Deadly Night: Jenni and Katie's Untold Tale: A Short Story From the As The World Dies Universe (As The World Dies Untold Tales Book 4) (2 page)

The zombie became aware of Jenni a second before she swung the crowbar into the creature’s head, knocking it back. The undead woman growled and lashed out much faster than Jenni expected. The greasy sensation of the zombie’s fingers grazing her forearm startled Jenni; then she recovered and slammed the sharp end of the crowbar into its head. The crowbar punched through the skull but tangled in the matted gray hair.

It wasn’t a killing blow.

Grunting, Jenni attempted to pull the crowbar free while the zombie tried to grab her. Jenni dodged the grasping hands, planted a foot in the zombie’s ample gut, and shoved while yanking on the weapon. The crowbar came free with a sizeable chunk of hair and scalp attached to the end, and the force of Jenni’s thrust knocked the zombie to one knee. Without hesitation, Jenni swung the crowbar again, this time denting the side of the zombie’s skull with a crunch. Slowly, the dead woman started to crumple to the sidewalk. Jenni’s fear and rage spurred her on as she continued striking the zombie’s head until nothing was left but rotting brains, shards of skull, and blood-soaked stringy hair.

“Fuck you, bitch. That’s what you get for killing my babies,” Jenni snarled.

Giddy from the kill, Jenni triumphantly circled the dead creature. The surge of adrenaline was so intoxicating, she giggled. It was good to feel something other than sorrow and fear. This was a new world, and she was a new Jenni. This version of herself wouldn’t be afraid. This version would fight. This version wouldn’t cry herself to sleep every night. This version would kill. This version would fuck Juan because she wanted to, not because she was forced to. This version was so much better than the Jenni that had existed before the zombies came.

This Jenni would not be tormented by her nightmares.

She felt invincible.

A baby’s cry came sharp and agonized on the breeze.

Jenni froze, her heart suddenly pumping not with victory but fear. “Benji?”

The wind tore the baby’s wails from her ears.

“Benji?” Jenni crept toward the corner of the building. “Benji, is that you?”

“Jenni!” Katie’s voice was sharp, demanding, and worried.

Jenni gave her friend a distracted wave and stepped to the edge of the building, then peered around it. The street leading away from the fort stretched out before her. The moonlight washed the entire area with an eerie blue aura. Juan and his people had removed all the vehicles from the strip to keep it clear, but now a long haul truck sat several blocks away.

The wind died down.

The baby’s cry came again.

“Benji?” she whispered.

Tiny fingers under the door...

It wasn’t Benji.

Benji’s dead.

The sound was coming from a living baby.

Lloyd had killed her baby.

Benji hadn’t found her.

The zombie toddler was trapped in her old home.

Benji would make other noises now.

Terrible
noises.

It wasn’t Benji.

She wouldn’t have to kill him.

Relief filled her.

“Jenni, get back to the fort!”

Katie ran up, fully armed and looking pissed. Well, as pissed as Katie could look. Katie was always eerily calm even when shit was going down. Jenni thought it was probably because Katie was Nordic and had ice in her blood. The pretty blonde wasn’t a hot-blooded Irish-Mexican mix like Jenni.

“There’s a baby crying,” Jenni explained simply, then pointed up the street.

“What?” Katie peered around the corner.

The plaintive cry of the baby came again.

“See?”

“It might be a bird. Or a cat,” Katie answered cautiously.

“No. It’s a baby. I’m a mother, remember? I know what a baby sounds like.” Jenni glared at Katie. Lloyd, her abusive husband, had always ignored everything Jenni said. Sometimes she still heard his disapproving voice in her head. She hated being disregarded.  “I’m not making shit up.”

“I didn’t say you were.” When the sound came again, Katie gave Jenni a brief nod. “Okay, I agree. That does sound like a kid.”

“That truck wasn’t there before.” Again, Jenni gestured to the vehicle several blocks away.

“I think it’s time to wake Nerit,” Katie decided. “We need to get back to the fort.”

Jenni adamantly wagged her head. “No, we need to get down there and help whoever is in that truck.”

“We need to get help
first
.” Katie scrutinized the open area before them. “We can’t just head out there without backup.”

“We don’t have the time. We need to hurry. If we can hear the baby, so can the zombies.” Jenni gave Katie a defiant look. “Right?”

“Shit, you’re right,” Katie muttered, unhooking her walkie-talkie from her belt. “I’ll call it in.”

Jenni eyed the Beretta tucked into Katie’s belt. “Gimme the gun.”

“Dammit, Jenni.”

Jenni held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “C’mon.”

“Fine. Just take the damn thing, but don’t run off.”

Jenni stuck out her tongue and tugged the weapon out of Katie’s belt. “I’m not leaving you alone out here. You’re not used to being outside the wall.”

Katie rolled her eyes, then lifted the walkie-talkie to her mouth. “Peggy, we have a situation. I need backup.”

“I hear ya, hon. What’s going on?” Peggy’s voice asked.

The baby’s cry came again.

Jenni directed her full attention to the street while tucking the Beretta into her belt so her shirt bunched around it. Even with the full moon, it wasn’t easy to make out details. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she detected movement in the gloom.

“We have survivors stranded several blocks from the fort on the corner of Williams.”

While Katie talked, Jenni reached into Katie’s jean pockets and pulled out the spare clips for the Beretta and put them in her shorts. Katie’s green eyes narrowed with annoyance, but she continued answering all of Peggy’s questions.

At last, Peggy said, “Gotcha, Katie. I’ll send Curtis to get Nerit up so she can deal with this.”

The baby’s cries were very clear to Jenni now. She could even hear the little hiccup as the baby took a breath between wails. Then she heard something that sent shivers of fear and anger up her spine.

Zombie moans.

Grabbing the flashlight off Katie’s belt, Jenni shone it up the street. Caught in the beam were the dead shambling toward the stranded long haul vehicle and the baby inside.

“No time to wait,” Jenni said to Katie. “Right?”

“We need reinforcements now,” Katie said into the walkie-talkie. “Zombies are closing in on the stranded survivors!”

Satisfied, Jenni took off running toward the zombies, clutching the crowbar and flashlight in her hands. There wasn’t time to sit around and make plans.

It was time to save the baby.

Chapter 3

The mad gleam in Jenni’s eyes was enough to short-circuit Katie’s brain for a split second. Without a doubt, Katie knew that something bad was about to happen. 

Jenni turned and rushed up the street.

Sometimes dealing with Jenni was like trying to wrestle lightning.

“Send people now, Peggy! Jenni is running toward the zombies. I need to cover her!”

Katie sprinted after the other woman while clipping the walkie-talkie to her belt. To avoid drawing more zombie attention with gunshots, she opted to use her machete against the undead and slung the strap of her rifle over one shoulder. She’d spent hours sharpening the blade while watching the street. The heavy weight of the machete in her hand was reassuring. It would easily cut through any zombie.

The red brick road was a little uneven, which slowed Katie’s pace. The last thing she wanted to do was trip and hurt herself. She’d witnessed the injuries that occurred when people were careless. One salvage team lost a man when he tripped and fell on his machete. She did not want to repeat that error.

Rushing past abandoned storefronts, Katie swallowed the hard knot forming in her throat. Though she often helped patrol the walls, she was not part of the regular rescue or salvage groups. Being outside the wall was incredibly disconcerting after so much time inside. Every shifting shadow seemed like a threat.

The growing cries of the baby, the moans of the undead, and the clap of Jenni’s boots against the road propelled Katie onward. Fingers tightening on the machete, she mentally prepared herself for what was about to occur.

The zombie lurched out of a snarl of overgrown bushes in a vacant lot and loped toward her. Katie paused in her sprint, pivoted on her heel, and swung at its moldering head. The blade caught the zombie right above its temple and dug deep into its skull. Instantly, the zombie slumped into final death. Jerking the machete free, Katie abandoned the corpse and rushed after Jenni.

In the moonlight, Jenni’s filmy white tunic gave her a ghostly appearance. Turning on the flashlight, Jenni tossed it onto the ground so it illuminated the shadowy figures emerging from the night. Jenni launched herself at a zombie, crowbar hoisted over her head.

There was a grunt, a burst of blood, and then the creature fell.

A second later, Katie joined the fray. Careful to keep away from Jenni, Katie slashed and kicked her way through the throng descending on the long haul rig where the baby still cried. There were more zombies than she had anticipated. Luckily, they were the slower, more decayed ones, which made it easier to dispatch them with quick, brutal strikes. Pivoting about, she swung her machete at the necks and heads of the zombies.

In the early days - when the zombies had still resembled the people they’d been in life - it had been hard to kill without some pinch of regret. Now the elements had worn away the more defining features of the individual monsters. It was easier to kill something that no longer appeared human.

Katie kicked the knee of a zombie, sending it to the asphalt, and swung her machete down onto the back of the head. From the side, a gnarled hand grabbed her arm, but the thick denim kept her safe from the ragged nails. Bringing her elbow up, she knocked the zombie back, twisted about, and two blows sent its head rolling across the street into the curb.

Arms burning with exertion, lungs gasping for air, Katie surveyed their battlefield. The dispatched zombies lay scattered around the women, but a few still twitched. Meanwhile, Jenni was lunging and striking with deadly efficiency at a small circle of zombies attempting to overwhelm her.

Katie leaped over a tangle of corpses and attacked one of the bigger zombies from behind. He was tall, and it was hard to get a killing strike. She instead hacked at his legs while he attempted to spin around and grab her. Black blood splattered her clothing, and she clamped her mouth shut as she continued her assault. The weight of the zombie helped break the bone once she’d caused enough damage, and it crumpled to the ground. Katie hoisted the machete over her head and brought it down viciously on its skull.

“Katie!” Jenni screamed in warning. “Duck!”

Instinctively, Katie lunged away before two zombies could tackle her. Her boot skidded on the bloody road, and she fell hard on her hip, the machete falling from her hand. The pain was blinding. The zombies loomed over her. Dragging her rifle about, Katie ignored the panic clawing at her mind and raised the weapon.

Aim to end the danger
, her father’s voice whispered through her mind.

Katie squeezed the trigger, the jolt of the weapon strangely familiar and comforting. The nearest zombie fell. The second was bending over her, and she shoved the end of the rifle into the underside of its chin and fired, turning her face away. The zombie collapsed to the street beside her. Katie snatched up the machete and clambered to her feet.

Jenni’s hair was caught in the vice-like grip of the remaining zombie. She stabbed it viciously with the end of her crowbar. Unable to get a killing blow, she spun about, dragging the zombie with her, trying to knock it off balance. Tripping over its feet, the zombie hit the ground, nearly dragging Jenni on top of it. Katie ran up and killed it with a single shot.

“Fuckin’ hell,” Jenni grunted, attempting to get her long hair out of the clutches of the dead creature.

Katie studied the cab of the long haul truck. The windshield was gone, and blackness dwelled beyond the frame. The front of the rig was smeared in the dried viscera of dead zombies. The baby wasn’t as loud now, and Katie thought she heard additional sobbing issuing from inside. There were more zombies shambling toward them from the side street that led from the outskirts of town. The illumination from the flashlight only reached so far and created disturbing shadows along the abandoned fronts of the buildings.

Finally, Jenni untangled her hair from the fingers of the corpse and kicked the dead zombie for good measure. She swiftly wrapped her hair around her fingers, knotted it, and left it as a messy bun at the back of her head. Her white tunic was splattered with blood and darker, meaty bits.

“We got more zombies coming this way, Jenni,” Katie said, wiping off her machete on her jeans, then shoving it back in its sheath.