Zombie Games (Book 4): Road Kill (18 page)

“
Yeah, I know. I don’t either,” she said, walking towards the front door. “But that doesn’t mean he won’t show up at one point. I’ll leave him a note, tell him that we’re going to the Mall of America.”

“Just hold up there, toots,” said Henry, shuffling towards her with his shotgun. “Let me go in first. In case there are any uninvited guests.
I’ll introduce them to my double-barrel.”

“Henry, we got this,” said Nora
, walking up the stairway to the porch.

He followed her.
“And I’ve got the gun, now step aside.”

Sighing, Nora moved out of the way and Henry put his hand on the doorknob.

“It’s locked,” he said.

Sighing, Nora stepped off the porch and then went around
the back of the house. A few seconds later, she returned, holding a key. “Grams always kept a spare under the bird-bath,” she said with a sad smile.

“Smart woman,” said Henry.

Nora slid the key in and unlocked it. Then she stepped out of the way.

“Just stay behind me,” ordered
Henry. “And you’ll be safe.”

They
stepped into a small cluttered living room.

“Your grandma like fairies?” asked Henry, staring at the two large curious containing dozens of small figurines.

“Wow,” I said, glancing towards several shelves that contained fairies of every shape, size, and color.

Nora nodded. “That’s why she didn’t freak out when I got my fairy tattoo. She
actually thought it was cool.”

“Sounds like your grandma was pretty hip,” said Henry.

“She was,” said Nora. “It’s just a shame that she was frightened of the outside world.”

“What do you mean?” asked Henry.

“She had Agoraphobia,” said Nora. “She was afraid to go anywhere.”

“I once knew someone with that phobia,” said Henry. “It was weird though. The woman never mentioned it
until I called her for a second date- said it had flared back up and she couldn’t leave the house.”

I  thought
he was joking and had to bite back a smile when I noticed he was dead serious.

A noise from somewhere in the b
ack of the house startled us.

“Sounds like a zombie,” whispered Henry, when they heard it again- a loud gurgling moan. “What’s back there
, Nora?”

“
Dammit, that’s my bedroom,” whispered Nora.

Henry raised his gun.
“Stay behind.”

We followed Henry down the hallway until we reached Nora’s bedroom. He put his hand on the door and took a deep breath.

“Get ready,” I whispered to Nora.

He threw open the door and we all gasped in horror.

“Oh my God,” choked Nora as she stared at the gruesome scene. “Daddy!”

Her father, who I knew only from his album cover,
was lying on the bed, his lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. Standing over him was Nora’s grandmother, snacking heartily on his entrails. She turned and when she noticed us gaping at her, dropped part of her meal.

“Stand back!”
hollered Henry, pointing the rifle.

“No!” hollered Nora, pushing him away.

“Nora, it’s not really your grandma any more!” I yelled as the creature shuffled towards us.

Sobbing, Nora took out her knif
e and went after the zombie while we watched in horrified shock. With a quick jab to her forehead, Nora stabbed the zombie and it fell face-forward, onto the ground. “I’m sorry,’’ she whispered, going down onto her knees. She turned her grandmother’s still form over, wiped the blood away from her mouth with a blanket that had fallen, and closed her eyelids. “I’ll never forget you, grams,” she said, swiping at the fresh tears on her cheeks.

“God, Nora,” I said, feeling my own eyes fill
up. “I’m so sorry.”

She didn’t say anything.  Instead, she stood up and walked over to her father.  “He came back for us,” she said,
her lips trembling. She reached over and grabbed a blanket, covering his mutilated torso. She then ran a hand over his long dark hair and smiled bitterly. “I can’t believe it.”

“He did,” said Henry.
“See Nora, your dad loved you.”

She
nodded and closed her father’s eyelids. Then she kissed the top of his head. “I loved you too, dad,” she said.

All three of us
stood there in silence for a while, until Nora cleared her throat. “Okay. Enough of this, it’s cramping my style. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” I said.

When we got back out to the truck she stared at the house and her eyes filled with tears again. “My fault, you know. I should have checked the basement.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She laid her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes. “Before I left for Atlanta. I knew she’s gotten the flu shot- she’d told me that a nurse had come to the house and given it to her earlier in the week. Well, when the zombies started waking up all over town and I couldn’t find grams at the house, I assumed she’d turned and just walked away, in search of food. But, I didn’t check the basement.”

“You couldn’t have known,” I said.

She let out a ragged sigh. “But it had bugged me later, after I left the house. I almost went back to check but then I was in too much of a hurry.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Henry.
“Don’t go blaming yourself for any of this.”

“
Yeah, but he’d obviously been searching for me when she killed him.”

“Of course he was,” he said.
“Because he loved you, Nora. But don’t you for one second think that any of this was your fault, including his death. He let his guard down and that’s not something anyone one of us can afford to do. Especially when nobody is around to watch our back.”

She wiped her cheeks and sat up
straighter. “I know, it’s just that we were
so
close to finding him. If we wouldn’t have wasted so much time at the church, but,” her face darkened, “that asshole Travis and his side-kick, Dweeb. As far as I’m concerned, it’s their fault that my father died the way he did.”

“Well, they did slow us up a bit,” said Henry
, taking out his can of chew.

She tapped her fingernails on the side of the door and nodded. “Yeah, if I ever see those two
evil assholes again, I’m gonna send them where they belong. To Hell.”

“
Hey, let’s hope we don’t,” I said. That Travis really scared the
hell
out of me.

“But if we do,” she said. “I’m going to make sure they pay heavily for threatening the lives of those kids and slowing us down. They’ll be begging me for mercy before I’m done with them.”

“Oh Nora,” chuckled Henry. “Chances are we’ll never see them again.”

“Probably not, but there’s always hope,” she said, closing her eyes.

Funny how the things we hope for can come back to haunt us.   

“They’re back,” said Tiny.

Kristie, who’d fallen asleep in a recliner, opened her eyes. “Which ones?” she asked, standing up.

“Paige and Bryce,” he said, staring out the window. “Looks like Paige has…oh wow, a baby.”

“A baby?” gasped Kristie. “What the hell? They weren’t even gone that long!”

Tiny chuckled and followed her out of the house.

Kristie stormed over to Paige and pointed at her. “First of all, young lady, I am
so
pissed off with you right now I could just scream.”

“Chill out mom and look at what we brought you,” smiled Paige.

Kristie’s face softened as Paige handed her the baby. “Where did you find this little one?” she asked in a softer tone.

“Long story,” said Bryce, moving next to Kristie. The baby stared up at him and her lip began to tremble.

“Back away from the baby,” said Paige. “You know she doesn’t like you.”

“She does
so
like me,” said Bryce, scowling.

The baby sta
rted crying and Bryce stalked away.

“See,” said Paige. “
You scare her, karate man. Just keep your distance.”

“Oh…it’s okay, sweetie,” cooed Kristie.
“Aren’t you just the cutest little thing?”

The baby stopped crying and smiled up at Kristie, whose heart
immediately melted.

“So, can we keep her?” asked Paige.

“Well, babies are a lot of work, honey,” said Kristie. “And they need a lot of attention. I just don’t know...”

Bryce rubbed a hand over his face. “
Hello! It’s not like we can just drop her off anywhere. Obviously, we’re going to have to keep her.”

“
You are crabby, aren’t you?” chuckled Kristie.

“You would be too if you had to risk your life getting diapers and formula. I didn’t expect to do that this soon in life. It’s very… sobering.”

“It’s only sobering until you realize that a glass of wine at night can make everything more tolerable, even spending your last few bucks on diapers when what you really wanted cigarettes. Unfortunately,” she sighed, “even that isn’t so simple anymore."
he sighed.  even wined cigarrettes.t a glass of wine at night can make everything not quite so...ed on.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Hey, w
here’s Billie?” asked Tiny.

“He must have fallen asleep again,” said Bryce. “He was bit
ten by a zombie.”

“What!” snapped
Kristie.

Bry
ce went over the events as they unfolded, starting with finding Paige in the SUV.

“You think he’s going to change into a zombie?” asked Tiny.

“I really don’t know,” said Bryce. “He was feverish and in a lot of pain. Fortunately, he didn’t lose as much blood as I originally thought.”

“What should we do?” asked Kristie, staring towards the SUV.

“I don’t know. I have enough things to worry about. This is your call,” said Bryce.

“Just keep a close eye on him,” said Tiny. “We’ll take turns watching him. After what happened to that crazy broad, Eva, I’m not taking any chances.”

“And don’t forget about Austin,” said Paige. “He blew up your gas station.”

He sighed. “That’s right. We can’t afford to take our eyes off of him. You guys with me?’

“Definitely,” said Bryce. “In fact, I’ll take the first shift.”

“Let’s get him in
to the house,” said Tiny.

“You’re grounded, by the way,” said Kristie
, placing the baby on her shoulder and bouncing her gently.

Paige frowned. “You can’t ground me, mother.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“I’m eighteen.”

“Then act your age and quit adding more trouble to our situation. You put yourself as well as these guys in more danger when you snuck off like that.”

“If it wasn’t for me, Billie might have died and the baby as well!”

“Paige-.”

“No!” hollered Paige. “Quit treating me like I’m some kind of
princess! I’m a grown woman, with opinions, a temper, and a hell of a right hook.”

“Yes I know,” said Kristie, “but-.”

“No buts, mother. Look at me! I’m not a little girl anymore. In fact, what I am is a soldier, one who’s killed more people in the last few weeks than a freaken serial killer would in a lifetime and I don’t know about you, but I’m handling it pretty damn well.”

“Yes, honey, I kno
w. I just don’t want anything happening to you. I’d never forgive myself.”

“
Nothing will. Look, I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not going to put myself in a situation I know I can’t handle. You just have to have a little more faith in me, mom. Seriously.”

Kristie sighed.
“Fine, but no more lying or sneaking around.”

“And no more sheltering me
from the world,” said Paige. “Not only is it annoying, but it’s degrading.”

“
I’ll try, really I will. I just don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t,
” she said, softening her voice.

Kristie
stared at her intently and then sighed. “Fine. You’re growing up and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Look, I’ll ease up on you and even give you a little more space.”

“I guess that’s all I can ask,” she said, walking
back towards the house.

Kristie shook her head and looked at Tiny. “You know, when I was a teenager, all my mother had to worry about was me sneaking off to go to a party or getting knocked up
by one of my dates. Hell, that’s nothing compared to this shit. I have to worry about my daughters sneaking off like freedom fighters in the middle of the night and whether or not they took the right weapon to bludgeon a damn zombie to death. And now,” she said looking down at the baby in her arms. “Another little princess has been delivered to my doorstep. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”