Thirteen Roses Book Four: Alone: A Paranormal Zombie Saga (4 page)

She spoke before Sophie got the chance. ‘What’s going on with them?’

‘I’m not sure. Why?’

‘It just all looked a bit secretive. I’m not sure it’s a good thing.’

‘I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.’

‘Sophie, I worry about everything these days.’

Alex

He couldn’t stop staring. He knew he was staring and he still couldn’t stop himself. She was amazing. She was beautiful in a way that made Bayleigh fade into the background. She made everyone fade into the background. He tried to tell himself it was her beautiful face. The way her nose sloped up just a little at the end and the full lips that curved up at the edges even when she was looking serious. Which was often.
 

But it was her tits as well. They were amazing and she kept wearing t shirts that were a little too small. He couldn’t decide whether it was deliberate or just unlucky. Or lucky of course, depending on where you sat. He was sat in what had become the dining room and he was feeling pretty bloody lucky.
 

She looked angry and she was still gorgeous. She was called Harriet and came from Cambridge by way of West Thames University. She’d been living in Ealing while she studied and had some of the swagger of the girls from that side. He liked Ealing. If he’d known Harriet was living there, he’d have spent a lot more time there.
 

She smiled a lot when they spoke to one another. He wasn’t superman when it came to girls but he knew the signs. And she hadn’t been put off when he said he was a scientist. He didn’t think she had much respect for what he did, but he had none whatsoever for her weird, blinkered religious views, so that was alright. And it wasn’t like he was looking to build a long term relationship.
 

He knew he wasn’t the only one in the place that was craving it. He’d seen Jackson prowling, making eyes at the ladies. He thought it made him desirable but it was borderline stalker and all creepy. Alex grinned and shook his head. The guy was a total nut job. At least the zombies gave him somewhere to direct his madness.
 

Harriet was going on and on to a group of the ladies about something, waving her arms around and looking heated. Every time she raised her arms, her t-shirt moved around and showed her tits off. Alex shifted in his chair and groaned in the back of his throat. The hospital was clean, there definitely weren’t many zombies here, but sneaking off to a different part to masturbate was still a perilous task.

The ladies dispersed, heading out of the room. For a moment Harriet was alone and Alex strode over, trying to look casual while getting there before she had the chance to leave.
 

‘Hey, how you doing?’

Her normal smile was absent when she made eye contact. ‘Do you know who it is you’re following?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Luke. Do you know who he is?’

‘Of course.’

Harriet turned her nose up and looked past him.
 

‘Why, what’s the big deal?’

‘He’s the Betrayer. He’s evil.’

‘That’s a bit strong, don’t you think? He made a few mistakes, but he’s atoned for them.’

‘You can never atone for what he did.’

‘Hang on. He spent thousands of years presiding over Hell. From the sounds of it, not much fun.’

‘He could spend the rest of his life there, he would still never atone.’

‘What happened to forgiveness?’

She jumped as though he’d poked her.
 

‘I mean, just a thought, but you guys are all about forgiveness, right?’

‘Us guys?’

‘Christians. I mean, that’s your main definer.’

‘I suppose so. I’m also a student—’

‘Were.’

‘I was a student and a woman. They define me as much as my religion.’

‘But not more. Look, the point is, aren’t Christians supposed to forgive?’

‘But what he did—’

‘He did thousands of years ago. The Father’s forgiven him, so—’

‘Don’t give me that. Who’s this Father you all keep talking about?’

‘God, whatever.’

She looked liked he’d slapped her. He only just restrained his smile. Her chest was heaving and he couldn’t keep his eyes off it.
 

‘It’s not ‘God, whatever’. It is God and I would thank you to be respectful towards my beliefs.’

‘Hey, I’m respectful. But I’ve met the guy you call god and he doesn’t like the name. That’s all I’m saying.’

‘Could you manage to talk to me without staring at my breasts for one minute?’

His face heated up and he glanced at the ground. ‘Sorry. They are rather fine.’

She blushed bright red and folded her arms over them. ‘That’s neither here nor there. It’s not polite to stare.’

‘Yeah, sorry. Look, I don’t want to argue. I came over to chat, not get in a fight.’

‘You didn’t do very well at that, did you?’

He grinned sheepishly and shook his head. She smiled back and unfolded her arms. ‘Do you really like them?’

He burst out laughing and nodded. ‘I like all of you.’

‘Well that’s lucky, you don’t just get the breasts on their own, you know.’

‘So what do I get?’

She blushed and frowned, glancing behind her. ‘Nothing right now. Sorry, I have to go.’

‘Wait, hold on.’ She was already out of the room as he hurried to catch up. ‘Where are you going?’ It was a ludicrous question. There was nowhere to go. ‘Can I come with you?’

She glanced sideways and shrugged. ‘I suppose so.’

They hurried down the corridor, Alex doing everything he could to not stare at her breasts. He was in, unless he did something really stupid. His breath came in short bursts and he liked to think it was because of the stomping but he thought it might also have something to do with the way she moved in her jogging trousers and the thought he would soon get to see what lay beneath them.
 

They left the ward and raced down the corridor to the landing that filled the centre of the hospital. From here they went down the escalators to the front doors. The place was empty and Harriet hissed and tapped her wrist like she was wearing a watch.
 

‘Expecting a visitor?’

She gave him a look and turned a full circle before finishing looking at him.
 

‘Look, there’s no one here. Why don’t we go and hang out so—’

‘Keep it in your trousers. They’ll be here, we just have to be patient.’ She paused, brow creasing. ‘You might not want to be here.’

‘Why not?’

‘We’re discussing things you might not want to hear.’

‘I think I can handle it.’

‘Your choice.’

She turned away and he put his hand on her arm, turning her back. ‘So what were you studying?’

She looked around again before she let out a long breath and relaxed, leaning against the reception desk. ‘I was doing a course in social work. Five years, so a long time, but lots of work experience, which was good.’

‘So you’ve been out into the real world?’

She gave him another look and he raised his hands in defence. ‘Hey, I only ask because I’ve spectacularly failed to do it. I went from school to uni and from there straight to the lab. I mean, I’m still at uni but I spent more time at the lab that anywhere else.’

‘So what were you working on?’

‘Oh, um, cures for germ warfare. You know, the modern chemical attack.’

‘Oh wow, that’s a really great thing to be doing. What could you cure?’

‘Well that’s just it. It’s a tough field. We’ve got stuff that can help a lot, but nothing that nullifies the effects. That’s still a way off. Longer now…’ He trailed off, hoping he was looking suitably sad. There were less than two hundred people alive in England and he’d just lied to one of them. He thought he should probably feel worse than he did, but she was leaning in a way that made her trousers cling to her legs and show off this amazing profile. And she kept fiddling with this strand of hair that curled under her ear.
 

‘So, have you done much work experience?’

She nodded. ‘Yeah, some. I’ve just started my second year, but we shadowed a few social workers in the first year, so I’ve seen a bit. Enough to know Ealing isn’t as glamourous as everyone says.’

‘It really isn’t. I’ve heard they’ve even got zombies living there now.’

Her laughter was cut off as he swore and shoved her behind him. Two zombies were strolling straight in through the front door. Alex only noticed from the swishing sound as the door opened.
 

‘Shit, how the hell did they get in here? The devices must have run out.’

He grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘Get up to the ward and find Bayleigh’ - He ignored the look of disdain she gave him - ‘tell her the devices have run out. She’ll get everyone moving.’

Harriet stared at him with frightened eyes, frozen.
 

‘GO!’ She jumped and raced around him. He watched her arse for a moment before shaking himself. The zombies were closer and he ducked behind the reception desk. They’d spotted him so there was no getting away but they’d stashed a weapon here and that gave him a chance.
 

What the hell was he doing? This was unbelievably stupid, in every way possible, this was stupid.
 

He stood, shaking hands wrapped around the metal pole. He pulled open the drawer to get the device and stared at the empty space. Someone had taken it. The soldiers. It had to be the soldiers. They’d come in and stolen it. Had they taken the others? Krystal had been checking all the doors and she was diligent. This was the only way in.

His heart was trying very hard to get out of his chest and run away. His legs wanted to do the same thing but he kept them still. What if Harriet had stayed to watch? Instead they shook, so hard he expected to topple over at any moment. The first zombie reached for him and the world stopped. He saw its red eyes, horribly close and greedy, and he shouted and leapt backwards, flailing about him with the pole.
 

He succeeded in hitting precisely nothing, but got far enough away from the zombie to raise the pole in both hands between them. He just had to imagine it was a cricket bat or a golf club or something. He couldn’t play golf. He couldn’t play cricket either but he knew how to swing a bat. He swung as hard as he could, trying not to scrunch his eyes closed.
 

The tip of the pole struck the zombie in the back of the head with a sound like a cabbage hitting the ground. It sunk deep into its skull and stuck there. The zombie stiffened and collapsed to the ground and Alex gripped the pole with whitening knuckles. It tore free of the skull and he stared at the tip, and the blood and pieces of bone fragment stuck to it with rotting brain. The smell reached his nostrils and he couldn’t believe he’d managed to forget it already.
 

He gagged and backed away, covering his mouth with his free hand. The other zombie fell to its knees and attached its mouth to the split skull. A sound like a misfiring vacuum cleaner filled the reception. Alex staggered towards the stairs, swallowing down the bile in his throat. He was about to climb up them when another zombie came in the front door, followed rapidly by a second. They would be free to roam in here. He couldn’t let them get past and up to the ladies.
 

He took his foot off the steps and turned, raising the pole before him. He could do this. He had to do it. He imagined Harriet giving him that smile as she pulled her t-shirt off. That helped. Both newcomers joined their fellow eating the downed one, but the next through the door decided he looked tastier and rushed towards him.
 

Alex took a deep breath, then had it knocked out of him. Something slammed into his back, something that breathed hot and fast, and he shouted in alarm as the floor rushed up to meet his face.
 

Dave

Things were simple now. He couldn’t remember a time when they weren’t. He couldn’t remember much of anything. Except the hospital. He knew how many steps there were and the numbers of every room and which corridors went where. He also knew how many index cards there were in the confidential records of over five hundred patients.
 

He was bored.
 

There wasn’t anything to do and discovering that losing most of his memories left his brain wide open for other things wasn’t much by way of a consolation. Although, knowing the hospital was fun. He thought it was fun. He couldn’t rightly explain what fun meant, but he thought if he did know, then it would be.
 

He knew the names of every lady. They were nice, as far as that went. He wanted to fuck them. All of them preferably, but any would do. He didn’t know why he wanted to have sex with them, it just seemed the right thing to do. He wasn’t sure what right and wrong meant anymore either. It was all about where you were standing at the time. Although, he had come to realise, he wasn’t standing anywhere.
 

Everything he saw came to him free of filters or prisms. He saw what happened and that was it. There was no judgment of it, so it meant nothing and couldn’t be wrong or right. It just was.
 

There was one memory, though, since the change, that kept bobbing back up to the surface. He remembered the soldier he’d bumped into when he left the demon’s lair. He remembered him so vividly, the look of amazement and the way his hands tightened around his gun. What was odd was that he remembered nothing after that. He remembered coming out of the church and nipping around the back of it to get close to Luke. But what happened in between was a mystery.
 

It didn’t bug him, because he didn’t really understand what it meant to be bugged, but he did recognise that it was odd. And it made him walk around, as though by using his whole body he could exorcise it and no longer be bothered by it.
 

He strolled now, down corridors that echoed the sound of his footsteps back to him, reminding him how alone they were. It was nice to be alone. He liked the silence. Something about that thought that made him wince. He’d been alone before. He shook his head. He couldn’t remember it but it was there.