Kylie laughed. "She had on those super tight jeans and when she bent over, you could see the thong riding up her crack."
"That was so gross," said Allie. "Everything about her was sleazy."
Kylie smiled. "You"re just saying that because you liked Billy."
Her eyes widened. "I did not like Billy!"
Jasper roared again in the distance.
"Aw...he sounds so sad," said Kylie. "And lonely."
"That"s because he got rid of his two girlfriends," stated Luke.
Allie"s eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"I guess they were jabbering away and just wouldn"t shut up. Old Jasper must have decided he"d had enough," said Luke, with a sly grin. "So he ate them."
Kylie covered her mouth in horror. "That"s horrible."
"Oh, I don"t know," chuckled Justice as he began to walk away. "He ended up with food and silence. I"m almost envying old Jasper right now."
Kylie glared at Luke when he started laughing. "You actually think that"s funny?"
"Little bit."
"So, um did you guys find any food?" asked Allie as she hurried to catch up to Justice.
Justice pointed back to Luke.
"Oh yeah," said Luke, reaching into his shirt. He pulled out a brownie and handed it to her. "Knock yourself out."
"Well, obviously we"re going to need more than this," said Kylie as he handed her a brownie, too.
"I"ve got some chips and popcorn, too. But, there"s more in the cafeteria," said Luke. "I think we should go back and load up."
Justice shook his head. "No, I have a better idea- let"s just get the h.e.l.l out of here. Try out luck somewhere else."
"But we really need that food," said Luke. "My stomach is beginning to sound like Jasper."
"I thought that was your belly. Jeeze," said Allie.
"That"s because I"m starving. Let"s just grab one of those containers of food and then leave. We might not find anything else for a long time. The stuff in the cafeteria is ready to go."
"Fine," said Justice, "but keep your eye open for that wacko."
"Don"t worry, my eyes are peeled for creepy guy," said Luke.
The zoo was quiet, except for the constant buzzing of flies on dead carca.s.ses, as they made their way back to the cafeteria. Justice went in first with his gun raised and they followed close behind.
"It"s clear," he said, lowering the revolver. "Grab what you can and then let"s bolt."
"Oh my G.o.d," said Allie. Squealing, she pulled out a candy bar and ripped it open. "You were just going to leave all of this stuff behind?"
Justice didn"t say anything. He walked back to the door and stared outside.
Kids.
It was obvious to him that he was the only one who realized how dangerous their current situation was. Not only did they have zombies to worry about but now they had that head-case, Darren. From the way the guy acted, it was clear that whatever drugs he"d stopped taking, had unleashed some kind of unrestrained madness.
Just like Jimmy.
His stepfather.
Jimmy, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia only two years ago, but the family had lived with the psychosis for over fourteen. It wasn"t until Jimmy"s sister had been diagnosed with the same condition that their mother had finally reached out for help and gotten him the medication he"d needed. Before that, she"d always blamed his irrational behavior and outbursts on the "Vietnam War".
"I"m sure it"s the flashbacks from the war, again," she"d say, after Jimmy had one of his episodes or nervous breakdowns, which were very sporadic. Sometimes he believed he was being watched by the government and other times he wouldn"t leave his bed for days. "We just need to be patient with him."
But it was hard to be patient with someone who took it upon himself to train children on how to survive the monsters lurking in the back of Jimmy"s warped mind.
"You need to learn how to use a knife," he"d said, when Justice turned eight.
Because Jimmy couldn"t hold down a job, both Justice and his younger sister were left alone with him during the day while their mother had worked two jobs.
"No, please," he"d begged.
Jimmy had raised his finger. "Don"t be a baby, Justice. Now, I"m going to throw this knife at you and you"re going to catch it."
"I can"t! It"s going to cut me!"
"Not if you catch it like I showed you. Now get ready."
"But why do I have to learn this?" he"d asked, scared s.h.i.tless of the gleaming blade in Jimmy"s hand.
"Because, that"s what bad guys do!" he"d spat. "They throw knives at you and try to kill you. But you"re going to be a survivor, boy. I"m going to teach you what my daddy never did, or your daddy for that matter. Now, pay attention."
And so they"d spent hours going over techniques that Jimmy promised would help him survive, should he ever get jumped by thugs or need to survive in a war. Oddly enough, all of the drills and combat training he"d forced upon him had helped Justice stay alive when the zombies arrived.
Unfortunately, Jimmy, who was one tough son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h, hadn"t survived the vaccine. He"d turned into a zombie and Justice had been forced to kill him. It had been one of the hardest things he"d ever had to do, because deep down, he"d loved the man.
"You want a candy bar?" asked Allie, holding one out. "Chocolate makes everything a little better."
If only it were really so.
He smiled and shook his head.
Justice watched Allie and Kylie, and hoped he could keep all of them safe. They were still just a couple of nave little girls even through all of this mess. In a way, both of them reminded him of his younger stepsister, Amy, a little girl of eleven who"d wanted nothing more than to laugh and have fun. And she had, until Jimmy had turned into a zombie and had taken the lives of both his sister and mother. Jimmy had been the only one in the family to get the vaccine and the only one who"d died without fear. He could only imagine the complete horror his mother and sister must have felt when Jimmy had gone after them. Before Justice had gotten the chance to save either of them.
He blinked back tears and tried pushing the image of his mother and sister"s glossy blond hair and lifeless blue eyes out of his head, but it was difficult. He"d never forget finding them mutilated at the hands of Jimmy, who, ironically, had been the monster he"d taught Justice to defeat.
"Justice, you okay?" asked Luke.
He wiped his eyes quickly. "Yeah, just got dust in my eyes or something."
"We"ve got what we need," he said, picking up a large blue container.
"I"ll cover you but we need to move fast," said Justice.
"We"ve got some water," said Allie, struggling with a box filled with plastic bottles. "And I found a few diet sodas."
"Give me some of those," said Kylie, reaching inside. "You"re going to drop that box."
"Thanks," she said. "It was a little too heavy."
"Are we about ready?" asked Justice.
"Yeah, why don"t you make yourself useful and carry something?" asked Allie. "Like those paper towels."
Justice grabbed a roll that was sitting on the counter, and slid it down into his tank-top. "Okay, let"s go."
Thunder echoed in the distance as they moved to the door. Stepping outside, they noticed that the skies were now ominously dark.
"Looks like a storm is brewing," said Luke, glancing up as lightening flashed across the sky.
"Maybe we should hang out here until it pa.s.ses," said Kylie. The clouds were moving quickly and the last place she wanted to be was in Justice"s truck if there was a tornado.
"No," said Justice, feeling the hair stand up on the back of his neck. It was much too quiet outside, an eerie calm before the storm. "This place isn"t safe," he said, looking around. "I"d rather be on the road then stuck here. Besides, we need to get back to the truck, make sure Darren didn"t screw with it. Let"s keep moving."
"Oh my G.o.d," said Kylie, turning to her friend as Justice began walking away. "Allie, do you still have the keys?"
Allie"s face paled and she shook her head. "I...um...left them in the truck."
"In the ignition?" asked Justice, stopping dead in his tracks. He turned around.
She bit the side of her lip. "Well...yeah."
He sighed.
Just then, Allie"s face paled in horror as she stared past Luke, towards the woman"s restroom. Before Luke could turn his head, shots rang out and he dropped to the ground.
"Luke!" screamed Allie, dropping the box of bottles and scurrying towards him.
As they all stared at him in horror, it was obvious from the large b.l.o.o.d.y chest wound, that he was already gone.
"Oh," giggled Darren, who was standing behind a dumpster less than twenty feet away, a shotgun in his hands. "Guess he"s staying."
Filled with rage, Justice raised his gun and began shooting at Darren, wiping the maniacal smile from his face for good.
"Luke," sobbed Allie, kneeling next to his still form. She touched his red hair and moaned. "Oh my G.o.d, don"t leave us!"
Justice knelt down and examined the wound. "Yeah, he"s gone," he said, his voice thick.
Chapter Six.
Ca.s.sie "Have you killed any of the monsters?" asked the pale child.
I"d been helping Sister Theresa feed the children peanut b.u.t.ter and crackers in the courtyard when the little girl asked me. She"d been sitting alone, clutching one of those American Dolls like she was afraid it would disappear, like everything else.
"Zombies?" I asked, not knowing exactly how to respond to that kind of question from such a young child. She reminded me of Allie when she was younger, with her light hair and dimples. Unfortunately, her hazel eyes were filled with a haunted sadness that made me want to cry.
She nodded.
"Yes, a few."
She clutched her doll tight against her chest. "Good."
"What"s your name?" I asked.
"Kallie," she said, a shy smile spreading across her face.
"I"m Ca.s.sie," I said. "Do you have any brothers or sisters here with you?"
Her eyes welled up with tears. "No," she whispered.
She was obviously devastated and I was a complete moron for reminding her of what she"d probably lost.
How could I be so d.a.m.n stupid?
Obviously, she was alone.
"Oh," I said, sitting down next to her at the picnic table. I put my arm around her. "I"m so sorry, Kallie."
She wiped a tear from her cheek. "The zombies got my mommy."
"It hurts a lot to lose your mommy. I know because mine is gone too," I said. "But you know what? I"d bet anything that they are both watching us right now in Heaven and smiling."
She looked up at me. "How do you know?"
"Because a little voice inside of me said that if I hugged you, we"d both feel better. I don"t know about you, but I certainly feel much better now. In fact, I"m beginning to think that hug was actually from your mom."
She tilted her head, thinking about this and then her face brightened. "You"re right. And that hug that I gave you was from your mom!"