Love & the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1, Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Rachel slammed on the brakes. 

Morgan
. 

The
terrified cry came from the other hallway. The zombies already had Lindsay on the ground and they were still three doorways away from her.  Cage was almost there, but Rachel wasn’t sure if he could fight them off alone.  Lindsay needed her help. 

But
Morgan needed her, too. 

Cage glanced over his shoulder.  “Go!  Go get Morgan!”

“Cage!”  Rachel’s heart squeezed.  How could she leave him like this?

Lindsay
screamed. 

“Rachel, GO
!”  Cage reached the struggle and flung the female zombie off Lindsay. 

Rachel gave one
last fleeting glance at Cage, before she turned and ran as fast as she could toward Morgan’s voice.  Rachel didn’t look back.  She couldn’t.  She didn’t want to see the zombies tearing into Lindsay. 

Rachel ha
d searched for Morgan for two days; she wasn’t going to lose her little sister now.  She flew down the hallway.  Moans filled the air. Lindsay was right.  Rachel’s screaming had attracted other zombies.  Had the horde broken down the door?

She
rounded the corner at a jarring pace.  “Morgan!”  Rachel peered into the passing rooms.  “Morgan!”

A zombie stumbled out
.

“Rachel!”  Morgan’s voice came from the end of the hallway. 

Without slowing down, Rachel unleashed a swing.  The bat cracked the zombie’s chin and it fell backward into the wall.  It reached for Rachel, but she ran past its arms. 

“RACHEL!”

Rachel pumped her arms.  She was almost there.  The voice was coming from the last room on the left. She flung herself inside and skidded to a stop.  Two child zombies clawed at a wooden closet.  Long scrape marks splintered the wood. 

The
children’s blue eyes locked on Rachel.  She recognized one of the zombies as Annabelle – Morgan’s roommate.  The other zombie was a redheaded boy.  

Rachel sucked in her breath.  “Morgan?” 

The closet doorknob twisted.  “Rachel?”

“No!” Rachel cried
as Annabelle reached for the closet.  “Stay in there, Morgan.  I’m going to get you out.  Hold on.”

The
boy hadn’t taken his eyes off her.  Rachel gripped her bat.  She could never imagine anything more horrible than what she saw now.  Those poor, innocent children.

Annabelle his
sed. 

Rachel
said a silent prayer and disposed of the two child zombies.  Before she opened the closet door, she covered the bodies with a pale purple comforter.  “Morgan?” 

“Rachel?”

“It’s me.”  Rachel opened the door. 

Morgan ran
into her arms. “You came for me,” she said. 

“
Of course I came for you.” Rachel wiped her eyes.  She squeezed her little sister tight and then checked Morgan’s arms, legs and stomach for bite and scratch marks, but she didn’t see anything.  “Are you okay?  Did any of those things hurt you?”

“I’m okay,” Morgan said.  “I hid.”

“The whole time?”  Rachel heard a crash down the hallway, followed by moaning.  They’d have to get out of the dorm soon.  The place was swarming with zombies.

Morgan nodded.  “I
pretended like I was hiding from Gene.  I stayed quiet the whole time.  No one knew I was in here until I called your name.”

“You hid in
there for two days?”

“Yeah, I had crackers and a water bottle.”

Rachel pressed Morgan against her.  “I’m so sorry.” 

C
rashes came from the hallway. Moans and groans.  The sounds of the zombies advancing up the stairwell filled the building. 

“Rachel!”  Adam’s voice echoed.

“In here!”  Rachel screamed. 

“There are
other people?” Morgan’s face lit up. 

“They helped me find you.”
  Rachel hugged Morgan and breathed in the smell of her little sister’s hair. She’d never let her out of her sight again.  Adam and the others ran into the room and closed the door.

“We are in big trouble.  The zombies
broke through the door downstairs,” Nicky said. 

Rachel
wiped her tears away.  “I found Morgan!”

She
had expected cries of joy, but no one said anything.  She blinked her teary eyes into focus.  Adam and Selena held the door shut against the zombies on the other side.  Lindsay and Nicky pushed a dresser in front of the door. 

Lindsay.
 

What was Lindsay doing with Adam’s group?
  Rachel looked around.  A horrible feeling filled her stomach.  “Where’s Cage?”

Selena
swallowed.  “Rachel, we -”

Rachel
rose to her feet.  “Where’s Cage?”

No one said anything.  Lindsay
was a mess.  Her clothes were torn.  Her hair was matted against her splotchy face.  Lindsay had been crying, but she was alive, which meant Cage saved her from the zombies in the hallway.

This wasn’t happening. 
The room began to spin.  Rachel steadied herself against the closet door.  “Lindsay, where’s Cage?”

Lindsay covered her face. 
She started sobbing.  “I don’t know.” 

The moaning and groaning grew to a fevered pitch.  Had all of the zombies from the Strip ma
de it into the dorm?  Rachel turned to Adam and Nicky.  “Where’s Cage?”

Blood was splattered across Nicky’s shirt and his ha
irline was wet with sweat.  He didn’t say anything; he only frowned. 

“I don’t know,” Adam breathed.  “I think he’s gone.”

Rachel’s knees buckled.  Selena grabbed Morgan from Rachel’s arms and Adam helped her to the bed. How could she sit at a moment like this?  The sound of the zombies was too loud for her to think.  How many of them were out there?  Where in the hell was Cage?

“G
one?”  Rachel said.  “What does that mean?  He’s dead?  He’s a zombie?”

Adam kneeled in front of her.  “Lindsay told us that he s
aved her from a group of them, but more came.  The zombies broke down the door and rushed the staircase.”

Rachel was about
to throw up.  “Is he dead?”

“He created a diversion – with himself
– to get Lindsay to safety,” Adam said.  “But there were a lot of them.  Lindsay said he ran in the opposite direction of the stairwell.  That means he would have been cornered with about thirty or forty zombies after him.”

“Is he dead?”
Rachel repeated.  She couldn’t breathe.  This was her fault.  One hundred percent.  She ran away from Cage.  She left him behind.

Rachel felt numb.

Lindsay sank to the floor. The pounding on the door grew louder. “He told me to run,” she sobbed.  “So I ran, but when I looked back he wasn’t there.  Zombies filled the hallway.”  Her eyes narrowed at Rachel.  “I told you not scream!  Didn’t I?  I told you they’d hear your screams and come after us.  This is your fault!”

Rachel glanced at Adam.  “
Tell me the truth.  Is Cage dead?” 

“There were a lot of zombies, Rachel,” Adam said.
  “In a very small space.”

Rachel jumped to her feet
.  “Stop saying that!  Will one of you give me a straight answer?  Did any of you see his body?  Did you see him walking around as a zombie?”  She looked at each one of them.

Adam stood up
.  “No.”

“Then he might still be al
ive.”  A small spark of hope fluttered in Rachel’s stomach.  He had to be alive. 
Had to be
.  She would search for him until she found him. 

“It’s possible,” Adam conceded.

“We have to find Cage before it’s too late,” Rachel said.

The
growling drowned out all sound.  Death was literally at the door.  The wood vibrated on the hinges as the zombies pounded against it.  Cage was somewhere on the other side of that door fighting for his life.  She knew it.  Rachel wouldn’t give up on him.  She’d find him if it was the last thing she did.

END OF BOOK ONE

Acknowledgements

First, I have to thank my brother, Chano, for this book.  When we were children, we’d sneak out to the living room and watch zombie movies, always discussing how we would survive if there was an attack.  I am thrilled that we were able to come up with this storyline.  It has been a long time in the making.  The setting of the novel is also very dear to me, because I was born in the great City of Flint and I have many family members still living there. 

I want to thank my parents, Ruben and Lisa, for dr
iving me around Flint.  We drove through the “escape route” that Rachel and Cage used in the novel.  I wanted to make it as real as possible.  Location names were changed, but I hope I kept the authenticity of the book alive.  I have to thank my cousin, Brooke Benson, for sending me pictures of Flint and answering all of my stupid questions. 

Thanks to
my husband, Joe, for listening to me ramble on about plot and setting and characters all-day and everyday.  A special shout out goes to my sweet son, Jackson, for taking long naps and going to bed every night at 7:30 on the dot so mommy could write.  Thanks to my mom, Joe and Chano for editing.  As always, I have to thank my very talented graphic artist, Rahul Philip, for the amazing artwork on the cover. To see more of his artwork, please visit his website at:
http://www.rahulphilip.com

For more information about
Love & the Zombie Apocalypse
(Book 1, Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy) and the upcoming
Death & the Zombie Apocalypse
(Book 2, Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy), please visit the following websites:

http://www.chelseabellingeri.com

http://www.facebook.com/
chelseabellingeri

Follow me on Twitter: @C_Bellingeri

Other Titles by Chelsea Bellingeri:

The New England Witch Chronicles Series (Young Adult):

New England Witch Chronicles
(Book 1)

Conjured
(Book 2)

Wicked Betrayal
(Book 3)

All Hallows Eve
(Book 4)

The Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy (Young Adult)

Love & the Zombie Apocalypse
(Book 1)

Death & the Zombie Apocalypse
(Book 2) – Coming 2014!

Monster Club Series (Middle Grade)

Monster Club: Case of the Ivy Hollow
Werewolf
– Winter 2013!

About the Author

Chelsea Bellingeri is the author of the best selling young adult series,
New England Witch Chronicles
.  Chelsea received a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School in New York, New York in 2007, and a B.A. in Sociology, with a concentration in Criminal Justice, from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2004.  Chelsea lives in Tennessee with her husband, Joe, their son, Jackson, and their dog, Eli.