Authors: Armand Rosamilia
"Again… gross," Darlene said. "Maybe if we let them up one at a time we can kill them?"
"With what? Some broken furniture? No way. If they start coming up we're screwed. We'd be in trouble if a few stupid zombies came at us. These look to be intelligent ones, and they're going to take their time. We need food and water. They don't. We might be under siege. We'll never walk out of this apartment alive," John said.
"Aren't you a buzz-kill? I say we rip the shit out of the walls and beat them with it," Murph said. "If I'm going to die, it's going to be with a hard-on and blood on my hands."
"What a horrible picture in my head now. Thanks," Darlene said. She looked back out of the window. "What the fuck are they doing?" She put her head out the window before John could stop her. Darlene threw up her hands. "What are you bitches waiting for?"
One of the zombies waved at her and the ones around him laughed.
"Come out and play," another zombie said. "It would be mighty nice of you to come down and let us hold the baby. Maybe we can help you name him?"
Darlene gave them the finger and let John pull her back inside.
"What are you doing?" he asked her.
"If I'm going to die, I'm not going to cry about it. I say we take some chair legs and wait for them to attack. What else can we do?" Darlene tried to bend over to pick up one of the broken chair legs on the floor but she couldn’t get down far enough. She glanced at Murph. "Say one word and I'll kick you in your shrunken nuts."
"Stop looking at me naked," Murph said. He was grinning. "Need some help?"
Darlene scoffed. "If you bend over, you'll fall apart."
"True. John-John, you'll need to arm us."
"Heaven help us. This is not going to be pretty." John handed each of them a wooden chair leg and went to the door. "I'm going to go down and see if I can kill a couple before they know I'm coming."
"That is the stupidest idea you've ever had, and you've had some bad ones," Murph said. "What will it prove? The best case scenario: you kill two or three of them out of the fifty outside. Worst case: you just left a plumper and an old man to die."
Darlene lifted the chair leg. "I swear, call me a plumper one more time and I'm going to end you, old man."
Before they could keep going, they heard a knock on the door.
"As much as we like standing out here and working on our suntans, I think it's time for the lot of you to come down and take a beating like men. And a woman," one of the zombies yelled. "We promise to do it quickly. We'll even kill you before we feast on the baby. How does that sound? I think it's fair."
Darlene picked up her empty Desert Eagle. "I so wish I had some ammo."
"I wish I had a cheeseburger," Murph said.
One of the zombies kicked the door at the bottom of the landing but it didn't crack open.
"Here they come," John said quietly. He gripped the chair leg.
Darlene came up next to him.
"Stay behind me," John said.
"Go to hell. You can’t fight them on your own."
"I can and I will have to. I'm not going to let them get inside," John said, and opened the door. "I’d rather face them as they come up the steps. I have the advantage of higher ground. I don't intend to let a zombie set foot in this apartment."
"Neither do I," Darlene said.
John saw the door below shudder as it took another kick but held.
Then he heard the gunshots.
Chapter Seven
"The hot redhead called me Cowboy. I like that. I think I'm going to tell people my name is Cowboy from now on."
"Your name is Ernie," Doug said. "It was ridiculous of her to call you Cowboy." He grinned. "But she sure was hot. That's the second time I've run into her and both times she had a gun aimed at my head. She's on my short list of chicks I need to bang before I die."
"I guess it wouldn't have been smart to remind her where you met the last time, eh?"
"Nope. I was glad she couldn't remember. The last encounter was when we tried to take over St. Augustine. What a mess that ended up being." Doug looked out the window as Ernie drove. He wasn't going to call him Cowboy. The guy didn’t deserve a cool nickname. He was just another pawn in this game of survival. No matter what happened, Doug wasn't going to lose sleep over this guy eventually going away. And he wasn't going to let Ernie get in his way when the fighting began, and he always did.
"You never told me about that."
"I've only known you a few weeks. Why would I tell you my life story?" Doug asked, annoyed. "Let's just get down the road and see if this magical city exists where we can be safe."
"You got it, partner."
"I'm not your partner. I'm currently the guy riding shotgun with you until something better comes along." Doug sighed. "I'm so sick of Florida. I wish I were back in Buffalo."
"You're from the Northeast? Ha. A damn Yankee in my SUV," Ernie said. "Who woulda thought?"
"It’s not your SUV. But I like the Yankees comment, since they're my favorite baseball team. I even have a number 2 inked on my shoulder, for my favorite player."
"Baseball is boring. So slow. I'm a football fan, but only college. I went to Texas A&M."
"I don’t care."
"You know what I miss most?"
Doug looked out the window as they went past abandoned house after abandoned house, most torched at some point in the past. So much waste. He wondered where the people who used to live in these houses were, only because he wanted their stuff. Doug was sick of being hungry and sick of having to scratch and claw for each new meal. He'd been halfway to Miami before the zombies got too thick and he was forced to turn back north. He should've kept going.
"Milkshakes. I fucking want a DQ Blizzard." Ernie smacked the steering wheel. "I’d give my left nut for a cold one. Shit, I'd take a warm one."
Doug was just about to shout at Ernie when he saw the group of zombies a block from A1A, across the park. "What's going on?"
"Who cares?"
"Pull over," Doug said.
"Why? It's not our business. You let the redhead steal our food already. I'm not going to deal with anyone else. Let's just get to the safe zone," Ernie said.
"Stop," Doug growled.
Ernie complied, pulling over next to the Flagler Pier. "I don’t like this."
"I don't really give a fuck what you like or don't like. Get the rifles and extra ammo. There's a reason these idiots are massing and I want to find out why."
"Not our problem," Ernie mumbled, but he grabbed the weapons and handed Doug a loaded rifle. "Let's do this before it gets dark."
The two men jogged down the block, a torched bank to their left. They crossed a weed-choked parking lot and passed several rotting cars, coming onto South Central Street a few doors down from the fading teal two-story building. At least fifteen zombies were standing around the entrance.
"Someone is upstairs," Doug said. When a pregnant woman stuck her head out and began shouting down, he couldn’t believe his eyes. "Impossible."
"What?"
"I know her," Doug said. "But there is no way she's still alive."
"You know every chick around," Ernie said and laughed. "Did you knock her up?"
"No, but I tried." Doug surveyed the zombies again. "We need to clear this area."
"Bullshit."
"Let's do this so we can get south," Doug said. "And we need to do this quickly, before more zombies hear the shooting."
Doug didn’t wait for Ernie to answer because he didn’t care enough about the guy. He'd follow his lead. Or he'd die getting in the way.
The first three shots found their marks, ripping through the heads of zombies. Doug took five steps before setting and firing another burst, dropping more opponents. He was about to turn on Ernie when the man started shooting, clearing a path as they moved.
"There's too many of them," Ernie said. "We'll run out of ammo."
"Then we run out of ammo," Doug said as he kept moving forward, setting and firing. All of the zombies were set around the building, and as they began coming at the pair, they were cut down with clean headshots.
Some of the smarter zombies he'd faced lately had riot helmets and anything else they could find to cover their heads, but they still took a face shot and died… again.
They made it up to the drive between Kokomo's Café and the torched building to the left, still firing. The area was clearing and Doug noticed more than a few of the zombies walking or running away. They were now intelligent enough to know they didn't want to get shot in the head.
The mindless ones kept coming and were quickly killed.
As Doug got near the deck, he stopped and turned to Ernie. "Make sure nothing cuts us off from escape and the SUV."
"You got it," Ernie said. "I hope she's worth all this."
She just might be
, Doug thought. "Hello up there. We've come to rescue you."
He heard arguing before she pushed her head out of the window again, a Desert Eagle aimed at his head.
"I see you found your gun, Darlene," Doug said with a smile. He put his hands up. "I'm not here to fight. I'm here to help. Come with us to safety."
"Are you high?" Darlene yelled. "I'm about to shoot you in the fucking head." She lowered the Desert Eagle slightly. "Or better yet… I'm going to shoot you in the balls and let the zombies rip you apart, you piece of shit."
Doug shook his head. "If you were going to shoot me, you would've pulled the trigger already. You're either growing soft in your old age or the preggo hormones are fucking with your head, or you're more than likely out of ammo." Doug glanced to his right and shot a zombie as it stumbled closer. "As you can see, I'm not out."
"I'll die before I trust you. The last time we met you tried to destroy a city just for fun," Darlene said. "The first time I met you, you had the balls to try and rape me. Guess what? I am looking forward to cutting you into pieces. I won't waste a bullet on you. I want to get up close and personal and watch you die, you fucker."
"What a potty mouth, Darlene. You're going to be a mommy soon. I would tone down on the profanity. You don't want Little Dougie to hear mommy talking like that."
Ernie was firing again. "Doug, we need to go. They're coming from all around us."
Doug looked at the multitude of zombies as they approached the area. "Last chance to let me help you. I'm not kidding. You have my word."
"Your word is worth shit," Darlene said and waved the gun. "I swear, if I had one lousy bullet, I'd shoot you."
Doug waved at her before shooting again. "I have no doubt you would, but some day soon we'll meet again and you'll thank me for clearing the zombies and allowing you to escape. I'll draw them away so you can waddle down the stairs."
"Go to hell."
Doug laughed and began walking away. "We're all already in hell, sweetheart. We're heading about fifteen miles down A1A. I suggest you start heading south yourself, because this area is fucked."
Darlene was staring at him with such obvious hatred he had to smile.
"I'll see you in Daytona Beach. We'll have lunch," Doug said. He glanced at Ernie. "Let's move back to the SUV but draw these zombies with us so my future ex-wife can escape."
He was more than confident he'd meet Darlene again, and finish what he'd started with her. Until then, he'd focus on killing zombies and seeing what the next safe haven was like, so he could take it over.
Chapter Eight
Russ was annoyed when the man, a member of Jeff's recon bike team, came to him in the garden and stepped on a tomato plant. "The boss wants to see you."
Russ stood and took the man by the arm, pulling him out of the garden. Despite the man's size, Russ wasn't small. He'd been eating well and doing exercises and was getting some big arms. If he had to, he'd punch the shit out of this guy. "Don't enter this place again. You are not welcome here. Tell Jeff I'm busy. And he's not the boss. The Lich Lord is. You would be smart to remember it, because if he hears you say something stupid like that he'll rip you to pieces."