A New Death (Savannah's Only Zombie Novel) (18 page)

“I saw him! I swear I saw him!”

Tori was yelling hysterically that she saw Lexx outside of
the building as they drove away.

“He was trying to flag us down! He’s alive! He’s alive! We
have to go back,” she screamed.

“No way.”

The truck driver never took his eyes off the road. He was
young, maybe mid-twenties. He wore one of those reflective yellow vests that
construction workers wear. His clothes were dirty and tattered. It looked like
he had been in a few skirmishes with the dead himself. His calmly-spoken words
caused the truck to fall painfully silent. It did not take long for Tori to
break that silence.

“What do you mean, ‘no way’?” she asked.

“I mean, no way. It’s not safe. Too many zombies,” he
responded, just as calm as before.

Jeremy watched as the man’s hand tightened on the steering
wheel. He must have been anticipating what was about to happen next.

Tori flipped her lid.

“You bastard! Turn this truck around right now or let us
out! That’s our friend back there! We can’t just leave him behind! Stop this
truck!”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go with a ‘no’ on that one,” he said,
breaking eye contact with the road and looking Tori dead in the eye. Jeremy was
sure this only infuriated her more. She reached for the pistol that Jeremy set
on the dashboard.

“Tori, no!” He yelled.

But it was too late.

She had the gun pressed against the driver’s head.

“You are going to turn this truck around. And we will get
our friend,” she said, each word as firm and calm as he had spoken earlier.

It was almost scary how calm she was.

“You know what lady? On second thought, I really want to
turn this truck around and go get your friend. Yeah, let’s do that,” the driver
said.

He spun the truck around in the middle of the highway,
crossing over the grassy median and began to travel back towards the building.
Tori put the gun down on her lap. The driver would eye it cautiously every now
and then. Jeremy felt kind of bad for her behavior. The guy did pick them up
and all. He wanted to find Lexx too though.

Best to just let the woman handle it
, he thought.

The truck came back up to the spot where he picked them up
from. Most of the zombies that were on the highway were now roaming the area in
front of the building. There was still a large number of them and no sign of
Lexx. There must have been at least a couple hundred zombies out there. The
front doors to the building were closed and a group of dead were banging on the
glass. He must have retreated back inside and secured the doors somehow.

“Alright lady, you got a plan?” he asked.

“Yeah, let’s go get him.”

“That’s what I thought,” he said, shaking his head. “Look
over there. You see all those zombies? We don’t have the weapons to take on all
of them. You probably don’t have any ammo, do you? The pistol you just held to
my head probably doesn’t even have any bullets in it does it?”

“Three.”

“Okay, well that may have blown my head clean off but it
ain’t gonna help you get to that building and your lover boy.”

She began to respond to that but he held his finger to his
mouth and shushed her.

“Luckily for you, I have a plan. I always have a plan.”

With that he opened his door, stepped out and reached into
the toolbox hanging from under the bed of the truck. He pulled out what looked
like a large megaphone. There was a round, flat magnet on the bottom and he
took it and stuck it to the roof of the cab. A lone wire hung down from the
device and he cracked open the window to pull the wire through.

“I wired up this little puppy to drive the guys in the field
nuts. They love it when I come to the jobsites blaring music. I like to let ‘em
know I’m coming.”

He unplugs a mp3 player from the audio jack in the stereo
and plugs it into the megaphone wire. He hums to himself as he scrolls through
his play lists.

“Oh yeah, this is it. Okay, listen up.”

He looked up at Jeremy and Tori.

“We are going to drive over there. And by we, I mean mostly
me. I will be blasting some sweet tunes through this here megaphone. Once we
get close enough, the nice gun-lady here will jump out, and retrieve the
aforementioned lover boy. You, my friend,” he motioned at Jeremy. “You will get
into the back of the truck. Don’t worry, the gates may rattle, but they ain’t
poppin’ out. You are gonna be the catcher.”

“The catcher?” Jeremy asked.

“Yes. The catcher. That is what I said. You see, while you
and I are going to be causing a very, noisy distraction, your lady friend here
is going to be getting your other buddy and booking it to the second floor.”

“Why the second floor?” Tori asked.

“Because you are going to jump into the back of the truck
when we drive by and then we are gonna v
á
manos on out of
here.”

Both Tori and Jeremy just stared at the man.

Was he serious? Did he really expect them to just jump
from the second floor onto a moving truck?

This had to be the craziest thing that Jeremy had ever
heard.

“So, you ready?” the driver asked.

“Man, are you serious? We can’t do that!” Jeremy yelled.

“Well, it doesn’t look like you have many options here.
Look, I know it sounds a little crazy but-”

“A little crazy?” Tori chimed in.

“Ok, it’s crazy. But it’s gonna work. I swears.”

Jeremy thought it over. The guy was right. They did not have
many options and time was running short. If they were going to do something,
they had to do it quick. He shook his head and looked at Tori. He could see
that she was starting to come around to it as well. What other choice did they
have?

“Hey man,” Jeremy started. “What’s your name again?"

“Josh.”

“What did you do before all this, Josh?” Tori asked.

“I worked for a local plumbing and mechanical company. I
delivered material to the jobsites.”

Jeremy and Tori looked at each other.

“So, you’re a plumber?”

“No. I drive trucks basically.”

This was fantastic
, Jeremy thought.

“Ok, let’s do this,” Josh said as he pushed play on his mp3
player. A familiar bass line blared through the megaphone. Jeremy couldn’t
remember the name of the song until the first line came through the speaker.

“I CAN’T STAND IT, I KNOW YOU PLANNED IT…”

“Beastie Boys? Really?” Tori asked.

“Heck yeah! I love this song!” Jeremy said.

Josh pointed his finger at Jeremy.

“I knew I liked you man. Now let’s go get your friend.”

***

Lexx could not believe they left him. He could, but he
couldn’t. They didn’t even look for him. They just left. And drove off into the
motherfucking sunset.

Well, you did tell him to get her out of here
, he
thought to himself.
Yeah, but they could have at least looked for me.

He took his frustration out on the zombies that wandered in
from the hallways. When he came back inside he used his wrench to hold the
doors together, so the dead were just piling up in front of the doors. They
beat on the glass, but that was some damn solid glass. It would hold up.

The zombies that wandered in from the hallways on the other
hand, they got the blunt end of Lexx’s anger. He found a large trophy that the
company had won for “Most Innovative” and was using it to bash in the brains of
the undead. One by one they would come in and one by one they would get their
heads caved in.

What am I going to do? I can’t just keep doing this for
the rest of my life. I gotta go do some-

He stopped. Music. He heard music. It was coming from
outside. He smashed the nearest zombie in the head and turned back to the
windows. He found a spot where he could see past the dead and his mouth dropped
open.

The truck that had picked up Tori and Jeremy was headed
straight for the building. The massive white truck was barreling straight
towards him, sending zombies flying with the brush guard and running others
over. A speaker on top of the truck was blaring Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” As
the truck got closer it turned, putting the passenger side parallel with the
building. Tori was hanging out of the window, waving with a big smile on her
face.

“Coming to get you!” she yelled. “Be right back!”

The truck pulled away and led the zombies away from the
building. Lexx’s heart leapt. He couldn’t believe it. They came back for him.
He knew he was having a hard time believing they left him, but this was a lot
harder to believe. They came back for him. The truck circled for a minute and
then started to come back towards the building. It came right up to the door
and Tori jumped out and ran to the building.

Lexx immediately went to the door and removed the wrench.
She leapt into his arms and they held each other briefly before she pushed
herself off.

“We have to hurry! We have to get to the second floor!” she
yelled, grabbing him by the wrist and directing him towards the giant spiral
staircase.

“The second floor?” Lexx asked.

“No time to explain! Come on!”

They ran for the stairs and began the climb. Zombies were
now pouring in from both the hallways and the outside. They shambled towards
the stairs and began the struggle of getting up the steps. Most of them would
lose their footing and fall, but a few were slowly making it. But by then, Tori
and Lexx had already made it to the top and were running towards the walkway
that led to the balcony on the window-side of the room. There were small patio
chairs and tables set up there. A few single-serve coffee makers sat in the
corner. It must have been a place where admins would come and enjoy a nice cup
of joe while on break.

Screams. Runners were in the building.

“Lexx, you gotta break the glass so we can jump onto the
back of the truck!” Tori yelled frantically.

He shook his head.

“Tori…”

The runners reached the foyer. There were five of them and
they ran for the stairs, shrieking madly as they went.

“Hurry Lexx!”

“Tori, that glass isn’t gonna break. I watched them beat on
it the whole time you were gone. It’s not gonna break…”

Her face fell.

“But we have to. It’s the only way out.”

He set his wrench down against the glass and pulled her in
close to him. He took a deep breath, breathing in her scent for what could be
one last time. Her heart raced against his chest.

“I’m sorry. It’s just not going to happen.”

She looked up at him and then laid her head on his chest. He
felt so helpless. The runners were at the top of the stairs. It would be
seconds before they were on them. He would do his best to fight them off but he
knew that against five of them, he didn’t stand a chance. They had never taken
the runners on in a fight. He was so angry with himself. So angry that he let
her come back for him.

And that’s when he felt it.

The anger pulsed through his veins. It seethed through his
skin. The rage. The rage that Jeremy had spoken about experiencing after his
mother was killed. The rage that caused the Lumberjack to blindly slaughter
everyone around him. Lexx was feeling the rage. And he was fucking pissed.

He grabbed the wrench right as the first runner reached
them. He reared back and swung taking the zombie’s head clear off its
shoulders. The other runners paused at this, and for the first time showed
hesitation. This brought a smile to his face and gave Lexx enough time to turn
and throw the wrench as hard as he could through the window.

The glass shattered into a million pieces.

He heard the truck honk its horn. It was there parked below
the window; Jeremy waiting in the back, waving for them to jump. Lexx looked at
Tori and grabbed her hand before leaping out of the window. They hit the truck
bed with a thud and rolled.

“We got ’em! Go! Go!” Jeremy yelled, banging on the roof of
the truck’s cab.

The truck driver gave the thumbs up and floored it. As they
sped off, Lexx watched as the runners tried to follow and wound up jumping
through the window only to splatter themselves against the ground. He felt
himself relax and the rage slowly dissipated, as they drove off and away from
that nightmare.

Jeremy watched the scenery pass by outside the window. They
were well into the country now. Maybe thirty minutes from Statesboro. Nothing
but trees and empty cotton fields out here. Peaceful.

Once they got out of Savannah, they explained to Josh everything
that had happened with Ben and how the whole plan was to go to his parents’
house. Now with Ben gone, they weren’t really sure where they would go. They
assumed to continue to go out west somewhere; they just weren’t sure where.

Josh laughed at this. He explained that he too was heading
west and that he was hoping to find his wife and her family. They left him a
note saying they were alive and went to their family’s hunting club. There was
a cabin up there and plenty of room for Josh’s family and Jeremy’s group to
share. They gladly accepted his invitation.

“It’s funny how the Lord works out things like that,” Josh
said.

“The Lord?” Jeremy asked.

“Yeah, Jesus. You ever heard of him?”

Jeremy stared at Josh in disbelief. Another Christian?

“What are the odds,” he muttered to himself, but it was
louder than he expected.

“Odds?” Josh asked.

“Oh, sorry. It’s just weird. You’re the third Christian I’ve
met since this started. Well, I knew my mom before, but she’s played a part in
this too. I lost her in the beginning.”

“I’m sorry to hear that man. I lost my niece.”

Jeremy nodded.

Everyone’s lost someone
, he thought.

It was a part of life now it seemed. You were going to lose
people. Mom, the Padre and Ben. All gone. Mom was hard, but it surprised Jeremy
how much he missed Padre and Ben. The time he spent with Ben was brief and with
Padre even briefer, but the two men had greatly impacted his life.

Josh was smiling.

“What’s so funny man?” Jeremy asked.

“Oh nothing’s funny,” he said. “It’s just the fact that you
met another Christian. Blows my mind. Makes it pretty clear He’s got a hand in
all this.”

“I’m not really in the mood for a Bible lesson right now,
but what do you mean?”

“What do I mean? Think about it man. What are the odds that
I would be driving by that building exactly when y’all had no way out? That you
two would find that CB radio in that office? You know I would have driven by
yesterday, but for some unknown reason I felt like I should stay at my
brother-in-law’s house last night. So I did. Almost died because of it.”

“Yeah…”

“And what are the odds that you met another Christian?
First, you got your mother your whole life trying to get you into church and
whatnot. Then you got the Padre guy you were telling me about, and how he was
telling you that God wasn’t responsible for this evil going on, and that maybe
He was the one looking out for you. And now me. In the past three days, when
the world has gone to hell, you just so happen to meet three believers? What
are those odds Jeremy? Have you ever thought about playing the lottery?”

Jeremy nodded and went back to looking out the window. It
was strange, he would give him that. Coincidence, maybe. But providence? No, he
was not ready to think about that yet. He remembered his prayer from the
custodian’s office. Maybe God really did hear him. Maybe his prayer was
answered. Could the Padre have been right? Did God have a plan for all of this?
Was he going to use this plague to somehow do something great?

Jeremy was unsure. He didn’t know, but he was sure this
Josh-guy was going to tell him. The guy seemed alright so far. Weird sense of
humor, but okay as far as Jeremy was concerned. He peeked back to the bed of
the truck.

Lexx and Tori were sitting with their backs to the cab. The
two had been inseparable since they rescued Lexx. He couldn’t blame them.
Jeremy was really happy for the two of them. While at first Tori may have been
attractive to him and maybe he did have a little bit of a crush on the woman at
first, over the past few days, she had grown more into a big sister figure. And
he liked it that way. And Lexx, well, Lexx was Lexx. He was glad to have him
back. Jeremy smiled and for the first time in a while knew things were going to
be okay. He, unlike much of the world around him, was alive.

END OF BOOK ONE