal for winter, a balmy fifty-five instead of the twenty-five degrees we’d been dealing with. We made sure to pack a couple gas cans in the back so we wouldn’t have to look for fuel. The only part of the trip that bothered me was that we would be returning at night, but I figured we’d be pretty safe in a moving vehicle.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared as the rain poured down. The windshield wipers swished at top speed, but even that didn’t give us a clear line of sight.

“This is crazy,” Kate said. “We can’t drive like this. It’s like a monsoon out there.”

No sooner than the words left her mouth, the SUV jerked, and the right side fell into a huge pothole. The ground rumbled, and I knew we’d hit more than a regular bump in the road.
Was that a tremor...like from an earthquake?
I could see the ground falling away, and dirt, rocks, and chunks of asphalt pelted the windshield as the road collapsed beneath us. It was as if the Earth had opened up to swallow our vehicle whole, nose first, as if we were being devoured. Kate screamed and my stomach lurched as we were submerged in a small crater. In a matter of seconds, the whole road collapsed, swallowing us up like a black hole.
Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The eroding pavement and water made me nervous.
What if we sink deeper? What if another car falls in and lands on top of us? What if...
I had to stop myself from that train of thought, because the what-ifs were almost too frightening to consider.

“The road caved in!” Val said, stating the obvious in a shriek.

The SUV sank lower and lower and began to fill up with water. I didn’t want to go any deeper into that horrible pit, and I imagined our SUV and us being incinerated in the fiery, hot core of the Earth.

“We’ve gotta get outta here!” Lucas said.

Kate threw her shoulder into the door. “We can’t! The doors are jammed!”

“The hatchback!” Nick commanded.

With my heart pounding, I crawled to the back. “Nick, are you okay?” I asked when I saw my brother wince.

“I think I dislocated my shoulder.” With a groan, he tried one more time to open the hatchback, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s stuck,” he said with a huff. “Let’s try together.”

I grunted and pushed with all my strength, and we got the stubborn thing open a narrow gap, just enough for us to squeeze through. We frantically began pushing rubble and debris out of the way so we could open the door wide enough for everyone to get out.

“Okay, that’s good,” Nick said.

The door opened halfway, and I moved out. My feet stood on rocks and pebbles and sharp, jagged concrete. I glanced up through the sheets of cold, pouring rain and saw that we’d plummeted ten feet into a massive crevice in the ground. Fortunately, it appeared we’d be able to climb back up the metal grating and on blocks of concrete, a makeshift ladder. I didn’t know what we were going to do about the car, as it would have taken a crane to get it out of there, but for the time being, we had to be concerned with ourselves. As I started to help the others out, a loud
boom
of thunder echoed in the air, causing me to shiver.

Val, ever the ingenious one, converted her black sweater into a splint. She blinked the rain out of her eyes as she tied it in place, with Nick grumbling and complaining all the while. “There. That oughtta help some,” she said, proud of herself.

Nick nodded as rain dripped from his chin. “Okay, everyone. Let’s all remember to stay calm. Let’s get outta here as quickly and efficiently as we can.”

Moans sliced through the storm, and when I glanced up, I gasped. A large group of zombies stood in the pouring rain, staring down at us. Instinctively, I reached for my gun, but Nick grabbed my arm.

“No!” he said. “You’ll only attract more.”

Lucas glanced up at the horde above us. “We can take them out, especially if the klutzes topple down into this hole one at a time. Easy pickin’s.”

“The car could sink deeper,” Kate said, droplets running down her face. “This road isn’t stable.”

“We don’t know how many of them are up there either,” Val chimed in. “If we start shooting, we might run out of ammo before we can get them all, and they’ll completely surround us. We’re sitting ducks down here.”

I could hear the haunting popping sounds as metal screeched and concrete and rocks shifted. A cold shudder shot down my spine. I understood Kate’s point. If we fought them and shuffled around too much, the ground could give way beneath us, and we could sink even deeper. If we shot at them, though, it might summon more, and we could be completely surrounded by dozens of undead freaks within seconds; they’d come faster than we could take them out with our guns. 

When the first zombie stumbled into the chasm, Nick was on it in seconds, bashing its head in with a chunk of concrete. When another one fell in, Val beat Nick to the punch and crunched its skull before it even knew what hit it.

Suddenly, the SUV groaned, and the ground below us started to shift.

I carefully walked through the slush of water, dirt, and debris and climbed on the metal meshing, then shot Nick a glance. “We gotta shoot ‘em...fast, then climb out of here and shoot some more. It’s our only option.”

“If we’re fast enough, maybe we can get away before more come,” Kate said.

Huge chunks of wet clay and sand suddenly fell on me. I wiped my eyes and spat out the pebbles and dirt. I could hear the dirt slowly caving in. I climbed up the metal meshing and fired at the first rotten zombie I saw looking down at me. Gunfire rang out as the others followed my lead. I climbed up the slippery metal, careful not to lose my footing, as I didn’t want to fall and knock the others down. When I got to the top, I climbed out. The sinkhole had left a huge crater in the middle of the street, but even worse than that, dozens of zombies came at me. I had to hold them off long enough for the others to hurry out.

The rain continued coming down in sheets. When lightning illuminated the sky, every freak’s gory details came into perfect view. I kept squeezing the trigger. When my gun clicked empty, I reloaded while Nick and Lucas fired away.

A beeping sound caught my attention, and I looked up to see a pickup coming straight toward us. The truck screeched to a stop and an older woman peered out the driver’s window. “Hop in!” she screamed. “Hurry!”

We didn’t hesitate to take her up on the offer for a ride. I bolted into the truck bed, hopping over the tailgate like a track star, and then I helped the others in. Zombies moaned and started to walk toward the truck, but the tires spun and sprayed them with a thick layer of mud as the vehicle sped off down the road. I gasped, but I felt relieved.
About time somebody helped us out,
I thought.
We’ve been helping other people ever since the helicopter crash.

“How’s your shoulder?” I asked Nick when I noticed the bone protruding a bit; his shoulder was visibly deformed and out of place. I could tell he was miserable and in excruciating pain, even if he wouldn’t admit it, because he grimaced every time we went over a bump. 

“I’m fine,” he breathed out.

“You don’t look fine,” Kate chimed in.

“You know how much I hate being fussed over.”

“Let me pop it back into place,” Val said.

“When we stop,” he said. “Truth is, my arm’s a little numb, and the pain is pretty...” he said, then trailed off, refusing to admit any weakness.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get you all patched up,” Val said.

“We lost the SUV,” Kate said. “It’s at least an hour back.”

“Longer on foot,” Lucas said.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes as the truck flew down the dark, deserted street. No one said another word as we glided around the corner and down a long street, then stopped.

Kate opened the tailgate, and we all hopped out.

The elderly driver, dressed in a yellow raincoat, asked, “Are you guys okay?” Her black bangs were sticking out under her hood, and she had dark eyes and a friendly smile. I guessed her to be about sixty years old.

“My brother dislocated his shoulder,” Val said.

“We’d better get him inside then,” she replied.

Nick grimaced in pain. “No. Thank you for the ride, but we’ll be on our way.”

The woman stepped closer. “On your way? It’s nighttime, for goodness sake. Have you even eaten? Come inside and warm up by the fire, and I’ll make you a bite. You can stay the night and rest, and we’ll get that shoulder fixed up for you. You can leave at  first light.”

“We wouldn’t want to put you out,” Kate said.

“Nonsense.”

“I just want to get back,” I said. “I don’t like being in zombie territory.”

“Heh. Zombie territory is everywhere,” the old woman said, obviously clueless about our city and its strange barrier.

Lucas shot me a look that told me to shut up, and I recalled that Max had warned us not to tell too many people about our safe haven, so I decided not to mention it.

“I have very good eyes,” Val said. “Even in the dark, I can see anything or anyone who tries to sneak up on us.”

“It’s pouring rain out there, and I can’t let you young’n’s leave with a clear conscience. You won’t be safe out there, good eyes or not. It’s only for one night, and I’ve got plenty of room. I gotta admit that I’ve got an ulterior motive though.”

“What’s that?” Kate asked suspiciously.

“Well, my boys are away, and I need some firewood chopped.”

“Well, since Nick, here’s, gone and gotten his shoulder all banged up, I could easily do that for you in the morning,” Lucas offered, “right before we leave.”

Val nudged me. “What do you think? Nick needs his shoulder snapped back into place, and we’re all cold and hungry. We could stay here and get a good night’s sleep. And she’s right. It’d be pretty dangerous and miserable to trek through the rain in the dark.”

“I’m Rita,” the lady in the yellow slicker said, introducing herself.

I reached out my hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

She looked at me and smiled. “You have the bluest eyes, sonny. I could eat you right up.”

I laughed and even blushed a little, then nodded at Val. “I say we stay, but we need to leave the second the sun comes up.”

“Absolutely.”

We all talked it over and voted. Nick and Kate still wanted to leave, but they were outnumbered; Lucas thought it’d be much safer to leave in the daylight, even if we did have Val’s eyes, and Val was so hungry and tired that staying seemed like a good idea to her too.

“We’ll stay,” Val finally said.

Rain dripped off Rita’s raincoat. “Okay then. Follow me.”

We followed the woman up a concrete sidewalk to a huge building, a bed-and-breakfast. The windows were boarded up, and the lady had created a nice hideout for herself. As long as a herd didn’t show up, she and her family would likely be okay.

We walked inside a huge entryway. Above us, the chandelier shook a bit as rain and fierce wind beat against the roof. Lighting flashed through the huge, rectangular window, creating odd shadows on the wall through the lacy curtains.

Rita offered us blankets and towels, and I was so thankful to be out of the cold rain. I wiped my face off, then wrapped up in a blanket as our kind hostess ushered us into the living room, to a roaring fire.

“C’mere, Nick,” Val said. “Now, I’m gonna have to pull your arm away from the socket till the ball is beyond the edge of the socket cup. I’ll pull while your arm is in a proper position, slowly and steadily. Jerking will only cause the muscles to contract and could break a bone, and that’s the last thing we need right now. Just be patient and grit your teeth, and the ball will pop right back into the socket.”