Reavers (Z-Risen Series Book 4) (15 page)

14:30 hours approximate

Location: Somewhere near Vista, CA

The sound of gunshots must have drawn them.

The fifteen or so Zs came out of nowhere and converged on our location. Joel dropped the first two. Anna drew her .357 and shot another one. Joel motioned at the vehicles, so we piled into our respective transports and peeled away from the scene, leaving a pile of bodies. The heavies we’d taken out would provide a feeding place for the remaining dead and keep them out of our hair while we made our escape.

Predictably, a shuffler moved among the crowd of Zs, followed by another one. They were both a mess, with tattered clothes. One of the guys was young but completely bald, his head covered in bloody patches from where he’d had his hair torn out--whether by himself or someone else, I couldn’t say.

He knelt and patted his head as if he was remembering something. The guy reminded me of a crazy homeless person you’d see in town. The kind that yelled at everyone he walked by. He crouched for a few seconds while the Zs wandered around aimlessly.

The rest of the Zs stopped advancing on us and milled around the shufflers.

I popped my magazine even though I’d just loaded it, and did a quick inspection. I had a full load, so I snapped it back in and did a port check. I laid the rifle over my lap and filled one of the empty mags I’d found on my way back to the house.

The shells that Joel had given me were much larger than the 5.56 I was used to, but it only took a few tries to get the hang of loading. The first time I'd done this, back in San Diego, Joel had been patient while I'd built up my fingertips. Then he’d produced a loader and showed me how to use it. I probably called him a few choice words back then.

Since the Zs had decided to take a breather, Mateo nodded at me, then opened his door and quietly slipped inside. I changed mags to the full one, lifted the AK-47, and slid behind the side of the car so I could watch the horde over the hood. More of the Zs flooded the streets and I cursed our luck for not pulling out sooner.

“Creed,” Joel whispered.

“Zombies, I know,” I whispered back.

“No shit. How many do you see?”

“Maybe fifteen, but they’re acting weird. The two shufflers are freaking me the fuck out, man. They’re low to the ground and they aren’t attacking. It’s like they’re thinking about their next move.”

“Let’s roll out while they’re confused.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” I whispered.

I hopped into the truck. Mateo started the beast. It rumbled to life and then settled to a comfortable angry purr. I rolled down my window and leaned forward so I could get the barrel around the windshield. If they started to move on us, I was going to drop the first line. This gun might not have a scope, and it might pull like a mother, but I’d be able to put thirty rounds into the Zs before they had a chance to attack.

Joel motioned again for us to take the lead. Mateo rolled the pickup down a street named James and then cut across a pair of four-way stops. I studied the Zs in the rear view mirror but there wasn’t much to see. They’d already moved on, with the shufflers in the lead.

Mateo stopped the car and took out a map. I noticed his hands were shaking.

“You alright?”

“Just getting over what happened at the house. I thought we were dead. That guy was going to shoot us with that big silver revolver. I can’t get that shit out of my head."

“I was scared to death too,” I said, nodding.

“Yeah, but you didn’t show it. You were like that guy with the assault rifle, Joel. How do you know him?”

We came to a house that had been burned to the ground. Mateo pulled over and rolled down his window. He kept his handgun ready, but didn’t get out of the truck.

“We were stationed on the same ship and escaped before it was overrun. We've stuck together ever since. Joel’s taught me a lot about survival; I’ve taught him to sharpen his one-liners and comebacks,” I said.

“Everyone loves a smartass, said no one ever,” Mateo said, smiling.

“Were you expecting someone at this house?”

“Yeah, but they’re all gone. Or dead. This was another safe house.”

A pair of Zs that were half-burned and missing limbs stumbled around the wreckage. The taller man was missing half of his face and kept walking into the remains of the blackened half-wall. The house had been on a huge lot and was probably multiple stories.

I’d noticed that the so-called Reavers were smart about where they set up shop. High ceilings for overwatch, and fortified walls below. Whoever had taken this place out had been thorough.

“What do you think happened?” I asked.

“There’s another group moving around this area that's causing hell for our teams. I think the guys that got the drop on us at the house were part of it,” Mateo said.

“Is every single safe house gone?”

“I don’t know, man. It worries me. I was scheduled to go out next week and sit around filing reports with home base. I guess that ain’t happening. Whoever is taking out the houses must know where we are. That, or the ghouls are getting smarter and cleaning us out.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” I said, and leaned back in my seat.

“Think about that a minute, man,” Mateo said.

“I know. I see it. If the shufflers are starting to do more coordination and they're picking off secure locations, how much longer until they try to find a way to wipe us out completely?”

“I think a hundred thousand Zs might be able to do that,” Mateo said.

“Maybe it was Bright Star being a bunch of assholes,” I said.

“Man, I hate to say it, but I hope you’re right.”

I felt like a bug, like the factions around here were about to squash me, and no matter who won, I was still likely to end up as some fucking zombie’s dinner.

Joel motored behind us. I looked back and caught sight of him and Anna. She gave me a little wave that made me smile.

A few days apart, and Anna had shown the first real emotion since this entire apocalypse had started. I couldn’t wait to get a minute alone with her to talk about stuff. Then I intended to wrap my arms around her body and lock lips until she told me to fuck off.

At least I’d have that much, if we died in the next twenty-four hours. I’d have a few minutes with Anna, and then maybe I’d be able to face death, be it slow or quick.

Then Anna sat up and spun all the way around in the front seat. Something had moved behind her, something or someone in the back seat. Anna said something to the form, and it disappeared again.

It was probably just a shadow, and Anna had been talking to Joel. If there was someone else in the SUV, I’m sure Joel would have mentioned it.

Then the figure moved again. That’s when the alarm bells started ringing in the back of my head.

###

40 – Recovery

14:45 hours approximate

Location: Somewhere near Vista, CA

I was immensely relieved
to see Joel Kelly again, but now I had more questions. The problem was that they’d have to wait.

Although he’d given me an abbreviated version of what had happened while we were separated, I had the impression that he was holding something back. He’d been quiet about Roz, whereas a few days ago he’d been obsessed about her.

When she was attacked by the shuffler, the dead fuck had done something to her. She’d been bitten--that much couldn’t be denied. She’d suffered a wound to her face, mainly around her mouth. But she hadn’t turned, nor shown the normal signs of infection over the course of that horrible night. Instead she’d thrashed around on the floor of the camper, and her fever had gone up.

The times we’d seen Zs turn, it had been quick. Get bitten, go into a weird fugue state, and then they died, or came close enough to death before their lids slapped open to reveal milky white eyes.

I loaded the rest of our magazines and kept quiet. Thankfully, Mateo was too busy picking his way along the wreck-strewn road to be in a chatty mood.

The guys from Bright Star had been professional about taking Roz away from us. They’d promised medical care, but they had also seemed excited, like they’d found something they’d been looking for.

I’d never voiced this to Joel, because we’d exchanged hard words back in the camper before almost being completely overtaken. He had to know, though. He had to know that she might have been infected with whatever created the shufflers.

Then it clicked.

“Stop the fucking truck,” I said.

“Bro, what?”

“Stop, just stop. I need to talk to Joel.”

Mateo scanned the shops and hotels around us. We hadn’t seen any Z activity in a couple of minutes, but that didn’t mean we weren’t being watched and/or stalked. For all we knew, a bunch of guys like Queasy and his gang were waiting for anyone to wander into their line of sight.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Mateo said.

I didn’t say a word, just glared.

He slowed the truck and brought it to a stop. I glanced over my shoulder and found Joel had stopped the Jeep. He stuck a hand out of the window and gestured, “What?”

I slammed a magazine into my Springfield and racked the slide to load a round. I left the assault rifle in the truck, but pushed the wrench under my shoulder.

“I’ll be right back,” I said.

As we’d been out for the day, it had grown into a balmy mid-sixties, if I had to guess. The humidity reminded me that we were in one of the nicest places in the United States--as long as you ignored the zombies, lack of power and lack of people.

There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and the sun
hung around,
promising to warm the day even more.

On one side of the street sat an Urgent Care that had one remaining window. The others had been shattered. A check-cashing store was next door. Someone had smashed everything trying to get in and get at the money. Lot of good it was doing them now.

A small Latino store lay across the other side of the street, along with a Thai restaurant. Nothing moved behind windows, and no one ran out at us.

A low moan rose on the air and made me double-check my surroundings.

Then I was out of the truck and striding toward the Jeep. In the near distance, something moaned again. I ignored it.

Joel rolled down his window.

“Why are we stopping?”

I poked my head inside the truck and found what I’d suspected.

Roz.

She was bound, but not tightly. Her eyes glowed green and she stared back at me.

“Jackson,” Anna began. “Don’t do anything crazy, let us explain.”

I lifted the 9mm. Joel was fast. He slapped his hand over the top of the gun, twisted it away from him and then yanked hard. If my finger had been on the trigger, I would have blown a hole in the windshield.

“Stop and fucking
listen
to me.”

“Creeeeeed…” Roz said from the backseat.

I shuddered and my gag reflex kicked in.

“What the fucking hell are you doing with that, that, fucking
thing
?”

“Listen!” Joel and Anna said at the same time.

“Creeeeeeed…” Roz moaned again.

I backed away from the
Jeep
and leaned over, putting my hands on my knees. I wanted to shoot her in the head. She’d been my friend, and Joel might have been in love with her, but none of that mattered anymore. The shufflers had pursued us at every turn. They’d challenged us and nearly killed us more times than I could remember.

Joel slid out of the vehicle, quietly closing the door behind him.

“Listen to me, man. You know I’m not stupid, right?”

“You’re a Marine. Stupid is your middle name,” I said, but the joke felt hollow, like I wasn’t teasing, this time.

“Maybe, but let me explain. We recovered her from the wreckage. When I first saw she was changing… I couldn’t do it, man. I couldn’t put a bullet in her skull. Everything I knew about the shufflers demanded that I kill her, but I couldn’t. She was lying crumpled up and I thought for sure she was dead. When I touched her she was cold, man. I sat back to say a prayer, and that’s when she moved.”

“Did she try to eat you right away, or did that come later? How long until she started bouncing around and attacking you and Anna?”

“It wasn’t like that. She reached for me, and made a weird cooing noise. I went for my sidearm, but then she said my name, and I got a look at her. She still had damage on her face, but it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. She held her hands out to me and there was an IV still attached to her arm.”

“What did they put in the IV?” I asked.

“I don’t know. She said a few more words--not clear words, but I could make then out. Said she didn’t understand what was happening to her and promised she had it under control. They said they’d given her drugs and the virus was in some kind of stasis, but her eyes were already turning green, man. I was freaked the fuck out, but I couldn’t just
kill
her,” he said again.

“
I
could,” I muttered.

“Anyway, we watched her closely.
Very
closely. I didn’t sleep that first night. We found a house and blocked the doors, then sat with her in the living room and waited. I didn’t have a choice. I tied her up and sat by her side. She didn’t sleep. She just stared at the wall, and twitched every once in a while.”

“I don’t care about this shit, Joel. She’s going to bring a horde of fucking Zs right on top of us and you know it.”

“
Think
, man, think about what happened fifteen minutes ago. Those shufflers should have attacked. They should have sent all of those Zs against us, remember? Roz kept them at bay. That’s what happened at the house. We found that a bunch of Zs were prowling outside just before dawn. Anna and I set out weapons but Roz intervened. She called for me and told me to duck below the windows. Then she closed her eyes, and after a few minutes the Zs wandered away.”

“Joel, you sound fucking crazy.”

“I know, man. I know how it sounds, but Anna was also there and she saw what happened,” Joel said and nodded in her direction.

“Christ,” I said, and turned away.

“You gotta trust us, she’s been a big help over the last few days.”

“Look, Joel. I know we said some things back in the camper and I’m sorry, but if this is your way of getting us all killed, well, brother, I don’t like it.”

“I’m not crazy. Roz shows signs of the virus, but she’s also herself. I know what she was is gone now. But she said it best: she’s a tool now, something we can use to stay alive.”

“Oh Jesus fucking
Christ
, Joel. This shit ain’t right,” I protested.

A quick breeze kicked up and with it brought the smell of rot and decay. Something moaned again, this time closer.

Joel put his hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged away from him.

“Talk to her. You’ll understand.”

“You want me to have a chat with a fucking shuffler?”

Joel grabbed my arm and pulled hard. “She’s not a shuffler, she’s something different. A hybrid, I don’t know, but she’s not a shuffler. She’s helping us. Just trust me about that the same way you’ve trusted me with your life for the last few months.”

I pulled away. still pissed. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew that he made sense. But it would also make sense for me to open the back door and shoot the bitch in the face.

The sounds of moans rose on the wind, as did the smell. The street we’d paused on was next to a park that was coved in rotting bodies. A pair of Zs stumbled out of some brush and made for us. Bodies that I'd thought were dead lifted from the ground and found their feet. There was a moment of eerie silence before a couple of Zs became a small horde and all of them turned on us.
Rotted limbs,
white eyes, and torn or broken skin, it was another nightmare army of the dead, and they all wanted us.

The first pair closed to within thirty feet. I lifted my handgun and pointed at the lead Z: a man in his early thirties with a thin mustache and goatee covered in blood.

I aimed, but before I could pull the trigger Roz, opened the door. She stepped out and stared at our enemies. Anna must have untied, her because her hands were free. Her eyes glowed a dull green that wasn’t as bright as that of the other shufflers we’d encountered.

“Wait,” she said in a low voice.

She moved toward the the horde and lifted a hand like she was a crossing guard. The Zs paused and studied her. Then, the guy with the bloody goatee turned around as if some other delicious meal of human morsels had appeared. As one, the rest of the horde did the same. Some took their former places on the ground among the dead, while others simply wandered off.

Roz didn’t speak. She looked me in the eye and gave a nearly imperceptible shrug as if to say
See what I did?

I sighed and lowered my gun. I could have easily spun and shot her. Then we would have had a fight on our hands, although it would have made more sense to just get back in the vehicles and drive. More than likely, Joel would have gone nuts and tried to kill me.

“See?” he said.

“I don’t know, Joel, I don’t know.”

“Same thing happened at the house. See how she communicated with the other shufflers and they didn’t attack? She’s on our side.”

Roz approached me. She was still herself, in a way. Her mouth was a mass of wounds and her skin was pale. Formerly a dusky shade just south of a seven-day tan, she was now much lighter. She walked, but not like she used to. It was more of a stuttering step that would look perfect for a shuffler if she were on all fours.

Anna opened her door and joined us.

Roz stared between the three of us.

“Heeelp,” she said in a low hiss.

Ever tried to hiss words? Can’t be done. Roz, on the other hand, made it sound like a drunk snake had suddenly been given the power of speech.

“You need help, no shit, Roz,” I said.

“She means she’ll help us,” Anna said.

Anna moved next to me and touched my hand. I reacted by grasping her fingers with mine. There was something comforting to holding Anna’s hand, like we’d suddenly decided to reveal a secret relationship. She slipped to my side, shook my hand loose, and put her arm around my waist.

“It’s hard to fucking accept, okay? That’s our friend and now she’s one of them.”

Anna put her other arm around me and looked up into my eyes.

“She’s still Roz, in there, she’s still a friend. We couldn’t abandon her. When we found her she was stuck, and I couldn’t see the damage or the change. We were running out of time, trying to free her and avoid about fifty Zs.

"When we dragged her out I took one look at her and almost blew her away. She grabbed my gun and pushed it to the side. Then she got up and approached the Zs. She held out a hand and they pulled the same act they just did for you: they left.”

“Fuck.” I’m a man of few words sometimes.

“That’s what
I
said. We tried to communicate, but she kept covering her eyes and ignore me. She walked away and sat down on a curb while the Zs milled around.”

“I can heeeeelp,” Roz said.

Joel nodded, but didn’t speak. He stood next to her, hand keeping the stock of his assault rifle next to his shoulder, and watched me.

Roz focused on the Zs again, and the ones who were still on their feet wandered away. She turned to me and smiled, something that was horrifying. Between getting in a wreck, turning into a green-eyed shuffler, and whatever other damage she’d sustained, her
mouth was a mess: teeth missing, tongue half bitten through, and the wounds on the side of her cheek.

I dropped Anna’s hand and approached Roz. Joel moved to intercept, but I holstered my Springfield and held up a hand in peace. He let me past with a wary look.