Fight (NOLA Zombie Book 2) (7 page)

“You want to get breakfast, Lani? When is the last time you ate a good meal?”

“Grace brought me dinner last night, it was delicious. Will there be a lot of people there?”

“Breakfast is almost over, so there won’t be a lot of people. We’ll sit together in the corner if you want. I don’t want it to be crazy for you.”

“Thank you.” She slipped her feet into a pair of flip flops and wrapped a sweater around her thin frame and followed me to the cafeteria. True to my word there were only a few people sitting and finishing up their meal. I told Lani to sit down at a table and I would fetch her a plate.

They had gone all out this morning, pancakes and powdered eggs. We needed to find a chicken or something and get some real eggs. I was tired of this powdered crap.
 

I set the plate in front of Lani and sat down across from her, but my eyes lingered on Romeo who was standing off to the side frowning at us.
What was his deal?
He took two steps toward us and Lani turned her head to stare at him. As soon as her gaze found his, Romeo froze, his frown deepening. With a quick jerk he turned and walked in the opposite direction in a quick trot.
Well, that was a bit off even for Romeo.

“Who was that?” Lani asked.

“Romeo, err Tim Votier, we all call him Romeo though.”

“Like Shakespeare,” she mused. “He was there too., I remember him.”

“He carried you out.”

“Oh,” her eyes somehow managed to get bigger, “yes.” Her lips turned slightly up in the tiniest of smiles.
 

“How old are you, Lani?”

“Eighteen, I just turned eighteen right before it happened. I might be nineteen now. How long has it been?”

“It’s only been about six months. It’s December.”

“Oh, then no, I’m still eighteen.” She shoveled some pancakes, drenched in syrup into her mouth and sighed in contentment.
 

“I know this might be hard, but, Lani, we need to know what happened to you just in case we run into these people, the men that Margaret warned us about.”
 

She closed her eyes as if to ward away my words, but finally she opened them and held my gaze. I saw courage there and suddenly she looked much older than eighteen.

“I know. Grace told me we’re in New Orleans East, that’s not too far from where I was. I went to St. Nicodemus. You know the all girl’s high school on Robert E. Lee?”

“Yes, I had friends that went there.”

“I was there when it all went to hell. We had a summer program to get college credit. I didn’t want to do it, but my father made me. I had already graduated and he made me go back. If I hadn’t been there, I would have been home with my mother or maybe shopping, who knows? But I was at school. So when everything went to hell, my father came to get me–but the soldiers wouldn’t let us leave New Orleans. They made us go to a refugee camp they set up in the parking lot right across from the school.” She paused to take a long pull on her water glass.

“At first, it was okay. We were worried about my mother, but we had very little contact with any of the dead. The soldiers erected a fence and they would go out and kill anything that came close. But it didn’t take long for things to get weird. A large group of the soldiers were called away. The rumors were that they fled to try and find their families.
 
There was hardly any protection. My father and I were about to try and flee to Metairie, try and find my mom, but then this large group of people came in. They were hard, but they were armed and were good fighters. At first we thought it was a blessing. One man, Brandon, he took over. Just walked into the tent where the CO was sleeping and killed him.”

“There weren’t any guards? They didn’t confiscate weapons when you were in the camps?”

“These guys didn’t allow them to take their weapons and the soldiers were outnumbered. They let them stay as long as they helped protect the camp. They were content for two days before they took out any soldier that didn’t fall in line. They separated the men from the women and put all the children near the women, but not in the same room. It was terrifying. Margaret helped me through it, she…she,” Lani suppressed a sob.
 
“When they would come looking for a woman, she taught me how to force myself to vomit and act sick and would distract them.

She always went with them, in my place, for me, always. They thought I was some sick immigrant. They didn’t want to touch me because of what I might give them, but they liked to beat me. What they did to Margaret was much worse, though.” Tears streaked down her face and I handed her a napkin to wipe them away. I couldn’t imagine going through what she described.
 

“They killed my father for trying to bring me food. They just shot him in front of me. After that, Margaret and I decided we had to leave. She told them that I was feeling better, but it was my first time, so she wanted to go with me. I didn’t want to do it, but she insisted. I–well, they bid on me, a lot. And they took us to some back room where they were drinking and when one finally got alone with us, Margaret attacked him. I don’t know if he died, but we left him there on the floor and climbed out of a window and just ran. It took us two weeks to get to where you found us. Margaret was bit when we broke into that office building.”
 
Her tears had dried up, but her face was still haunted as she recalled everything that had happened to her in just a few months. She was just a young girl about to go to college, about to start her life when everything came crashing down around her.

What she experienced was atrocious, the worst men could do to other men all while the world went to shit. There was a special place in hell for people that preyed on others in their time of need.
 

“You made it, Lani, you know, you’re safe now. I can’t begin to understand what you went through, but now you’re here with us, and we’ll do everything we can to keep you safe. We’re a family here and we protect our own.”

“You don’t know what that means to me. I almost can’t believe it. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. These men, they’re all so…so…well, military. Do they not expect anything from the women? I can’t do anything like that. I would rather die.”

“They’re good men and women. They’re former military and they all worked for a company that did security details before Z. They protected people. They don’t expect anything. They’re just trying to survive and protect their families.”

“They have families?”

“Some do. Grace, she has children here. Her husband is one of the military types. His name is Cole, he’s a good man, saved my life on numerous occasions.”
 

“They saved mine.” I just nodded as I watched the relief finally settle across her face. For the first time in what I guessed was a long time, Lani looked at peace.

NINE

Short, Ass-Kicking Blondes

“At some point we’re going to have to deal with the group in Lakeview.” Baby ran beside me on the track that circled the compound. Charlie kept pace at our heels, always on alert.

“I know that,” I huffed. I was up to almost eight miles now, but I wasn’t so in shape that I could seamlessly carry on a conversation like Baby could.

“I spoke to Lani last night like you asked.” I had recruited most of the women to give Lani tours of the compound, eat meals with her
 
and get her settled in.
 

“She talked about Lakeview?”

“Yeah., I wanted to get details out of her and she has a very good capacity for recall. There are about twelve men that she understood were the ones in charge, the men that were allowed weapons. Another thirty or so were there for support and didn’t have any weapons. From what she could tell, they were just there to perform menial tasks, clean, cook, act as laborers. They’ve moved into the grocery store and clothing store and the entire lot is fenced with temporary fencing.”
 

“Does she know anything about their defenses?”

“She wouldn’t know the difference between a water pistol and a rifle, but she described a good bit of weaponry. All the men that are allowed to carry own some sort of assault rifle and a handgun along with knives, and she said one guy has a few grenades strapped to him like medals.”

“They let people in for trade though, right?”

“Yes, she said they mostly trade liquor and sex for food and weapons. And there are always a few guys streaming in each week, ones that don’t live on the base.”

“So, realistically, we could send over a few of our men and they would let them walk right in, if we had weapons or food to trade?” I asked.

“If what she said was accurate.”

“She seems to have her head on straight. We got a bad impression of her that first day,” I laughed thinking about how I wanted to put her in one of the pirogues and set her adrift. “She seems to be a smart kid and is itching to do something to help out. I don’t want to put her on the schedules for a few more days though.”

“Listen to you, smart kid. she’s only a few years younger than you, bunch of babies around here.” Baby pushed me and I stumbled causing Charlie to stop and growl at her.

“Charlie,
fuss
!” He backed off and I stopped running to glare at Baby. “Alright, Baby.” I drawled out her nickname. “Your advanced age of twenty-four puts my paltry twenty-one years to shame.”
 

“Fuck off, Lex.” She laughed and ran off at a fast clip so I had to sprint to catch up to her. “And don’t ever call me Baby again.”

“You’re just gonna have to accept it. It’s your nickname. And it’s so much more fitting than Hannah.”

“I’m gonna have to come up with some stupid nickname for you, see how you like it. How about just bitch?” She growled.

“I like that one,” I laughed and she begrudgingly laughed with me.
 

“So what are we going to do about that shithole of a place?” she asked getting back on topic.

“For right now, nothing. My main concern is food. When we have the luxury to stop and consider our neighbors, that will be a great day.”

“I think that’s a mistake. People like that are never satisfied. They’ll be knocking at our door before we have time to prepare,” Baby warned.

“Well, if that happens, we’ll tackle it. Let them come. We’re set up much better to take on a defensive role than anything offensive.”

“You sound like Zach.”
 

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Y’all fucking yet?” she asked, making me trip over an invisible rock and nearly land on my face.

“None of your business.”
 

“No, then. You’d be in a better mood if y’all were finally hitting it.” Baby smirked and finally stopped, wiping at her brow with a towel she kept tucked in her waistband.

“It’s not even an option. Zach and I are friends, nothing more.”
 

“Sure,” she laughed. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but you and Zach are not just good friends. You two are a pot that is about to boil over. Just don’t take any of us with you when you finally do.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“If you keep denying it to yourself and him, he’s gonna get pissed and give up. What would you do if he hooked up with someone else?” My hand did that clenchy fist thing again. “Or if his heartbreak over your constant denial has him taking unnecessary risks, what will you do if he dies?”

“Right back ‘atcha, Baby. What would you do if the same happened to Duke?” I knew it was different, but what other defense did I have?

“I would rejoice!” She smiled brightly. “C’mon that was weak. We’re gonna rescue ourselves some white trash chick that was made for Duke and they’ll live happily ever after and he’ll finally leave me the fuck alone. You on the other hand, would go batshit if Zach started panting after some other hottie. I mean, you saw Lani. She’s smoking hot. He could forget all about his fearless co-leader if she turned those big brown eyes in his direction.”

“Now you’re the one being a bitch,” I grumbled.

“See, it does get you all riled up, because you want to be all up in that shit.” She shrugged when I glared at her, “I’m just being honest. I don’t think Zach is gonna go after Lani, but at some point you’ll turn him down and it’ll be the final straw and don’t come crying to me that he doesn’t want you anymore. If you have a really good reason for not going after him, keep at it, but if it’s just some stupid, angsty bullshit, you’re an idiot. If Zach went for short, ass-kicking blondes, I’d be all over his ass.”

“Don’t even think about it.” I growled.

“Then get off your fucking ass.”

“I just can’t, Hannah, it would be too…”

“You still thinking about Blake? Zach would never pull any kind of shit like that, you know that, right?”

“I thought Blake wouldn’t do something like that either. I mean, all it took was one little radio from his ex and he was gone.”
 

“Yeah, that one liked to play mind games with that boy, always did. Never liked the bitch. She never really cared for me much either. But then I was this super smoking hot chick going on two week details with her dumbass husband,” Baby snickered and shot me a glance, raising one eyebrow when she saw me glaring at her. “What? He always was a dumbass, my boss or not. That man is the most naive man I ever met and that gold digger knew exactly how to pull his chain. Forget about Blake, Lex, he made his choice. Now you got to make yours.”
 

TEN

The Zombie Arousal Technique

I managed to avoid Zach for the next couple of days, but I couldn’t help thinking about our conversation in his office and that crazy run with Baby. Did I really think that my life was better off without any romantic entanglements? I didn’t know if I would live one day or ten years. My days were precious.
Did I want to spend them alone and unhappy?
I wasn’t necessarily unhappy, I had friends, I felt needed. That was satisfying.
 

Adding a relationship to the mix would complicate everything.
What if we weren’t compatible?
There were only a handful of us on S-Island.
If we split, what would happen?