Dark Realms (63 page)

“Back for more?” I snapped at the first
zombie who’d since gotten back up and was now staggering towards
me. This time Kristie was behind her, swinging wildly at the zombie
with the metal bat. She hit it in the skull with a loud “clunk”,
and the zombie dropped, this time for good.

She looked up at me, her face pale. She
pointed behind me and gasped, “Zombie!”

The other zombie was coming at me with its
mouth wide open. I slammed the hammer into its grotesque face and
it dropped to the ground.

“Thanks, Kristie,” I said, dislodging the
hammer. I noticed that I was starting to become a little impervious
to all of the zombie blood and gore. Whether it was a good thing or
bad thing, I wasn’t even sure anymore.

Bryce walked through the door at that
moment. “What’s taking so long?” When he noticed the two dead
zombies and Kristie lighting up another cigarette, he sighed. “Next
time let me do the shopping.”

“Actually, I think we did a pretty fair job
staying alive in here,” I said, grabbing two bags of dog food.

He smiled as he grabbed some beef jerky. “I
wouldn’t want you on the other team, that’s for sure.”

I grabbed two more energy drinks and Kristie
stuffed several packs of smokes inside of her shirt.

~~~

We took off again as I sipped from my can. I
stared out the window at the houses and businesses we passed and it
was hard to imagine the kinds of nightmares that were hidden
inside. Everything seemed so…normal. But I knew without a doubt it
was a lie. “Normal” was gone forever and we were now only left with
zombies and broken hearts.

When we finally made the turn onto my
street, I felt a gnawing fear about what we’d find in my house. My
cell phone was completely dead and we hadn’t been in contact with
Sara since Bryce left them early this morning.

“You okay, Cassie?” asked Bryce.

“I’m okay,” I said, although my palms were
sweating and I had to wipe them onto my jeans.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Bryce said, knowing
my fears. “Sara knows how to use a gun and Hannah seems like a
pretty strong woman. They were going to lock themselves in the
basement with the kids until I returned.”

“And…what if you hadn’t returned?” I
asked.

He sighed heavily. “Have a little more
faith, Cassie.”

My faith was pretty brittle at this point.
I’d basically lost hope in ever finding my sister, and both of my
parents were still missing. Then there was my grandparents, I
didn’t even want to consider what kind of hell they were going
through.

“
Uh oh, looks like we
missed out on your spring neighborhood block party,” mused
Kristie.

We stopped at the end of the block. Several
of my neighbors were wandering around the cul-de-sac, some
attacking each other while others just looked confused. We’d never
been very close to any of them when they were alive, but it was
still horrifying to view them now as zombies.

I shuddered. “I wonder if they smell the
others.”

Bryce nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me if
that was the case.”

“Well, they are starting to congregate
towards us, so you’d better get us out of here,” demanded Eva.

“We’re not leaving; there are women and
children in that house who need us. Kind of like you needed us
awhile back!” snapped Paige.

There were about five zombies approaching
the SUV. “Listen, we should go through the garage. There’s a keypad
by the side of the house that I can probably get to. Once I enter
it, pull in immediately.”

“I’ll cover you,” said Bryce.

“Seriously, that’s all you’ve got for a
plan?” asked Paige as the zombies closed in around the SUV.

“You have a better plan?” I asked.

She shrugged and then sighed deeply. “Nah,
I’ve got nothing’.”

Bryce grabbed the metal bat from Kristie.
“When the garage door opens, get this thing in quick. Plow right
through any zombies you have to.”

Kristie’s face grew pale.
She nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready,
Freddy
.”

“Got your hammer?” he turned and asked
me.

I held it up.

“Okay, let’s do this,” he said.

I pushed my door open and quickly kicked one
of my neighbors in the stomach. I hurried out of the truck and
slammed the door shut, wielding my hammer. “I’m sorry, Mr.
Bleechman. No offense.”

He growled and rushed towards me but I
sidestepped him. He slammed into the truck face-first.

“You things aren’t very graceful, are you?”
I said.

“Cassie! Quit playing and get over to the
keypad!” hollered Bryce who was busy holding off two other
zombies.

I took a deep breath and ended Mr.
Bleechman’s short life as a zombie with a solid strike to his head
with my hammer. As he fell to the ground, I heard an unearthly
screech.

Mrs. Bleechman!

She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere
and was now moving towards me with her mouth open and long, red,
acrylic fingernails, raised.

“Wait, Lois, he was cheating on you, I
actually just did you a favor!” I yelled, still trying to dislodge
the hammer from her husband’s dead skull.

She snarled and kept barreling towards
me.

“You’re wasting time,” grumbled Bryce as he
grabbed her by the back of the hair and swung her to the ground.
She twisted around to attack but his bat split her rotted skull in
two.

I shuddered. “Now that…that…was really
gross.”

He motioned towards the house. “Keypad.
Now.”

I ran to the side of the house and punched
in the numbers for the garage. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

“Crap,” I groaned, forgetting about the
electricity, being out. Feeling foolish, I ran over to the small
door on the side of the garage and squealed with joy when I found
that it was unlocked. I pushed it open and manually opened the
large garage doors, the way my dad had showed me last summer.

I could hear the sound of Bryce’s metal bat
striking more zombies as it lifted, and cringed. Even though they
were now monsters, it still felt wrong to be killing my
neighbors.

The SUV made it inside with only one zombie
who managed to follow us, and Bryce took care of him quickly.

“Can you bag him or something? He’s going to
stink up the garage,” I said.

“Maybe later if there’s time,” said Bryce.
“You’re not planning on staying here, are you?”

“I don’t know what my plans are yet,” I
replied.

“How about this…stick with me, we’re a
pretty good team,” he said and slapped me playfully on the
butt.

My jaw dropped but I didn’t say
anything.

Just then everyone else piled out of the
SUV. Goldie barked with excitement then began sniffing around the
garage.

Eva got out with Chi Chi still in her dog
carrier. “Little Chi Chi needs to make a little wee wee,” she said
in her cutesy voice. The dog barked.

“Are you kidding me?” snorted Paige.

Kristie rolled her eyes and I bit my lip to
keep from laughing.

Chi Chi, who was shaking violently again,
moved to a corner of the garage and peed. Goldie peed on the
zombie.

“Good girl,” I said, bending down to pet
Goldie’s head.

Eva flipped her hair and then batted her
eyelashes at Bryce. “By the way, Bryce, you were so incredible out
there. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Bryce, who I’ve learned thrives on gushing
females, beamed her one of his dimpled smiles. “Someone’s got to
take care of all you women.”

“Oh, puke,” muttered Paige as she slammed
the door to the SUV.

“Is it safe to go in there?” asked Kristie
as she grabbed the doorknob leading into my house.

“Better let me go in first,” replied Bryce,
“just in case there are surprises waiting inside.”

Kristie looked at Bryce
with amusement. “Fine by me,
Bruce
Lee
.”

Bryce grabbed the bat, then opened the door
and stepped inside. After about a minute he stuck his head back
into the garage. “It’s clear.”

I walked in with Goldie, who took off
immediately to wander throughout the house. “Looks like Goldie’s
giving the ‘all clear’ sign, too.” Although, it seemed much too
quiet in the house. “Hello? Anyone home?” I yelled.

Goldie bolted downstairs and I could hear
the squeal of Megan’s laughter.

Sara raced upstairs, her face full of
relief. “Oh, God!” she cried, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m so
glad to see you guys!”

Bobby ran upstairs and flung himself at
Bryce. “Yay, Bryce is home!”

Bryce picked up Bobby and held him tightly
in his arms. “Told you I’d be back, Champ,” he said softly.

“Hi,” Megan said to me as she peeked around
the corner of the basement door, “whose puppy?”

“Ours now,” I replied with a smile. “Her
name’s Goldie,”

Eva was holding Chi Chi who whimpered to get
down. She finally released her and Chi Chi trotted after
Goldie.

“Two dogs?!” screamed Megan in delight.

“Err…well, the Chihuahua is mine,” said Eva.
“But he’s a nice doggy and loves kids. You can play with him.”

I was surprised to see Eva acting like a
civilized human being, especially after the way she treated most
people at school. Then of course we’d just saved her life and she
didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Kristie’s mouth dropped when she saw Hannah.
“Oh, my God! I didn’t know you were here, Han. Where’s Paul?”

Hannah started crying and Kristie went over
right away to console her. Then both women went downstairs to catch
up and talk about the loss of their husbands. Apparently Kristie
and Hannah knew each other well.

“Have you heard from my parents?” I asked
Sara.

Sara looked at me sadly. “No, neither of
them. I take it you didn’t find Allie either?”

I shook my head and sighed. “Look, I’m
really tired. The energy drink didn’t do anything for me. Think I’m
going to have a shower and then maybe take a nap,” I said. “We
still have water, don’t we?”

“For now,” replied Sara.

I still wasn’t sure why the government had
shut down the power so quickly. I couldn’t imagine that it would be
easier to contain the zombies in the dark.

My hair was sticky in some places and I
fought an urge to puke as I washed it away with shampoo. I’d never
felt so incredibly dirty in my life. Although I had to admit, I
hadn’t even thought about germs in the last couple of days. Being
exposed to so much blood and guts had made me numb to everything,
including my phobia.

When I got out of the shower, I cut the tips
off the rest of my fingernails and sighed, wondering if Mae was
safe. Then I pushed it away from my mind. It was too horrifying to
think about all the victims caught up in this nightmare.

Where are you,
mom
? I wondered as I laid my head on my
pillow and closed my eyes. It was bad enough not finding my sister
and not knowing where my father was. But my mother…she’d promised
to come back quickly, and hadn’t. I knew exactly what that meant, I
wasn’t naïve or stupid. I just couldn’t allow myself to accept the
fact that she was probably gone forever.

Chapter
Nineteen

“Mom, where’ve you been? I was so worried
about you,” I cried as she walked into the kitchen. I ran up to her
and threw my arms around her.

Smiling, she stroked my cheek fondly. “I
told you I had to take care of that soldier,” she replied. Her hair
was a mess and there was blood splattered on her shirt.

“Are you okay?” I asked, pulling away. She
looked pale and tired.

“I’m fine, honey,” she replied and took me
into her arms again. “You know how much I love you, don’t you, my
little Wild One?”

I closed my eyes and laid my head on her
shoulder. “I love you, too, mom. God, I missed you so much.”

She squeezed me harder. “I need you,
honey.”

I could hardly breathe she was squeezing me
so tightly in her arms. “Sure, mom. Just don’t hold me so tight. I
can…barely breathe.”

“I really do need you. You understand, don’t
you, baby?” she whispered into my ear.

I gasped for breath, trying to free myself.
When I finally pushed her away, our eyes met and my heart screamed
out in anguish.

“Come back to mommy,” she rasped, holding
her gray, mottled arms towards me. “I need you so. I love you,
Cassie.”

I nodded. “I love you, too.”

Then I closed my eyes and sobbed as I let
her have me.

~~~

I woke up to someone gently shaking me.

“Cassie?” whispered Bryce softly.

Sighing, I opened my eyes and found Bryce
staring down at me. His dark wavy hair was damp and he wore nothing
but a pair of soft, gray lounge pants. I stared at the dragon
tattoos on his forearms. They blazed with fire as did something
inside of me.

“I just stepped out of the shower across the
hall, and heard you crying. I was a little worried.”

“Oh,” I said, sitting up. Remembering that
all I had on was a thin tank and boxer shorts, I pulled my blanket
up higher.

He smiled and sat down on the edge of my
bed. “Listen, you were really fantastic earlier. It took a lot of
courage to do what you did.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad once I
reminded myself that they were already dead.”

Bryce chuckled. “Still, it was pretty
impressive.”

“Thanks.”

He brushed a strand of hair away from my
cheek. “I think we make a pretty good team.”

I stopped breathing when I gazed into his
smoldering blue eyes. Bryce slowly leaned towards me and I felt the
heat of his breath on my lips.

“Bryce! Where are you?” hollered Bobby from
somewhere else in the house.

Bryce shut his eyes and swore under his
breath. “Hold on, Bobby!” he called.