Thirteen Roses Book Five: Home: A Paranormal Zombie Saga (11 page)

Bayleigh nodded. He was seeing sense. Of course, he had a very good reason to go back for her, but they’d left two of them behind already, so he could just as easily have shrugged and gone on. She glanced at him as he climbed down. She wasn’t sure that was true anymore. He’d changed, again, and for the better.
 

Her hands shook as she climbed out. She couldn’t stop picturing Krystal, huddled in a corner as the zombies closed in. She was strong and knew how to fight, but she’d only been doing it a week. Who knew what would happen when she discovered she was truly alone.
 

She clambered up into the huge cab, marveling at how high up they were.
 

‘You can drive.’ Luke said as he climbed up after her.
 

Her eyebrows shot up. ‘Don’t you want to?’

‘I know your style is interesting, but I still feel more comfortable with you behind the wheel.’

‘That’s so kind. What does interesting mean?’

He gave her a sheepish grin and she put her foot down. The artic lurched away and smashed straight through the barrier as she turned and headed down the hill. She wasn’t worried about hitting other cars now and took great pleasure in smashing them out the way as they descended.
 

The trip back seemed far quicker and maybe it was due to the lack of ladies in the back. She could handle responsibility, but having all of them crammed in had made even the slightest corner nerve wracking. One wrong move and she could have killed them all.
 

She retraced their route as best she could, but it was so difficult to see anything through the storm. They could have driven past Krystal’s corpse a hundred times and not spotted her.
 

Her stomach filled with a heavy ball that threatened to stop her altogether. She’d done her best to keep watch, but with the rain battering down and the huge truck to keep control of, she could have missed Krystal even if she’d been standing by the road with a big sign in her hands.
 

‘Where is she?’

Luke shrugged and she bit her lip before bursting out. ‘What do you mean? You’re the bloody Devil, can’t you just find her?’

‘I can’t, not anymore. Bay, I’m sorry, but it’s just about looking with our eyes now.’

‘Looking with
your
eyes, unless you fancy driving this.’

He didn’t reply. Instead he leant forward, resting his head on his clenched fist and staring out into the night. After another minute during which she barely restrained herself from screaming, Luke glanced across. ‘You know she’s fine, don’t you? I’d know if she was dead. And she can take care of herself.’

‘I know she can, I’m just…’ What was she? She was frightened. She didn’t mind admitting it to herself. She’d exchanged one cared-for person for another, and this one she’d got to choose. Sort of.
 

She wanted to care for Ed as well and would have with or without the plague. They had been ejected from normal society and she could understand that, up to a point. She’d never had it like them, but seeing her friends slip away, first at school and then afterwards, when they found out about dad, had never been easy.
 

She cleared her throat. ‘What do we do if we can’t find her?’

‘I’ve been thinking about that. Krystal knows where we’re going. So maybe we park on the A40 with our lights on and watch for her. She’s got her phone, remember.’

How had she forgotten that? She reached for her pocket and the van slewed sideways, taking the front off a BMW and tossing it into a row of parked cars. She yelped and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. This bloody thing was a monster.
 

‘Call her, give her a call.’

Luke already had his phone out, red cheeked as he caught up with her. He pressed it to his ear, staring deadly serious out into the rain. She smirked at his reflection in the front window. He had a phone face. That made her wonder what other faces he had and she blushed. His irritating confidence had been tempered in the last few days by this really cute nervousness and confusion.
 

He said it was caused by his humanity. He didn’t say more than that, but he looked a bit like Ed at times, with the same teenage worry lurking between the surface. It was nice. It made him a little less terrifying and a little more approachable. Right now, he looked about ten.
 

He took the phone away from his ear and stared at it, frowning. Then he pressed it back and his face lit up. ‘It’s ringing.’

She laughed and slowed the artic. They were getting into Soho and the streets narrowed considerably. She took it over to one side and the top scraped along the building. It sounded like someone was tearing the roof off and she hastily pulled it back into the road, smashing into a car. It had nowhere to go and they pushed it all the way down the street. She slammed the brakes on as they reached the end and the car rolled and crashed into a building.
 

Luke took the phone away from his ear and swore. ‘No answer.’

‘Did you leave it long enough?’

‘My ear’s boiling hot. There!’ He pointed and she saw Krystal’s bike lying on its side in the rain. She yanked the hand brake and jumped out of the cab. Luke’s door went at the same time and they linked up to stare down at her bike. The storm soaked her to the skin and flattened her hair to her head like a wet towel.
 

Krystal’s body was nowhere around and she let out a breath. The zombies didn’t drag people away. If she’d been got, her body would be here.
 

So now they just had to find her. She was alive. She shuddered, mouth falling open as she shook. She hadn’t thought for a minute she’d be dead, but seeing something close to proof made her want to cry.
 

It wasn’t proof of course. It might just mean she was dead somewhere else. But she couldn’t think like that.
 

‘How do we find her?’ She called after Luke. He was already walking away down a small side road and she took a moment to look elsewhere. Soho was deserted. Where were the zombies that should have been here? She chased after Luke and caught him examining a pair of bodies with severed limbs.
 

‘We could follow the trail of bodies.’ Luke suggested.

‘Until we come to one the zombies have found. Then we get eaten. I’m getting back in the truck.’

Luke grabbed her arm. ‘You can’t bring it down here, you’ll never get out. She went this way, come on.’

He stomped away through the puddles, the rain threatening to hide him from view at any moment. She cursed and raced after him. The storm eased as the buildings rose around them and the gap above grew narrower. The lightning flashed and lit the rain like they were walking through falling quicksilver. Then it was gone and the alley was dark again.
 

Luke drew his sword, crouching and becoming eerily silent. She stared into the shadows, heart leaping at a sound she knew didn’t belong there. Her legs refused to move and for a moment she was frozen. Then another sound came, of material whooshing through the darkness and she ducked. Nothing. The sound came again, from some way in front of her, and she blushed.
 

She scampered forwards through the darkness and spotted Luke, moving like the lightning that had just illuminated the alleyway. The figure before him slumped to the ground and Bayleigh sneaked closer. Luke glanced up and she stopped in her tracks.
 

The humanity was gone. His face was impassive, eyes shadowed, but in the darkness she saw only a predator, ready to strike. She should feel safe but it scared her, like he wouldn’t make the distinction between her and a zombie.
 

‘Luke?’

He lowered his sword. ‘She’s been this way. This one was feasting.’

He nodded at another body on the floor. Bayleigh shuddered. She was sneaking and creeping along, heart in her mouth, whilst Krystal had not only come here on her own, but she’d slain zombies on the way. She shook herself, trying to find her strength. She’d been out in this storm only a few hours ago, alone and killing. Now she was terrified.
 

She rubbed her hands over her face and straightened. She could do this. She could kill them just as easily as Luke. She pulled the knife from her belt and gripped the handle. Luke was staring at her, faintest of grins on his face, and she blushed again. She was suddenly aware of how her sodden t-shirt clung to her body.
 

He stared for another moment and she was about to say something when he turned and set off through the storm. They’d taken only a few steps when the first gunshot rattled between the buildings and reached for them like a hungry zombie. Luke broke into a run and caught up with Bayleigh for a moment. Then she stretched out and left him behind.
 

The echoes still bounced between the buildings, confusing her. Then another shot rang out and she headed straight for it. Her pace slowed as she heard voices. There were men, more than one of them, not far ahead.
 

They couldn’t be real. There weren’t any men alive in London. What the hell was going on? Luke was nowhere to be seen. She stopped, swearing under her breath, before creeping along the side of the building.
 

She peered round the corner. The street lighting was better here and the first thing she saw was Krystal. She had her sword held before her and was staring down at the zombie at her feet. Stood around her were four soldiers of God, dressed in grey uniforms and aiming guns at Krystal.
 

Bayleigh sucked in a quick breath to stem the surge of invective threatening to pour from her mouth. What the hell were they doing here? She stared at the zombie, searching for the cause of death, and spotted at least one bullet hole in its head. That explained the shooting, and why Krystal was still on her feet.
 

‘Put the sword down.’

‘Not a chance.’

‘We have guns.’

‘Yeah, well, good for you. I’ve got a sword and it’s the only defence I got against the zombies, so screw you and your guns.’

Bayleigh noticed that her language had slipped. In the last few days her street edge had softened, revealing a normal accent. But in the storm, with sword raised against the soldiers, it had reverted to normal.

‘I’m going to shoot you.’

‘No, you ain’t. If you were, you’d have done it by now.’

The soldier raised his gun. Bayleigh opened her mouth to shout and a hand settled over it, choking her off. She watched, wide eyed, as the soldier fired. The concrete by Krystal’s feet buckled and spat slivers that blended with the rain. Bayleigh kicked and lashed out as her assailant dragged her back into the shadows.
 

Luke’s voice sounded harsh beside her ear. ‘Stop it, stop it. We can’t let them know we’re here.’

‘We can’t leave her with them.’

‘We won’t, but they’re taking her to get to me.’

‘Why are you so important?’

‘I’m the key to all of this.’
 

She stared at him, shaking her head. He responded with a nod. ‘I really am. But I’ll tell you later. Right now, we need to get Krystal.’

Another shot sounded and they raced back towards the street. Bayleigh reached the corner and a gutteral moan, like a wounded animal crying in pain, rose in her throat as she saw Krystal lying on the floor.
 

Alex

Alex settled behind the wheel of the truck, snorted, and shook his head. He couldn’t do this. What if they crashed? First he invented the plague, now he was going to
 
wipe out the survivors in a blazing inferno. Luke would kill him, assuming he didn’t top himself first.
 

But what choice did he have? Luke would kill him just as much if they returned and found them still sat here. Did any of the ladies drive? Of course they did, he should just ask them. Where had his confidence gone? He tried to remember how he’d felt with his baseball bat, finally believing he could do something worthwhile.
 

A faint trickle of belief filtered through. He put the truck into gear and, after a few false starts, got them going.
 

He wound through Ealing, out the other side, and onto the A40. The rain was getting heavier and sounded like hailstones on the roof of the truck. He did his best to ignore it, focusing on the road and the little he could see in the head lamps.
 

The A40 was like a half empty car park, vehicles scattered like dice on the road. He pushed the truck to 35mph and kept it there as he weaved side to side. The going was steady and he reached the junction to Beaconsfield quicker than he expected.
 

He turned off, went past the town and up into the hills. As he drove away from the street lights and out into the country, he understood why this had been such a good choice. Countryside stretched away on both sides, pitch black and revealing nothing of its secrets.
 

His headlights cut through the storm, showing him nothing but road and trees. They were alone out here. He actually believed this could work. He smiled, relaxing enough that his shoulders ached instead of being just numb. He’d been holding them so tense on the drive but now they were—

They hit the water at 40mph and slid across the road. He shouted, hands tightening as the wheel tried to spin. Screams came through from the back and he flushed despite the barrier between them. They came out the far side of the puddle and the wheels caught the tarmac. The truck lurched again but stayed steady and he let out the breath he’d been holding.
 

The dark road no longer looked safe. He slowed right down and moments later had reason to be grateful. Around the next corner, a four car pile up covered most of the road. As he squeezed past, he looked down into one of the cars and saw someone staring back. Sweat beaded his forehead at the pale face, and teeth scraping against the window.
 

They slid past and the face faded into the darkness. He shuddered and leant further over the wheel. Not far to go now. He reached the road off to the right and pulled up it, slowing yet further as the surface deteriorated. Concrete gave way to loose stone that set the truck rattling from side to side.