Authors: Armand Rosamilia
Bernie didn't bother asking how she'd managed to get so far ahead. Nothing about the woman made any sense.
All Bernie knew was she'd been led to the stadium for some reason, and she was still breathing.
At this point, she'd take it and make the most out of it.
"Don't go anywhere, I'll be right with you," Bernie said and ran to the chain-link fence and began to climb.
She was up and over in seconds. As she landed on the other side, she glanced up at the bridge and gasped. Bernie blinked a couple of times, thinking she’d finally lost her mind.
It was Darlene and she was walking calmly across the bridge.
With about a thousand zombies following her.
Bernie decided it was time to get to higher ground and hope Darlene and the zombies didn’t turn towards the stadium.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Darlene kept looking back at the zombies trailing her. She felt like the Pied Piper and shook her head. What had the world come to? What had she come to?
She stopped suddenly and echoed the thought to stop.
The zombies all stopped at the same time like a well-oiled machine. Like a trained army of undead. Darlene wondered if any other evolved zombie could do this. Could The Lich Lord? Did he even know about this power?
Any other evolved zombie
.
She was doing it again.
Putting herself in the same bracket as the zombies. She hated the thought but supposed it was right. She was far more zombie than human now. She decided to embrace it and see how far it would take her.
She waved a hand over her shoulder and smiled.
"This way, boys. Let's go see what trouble we can get in," Darlene said.
Darlene didn't know what she was going to actually do once she got to the stadium. She knew that was the definite destination, though. Even though her son wasn't there, it was her next step.
More zombies came into view in the streets ahead of her and she willed them to stop and wait until the horde passed to fall in line. She didn't know how many she could control at once but she was going to find out.
Having zombies under her command had no real practical use but something told her to find out the limits and see what else she could do. Darlene hoped anyone still alive would wisely go the other way when they saw such a huge mass of undead moving in tandem.
After a few blocks of walking slowly and gathering more to the group, Darlene stopped in front of what used to be a burrito shop. She loved burritos. Who didn't?
Darlene realized she hadn't eaten in a long time. Had a sip of water. Needed actual sleep.
She wondered if eating a burrito would do anything to her. What if she couldn't taste a good burrito anymore? Not all of this zombie shit was a good thing, she supposed.
"Show of hands if you hate eating burritos," Darlene said to the zombies. None of them raised their hands. "I didn't think so."
Once she was done with whatever she needed to do at the stadium and found her son, she was going to find the ingredients to make a really good burrito and feast.
She went back to walking and let the zombies know to keep following and where they were going. Moving so slow was getting boring and she wanted to put a little room between her and the zombies anyway.
Her nose still worked, and they really stunk when the wind shifted. She hoped that was going to be the next thing to change: her sense of smell would dissolve so she didn't have to get sick with so many zombies around. What if she got a disease from all these rotting bodies? Was she impervious to a virus, too?
Darlene had to laugh, thinking about surviving a zombie bite all those months ago, only to die because she had a common flu, thanks to the zombies.
She could sense the living in the area but none of them too close. If they were stupid enough to confront her or hundreds of zombies, they deserved whatever they got.
Darlene got to the next intersection and grinned when she saw dozens of zombies, standing at attention, waiting to join in with the others.
"Join the party," Darlene said and kept walking, steering clear of a woman with her jaw missing and a red chunk of skin shaking in the breeze. She didn't want to accidentally get touched by it.
Darlene came to another intersection. Ramps went up to the highway and to the bridge crossing the river. She needed to cross to get to the stadium.
There were too many zombies already on the bridge as Darlene approached, willing them to part and wait until the horde passed to get in line as well.
Darlene wondered if she could hide their approach and figured she had nothing to lose by trying to blanket them over in her mind so the zombie at the stadium had no idea what was happening.
The zombies were too close and Darlene was getting freaked out so she asked them to make more room, but when she heard the splashes below as the overcrowding forced some over the side she stopped and just picked up her pace.
The stadium was in view and Darlene approached boldly. The zombie should already know Darlene was coming so there would be no element of surprise.
Chain-link fences surrounded the stadium but they’d be no match for the massive horde.
Darlene kept walking, picking up her pace to get ahead of the zombies and not feel crowded.
Her thoughts went to the stadium and she tried to lock onto someone still alive inside, if there was anyone, to see what was happening.
A woman… scared and worried about her daughter, came into focus. Her pain and fear were so sharp it was overriding the many others trapped inside the stadium.
She was with the zombie, too.
Darlene stepped off to the side and willed the zombies to surround the stadium but not touch the fences until she gave the command. It would take awhile for them to get into place so she had time to concentrate on what she’d be dealing with inside.
She refocused on the woman, whose name was Stephanni. Her daughter was Amber and the zombie had taken an interest in the child.
Darlene went through the woman’s mind and gathered information such as the number of survivors housed in the stadium, weapons, foodstuffs and miscellaneous items.
She needed to figure out the relative power of the zombie in charge, as well.
Darlene closed her eyes and tried to see how far she could go to enter into Stephanni.
She blinked her eyes and realized she was staring at the zombie, only a few feet away from her now. Her body felt odd and she had to really focus to maintain her composure and the link into the woman.
The zombie was staring at Stephanni.
Darlene probed quickly, using as much force as possible, getting into the zombie’s head.
Her name was Eve. She was one of the first zombies turned. She’d travelled from Canada like so many of the originals, heading south until she’d evolved.
And right now Eve knew who was really in front of her.
Eve took a step back in shock and aimed a finger at Stephanni.
“You. How did you…”
Darlene wondered if she could control Stephanni’s body. What if she could choke the zombie or find a weapon? But despite being inside the head of the woman she couldn’t figure out how to control the limbs other than keeping her immobile.
“If you leave right now I won’t hunt you down and destroy you,” Darlene said through Stephanni, excited she could speak. Darlene wondered if full control would come over time and with practice.
“You cannot threaten me. I suggest you leave, Zombie Killer.”
Darlene tried to move a finger, just a digit, of Stephanni. She felt the finger tingle. She was slowly sliding into the flesh of the woman.
“Open your gates and let the survivors go. They will not be harmed. If you want to stay in the stadium, I will not bother you again unless you gather the living to do your bidding. Do we have a deal?” Darlene asked. She needed to keep the zombie talking so she could spring on her and attack.
“I will kill every last one of them before I give them up. These are my people. They are my property, too,” Eve said.
“You don’t own anything. The world is changing, as you know. The zombies are evolving but you haven’t evolved enough to be a threat to
my
kind. You know there are more like me out here, too. Hundreds will eventually evolve and threaten even you,” Darlene said. She had no idea if this was true but she needed to keep the zombie guessing.
Darlene moved the finger and the next one, concentrating on the hand itself.
Eve was staring at Stephanni, unable to speak.
Darlene didn’t want to lose her or let her flee before she had a chance to attempt to stop her.
“Mommy, why are you talking funny?”
It was Amber, the daughter, standing next to Eve. Too close if Darlene attacked, unless she could force Eve away from the little girl first.
“Go inside with everyone else, Amber. Mommy loves you,” Darlene said.
“I am her mother now,” Eve yelled and grabbed Stephanni by the arms.
Darlene tried to fight it but she was no match, unable to move more than three fingers now.
Eve leaned closer and grinned.
“Come inside. I’ll leave the gate open for you, Zombie Killer. I am going to enjoy ripping you apart and then doing the same to your baby and gaining all of your power,” Eve said.
Eve put a hand around Stephanni’s throat.
“I’ll see you soon,” Eve said and snapped the woman’s neck.
Darlene collapsed, her mind reeling, and the zombies around her began to do their own thing, wandering off.
Chapter Twenty-Six
One minute she was alone on the streets, moving in the direction of the stadium without a zombie in sight.
She'd gotten a block away, roughly the same spot Hayden had stopped at to monitor the stadium grounds, when she saw the zombies.
A veritable horde, hundreds of them, scattering in all directions but too many coming at her.
It was as if they'd been put at a specific starting point and now they were being unleashed, to bump into one another in a slow, maddening dash to find fresh victims.
Bri didn't want to be one of those victims but she didn't think spending time heading up into another building was the answer. With so many zombies on the streets it might take days for them to disperse, and there would always be a few that didn't go too far. Being trapped inside another building, this time with no food or water, wasn't an option.
She began heading west. Maybe she could circle around the zombies and get ahead of them, getting closer to the stadium. They seemed to be heading away from it, which was a good thing.
Bri ran for a few blocks, making sure the front line of zombies was at least two blocks away. Even if they changed course to chase after her, she'd be long gone by the time they reached the spot she'd been at.
That was the goal, at least.
Up ahead a few zombies had reached her street, some turning in her direction. She'd been quick but not quick enough, and the sheer mass of zombies was being pushed along and spread throughout the downtown area.
Bri turned right on the next block and increased her speed, hoping to cut back west even though her route was now taking her in the opposite direction of her destination.
She was getting tired, though, and her run became a jog and then a fast walk as she held her side and tried to breathe.
At the next intersection, she turned west and was glad to see she'd put distance between her and the zombies, although she was still moving parallel to the stadium and not getting any closer.
Two blocks later she ran out of real estate.
She was in a small warehouse section of downtown, with ruined fencing circling the property. Beyond it was the river.
Bri jogged into the parking lot and ran between the buildings, carefully sidestepping rotting body parts and an abandoned car that had been torched and was still smoking.