Dying To Live & Fighting To Live-Book One and Book Two (Zombie Overload Series) (2 page)

"Look, I’m sorry, but
I had to get the truck as close as possible so I could protect the
van." I'm smart enough to fake shame and meekness for this
situation.

"I don’t give one shit
about that truck." (Ha ha! Yeah, right!) "What the hell
were you doing outside? One of those things could have gotten you!
Damn it! You've GOT to be more careful and don't take stupid chances
like that. I could have done it or at least been here to make sure
you were safe. The boys and I can't frikken lose you!"

OK. I admit that I'm really
ashamed now. He made sense. I
should
have had him watching out
for those things. Looking up into his red, rage-filled face, I know
it's best to just say, "I'm sorry and you're right", hang
my head and look totally pathetic. So I do. He pulls me to him and
wraps his arms around me. Kissing the top of my head, he presses me
tight to him, and in this moment, I remember again just how much I
love this man. And also, how I would have felt if he did what I just
did. I don’t want
him
anywhere near those things or
where they could easily get to him, either. I also don’t want
him taking chances but I already know he has a "hero"
mentality. I’ll have my work cut out for me just keeping him
safe. This is not going to be easy.

We close and lock the van and
head inside to do what we can to be as prepared as possible. Walking
up the stairs, I see our boys still on the sofa, looking at us with
twin expressions of fear and worry. How do I explain this to them?
I’m sure any way I do it I will be breaking all the experts
rules on being a good parent. Screw it. Not like I ever paid
attention to their rules before, anyway.

I sit on my recliner and Will
continues boarding up windows. I take a minute just to look at our
boys. Our oldest, Bo, with his blond hair and bright blue eyes, is 14
years old. He has a smile that just lights up the room. He's almost
as tall as me and that kinda freaks me out.

Our youngest, Ashton, is 11 years
old and has brown hair and gorgeous big brown eyes. He's our computer
geek. Good luck trying to get him off the PC but at least you always
know where he is! He 's always smiling and happy.

Then it hits me. HOLY SHIT! What
if I lose them? What if those damn things get one or both of them? My
breathing turns fast and shallow. I feel dizzy. My heart is pounding
so hard and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it burst out
and plop on the floor in front of me.

Will walks in the room just as
I'm seeing spots shooting around the house. He grabs the back of my
neck and shoves my head down. Hard.
That
brought me out of it.
Angrily, I shove at his legs which is the only part of him I can get
to (he is
so
lucky I
can't get my fist up just a bit higher!) and jerk my head back up
where it belongs....on my damn shoulders. I know I have fire in my
eyes. He steps back until he is no longer within my arms reach.

"Jesus Christ! You trying to
break my frikken neck?" I shout at him.

"I’m sorry, Honey. I
was just trying to help." He says, faking shame and meekness.
Damn. I taught him well.

"Trying to kill me, more
like!" He walks away but I see his shit-eating grin. Jerk! I
turn my attention back to the sofa. "Ok, so this is what's going
on..." I'm interrupted by Bo who asks, "Is this the Zombie
Apocalypse?" and from Ashton, "Are there zombies outside?"

I just sit and stare at them.
Should I be surprised? Not really. I mean, they play zombie mode on
their games. They watch the movies and TV shows. They are extremely
intelligent, after all, I homeschool them. Wink, wink!

"Well, from what Dad and I
saw on the news, I think it's safe to say we can call them zombies.
No, they aren't outside, yet. But I'm sure they will be soon enough.
So we really need you two to listen, and do, everything we tell you,
the instant we tell you. Don’t try to be zombie slayers like
you are in your games. This is real and there's no coming back after
your dead." I am totally being serious. And even though the boys
are visibly scared, they still manage to laugh at me. Confused, I ask
them what the hell is so funny?

"Actually, Mom, I think you
CAN come back after your dead. That's kinda what a zombie does."
Bo. My smart ass.

I roll my eyes and jump to my
feet. "Alright. Enough chit chat and making fun of your mom.
We've got work to do."

"Are we going to Grandma and
Grandpa's?" asks Ashton.

I freeze mid-turn and stare
wide-eyed at the wall. OH. MY. GOD! Why didn't
I
think of them
first and long before now? My parents live in a small village about
15 minutes to the west of us. Stephan is to the east of us. My mom
works in Stephan but should have been home for a few hours now. My
dad (step-dad technically, but don’t call him that to my face!)
also works in Stephan and is
in
Stephan right now! Again,
another heart-stopping moment.

I grab my cell and frantically
type in 'mom'. As I push the call button, I move to the living room
window and peer through the small hole that Will has made at each
window. Not seeing anything, I turn back to the room as my mom
answers.

"Mom. Are you OK?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"Didn't you watch the news
tonight? Did you see anything going on in Stephan while you were
there?" I can't keep the fear out of my voice even though I'm
trying.

"No, I didn’t watch
the news. They did have some streets blocked off and a bunch of cops
everywhere, but I don't know why. What did the news say?" My mom
must be in the tub. I can hear water gushing in the background.

"Well, there are people,
ummm, well, DEAD people, eating live people. And the news said the
police can't contain or control them and that the dead were spreading
out over the city. Everyone should stay inside and not try to go to
Stephan." I know the words came out in a rush but saying them
made it all seem so unreal and I just knew she didn't believe me.
Hell, I don’t believe me!

I hear the water shut off and she
tells me she will call me back in a minute. Ok. Maybe she does
believe me or, if not, maybe she will find out more information about
it herself.
Or
she could be arranging to have me committed. It
could go either way.

I shove the cell phone in my
pocket and tell the boys to follow me. We go into the kitchen and I
have Bo get boxes out of the closet. We gather all the food that will
last without refrigeration and load up the boxes. I get the cooler
out and make sure the two bags of ice we keep stocked (I don’t
use ice trays) are within quick and easy reach. All the cold items I
want to take with us I put on one shelf so no searching or thinking
about it. Just grab, toss in cooler, and go. I pull out a box of
Ziploc gallon-size baggies and start filling them up with silverware,
cooking utensils and anything else we might need from the kitchen. I
take a baggie to the bathroom and put all our toothbrushes and
toothpaste in. In a grocery bag I place our deodorants, shaving
items, etc. I grab a package of toilet paper (priorities are
different for everyone) and move it all near the stairs.

In mine and my husband's bedroom,
I pull a large suitcase from the closet and yell at the boys to get
four complete outfits (NO SHORTS!) and I pack mine and Will's clothes
while waiting for the boys. When they bring their clothes in, I throw
them on top of ours and zip the case up. Then I add blankets,
sleeping bags and pillows to the pile. I ask Will to take everything
to the van and put in the very back. He informs me he has also loaded
the plastic tub of camping gear. Great idea! We have a camping stove
in that tub along with many other useful things.

We have no guns (not because
I
don't want them!) but my husband collect swords and knives.
Fortunately, they weren’t all just 'For Decorative Use Only'. I
grab as many of the real ones that I can.

My cell phone starts playing
Maroon 5's 'Payphone' and I pull it out of my pocket. Seeing 'mom' on
the screen, I push the answer button but before I can get it to my
ear she's already talking.

".....and he's on his way
home. You all need to get over here but be careful. Have you seen any
yet?"

"No. Not yet. We're almost
finished loading the van. You guys stay safe and be careful, too.
Love you, Mom." I end the call with my mind racing. What else?
Is there anything else we need? Boarding up and staying here just
isn't the smartest option.

"Hey, guys. I think we need
to head to mom and dad's now. Stephan has too many people and our
house won't be able to handle very many attacks." They all agree
and we hurry to finish getting things we think we might need. Of
course, on the boys' list of important things are their Game Boys,
which I have no problem with. But then they tell me they want to take
ALL their game systems. Sorry. No. The laptop, now that’s
another story. Good way for information and, yes, they can play on
it, too.

With the cooler filled and
loaded, along with all the other items, I take a brief moment to look
around our home. Would we ever come back here? Will I ever see our
pictures or all of the items that made this our home, again? Pain and
sadness come over me until my husband's next words flood me with
nothing but pure terror.

"They're here!"

Will grabs my hand and pulls
me toward the stairs. He was pretty darn smart in thinking to turn
the lights off in the laundry room and the shed and, also, for
disabling that damn sensor light so we might have a better chance of
staying unnoticed until we can safely get inside the van.

The boys are waiting at the
bottom of the stairs and my heart breaks seeing the fear on their
faces. On one hand, I am almost glad to see it. Maybe they won't
treat this like a game and will be more careful. I was afraid all the
games, movies, and shows would desensitize them to the very real
danger. On the other hand, seeing that fear on my babies faces pisses
me off and I know now that I
CAN
kill to protect them. I
always said I could, but until it's a very real possibility, saying
and doing are two very different things.

Will slowly walks into the shed.
He looks around outside and then motions for us to follow. We quietly
walk up behind him and wait.

"When I unlock the van we
have to get inside fast, but try to stay quiet. I don't know if the
van being unlocked will alert them, but I want us to assume it will.
The lights when we open the door definitely will. Honey, you open the
front door and let me get in first so I can get to the driver's seat,
then you get in fast. Alright?" We all nod our heads. "Let's
do it". He slowly and silently turns the handle on the door with
one hand while holding my key fob in the other. He stays crouched
down and creeps outside, moving to the side of the door.

We follow his example and once we
are all out, Will quickly pushes the unlock button twice. Then he
pushes the automatic door button and the door starts to slide open. I
throw open the front door and he somehow vaults into the driver's
seat. The boys are in and the door is sliding closed when I hear THEM
for the first time. I stop. I can't move. I can't breathe. I can't
think!

The
moans and groans. The screams of neighbors being ripped apart. And
the smell! It's HORRIBLE! I can't even describe it. There
are
no words to describe it.

Will throws a crumbled up piece
of junk mail at my head, bringing me back from the frozen state I was
in. I jump in the van, close the door, and hit the auto lock. As Will
backs the van out of the odd position I placed it in, I notice our
neighbor is backing out of her garage. I am so relieved to see her
alive and, at the moment, safe. I pray she stays that way. She's a
nice woman. Very good neighbor. Oh, even better! I see her grandson,
who is a few years younger than Ash, sitting in the passenger seat.
He lives in Stephan so it's a good thing he is with grandma tonight.
I hope they aren't going back to Stephan. Surely not. No. She turns
the opposite direction.

Will finally gets us backed out
and facing the end of the driveway and I get my first real-life view
of what should have only ever been just costume and makeup. If only
it was!

Maybe a half dozen or so are in
our yard and driveway alone. More moving around the fields and other
properties surrounding ours. They look exactly like you would see in
the better movies. Dark, dead eyes. Body parts and chunks of flesh
missing. Insides on the outside. Some fully clothed. Some not. All
doing the zombie shuffle. Some are following our neighbor as if they
have a chance in hell of catching her as she flies down the road.
Some are doing their best to get inside a few neighbors homes. Some
are already snacking on the unfortunate who didn't run fast enough,
or didn't think fast enough, or just didn't
know
what the hell
was going on fast enough. Some are coming straight for us.

We hear a THUD from the very
back, side window and then glass bursts inside the van. The boys and
I scream and Will cusses as he presses on the gas and our van shoots
forward. As we pass another one, it reaches out and tries to grab the
passenger side of the vehicle. Bo and I jump back from the windows in
fear and instinct. Ashton gives a small terror-filled screech. We
make it to the end of the driveway and Will turns left taking the
back way to my parents home in Little Village, away from Stephan.