Running Wild (17 page)

And
Eva did get some of his blood into her saliva
, I thought. Was it possible that she was slowly going insane because she now had the zombie virus in her system
?

“Over here,” called Eva. “I need help. I twisted my ankle.”

I sighed and followed the sound of her voice through the trees. Of course she was no longer in the same spot when I arrived; still playing games.

“What the hell, Eva?” I yelled. “We don’t have time for this. We have to get to Atlanta! Don’t you care about your mom?”

“Shut up about my mom!” she spat, stepping around a tree. “This isn’t about her, it’s about you.”

Eva looked like an insane nutcase. Her red hair was in total disarray, her eyes were bugging out of her head and her skin was a dull grayish white.

“Are you okay?” I asked incredulously.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled. “But you won’t be if you don’t leave my boyfriend alone.”

“Eva, just come back to the van, okay? We have to go.”

She shook her head. “No, not until you promise to keep your hands off Bryce.”

“Okay, I’ve had enough,” I snapped stepping towards her. Enough was enough. Her ass was coming if I had to drag her by the hair.

“Stay away from me!” she screamed, backing away.

I sighed and raised my hands in the air. “Okay, fine Eva. I will do whatever you want. Just, please…we have to go. Time is running out.”

She backed away from me. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Before I could respond, she fell backwards over a large rock and began tumbling away from me. Apparently we were on an incline and I hadn’t even noticed because she’d pissed me off so much.

“Eva!” I yelled, carefully limping after her. The last thing I needed was to fall and twist the other ankle.

The slope became steeper and I had to hold on to several trees to keep from falling down myself. “Hold on Eva!” I called. “I’m coming!”

She’d stopped tumbling and I could see her lying still about two hundred feet away from me at the bottom of the hill. As I edged closer I noticed the blood.

“Oh, my God!” I cried as I reached her. Blood was seeping from the back of her head.

I set my gun down and carefully lifted her head. It wasn’t good, I almost threw up when I saw all the blood oozing from the deep cut. “Eva,” I said, trying to gently shake her. “Wake up, please!”

She wasn’t moving. I felt for a pulse and found it very faint. She was still alive, but barely hanging on.

“Help!” I screamed. “Help!”

I heard shouts from somewhere above us and breathed a sigh of relief. They were coming for us.

“Don’t worry,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Help is coming.”

Eva’s body began to shake and I stepped away from her. When she began to foam at the mouth I knew that she was definitely having some kind of seizure. Just like Austin’s.

“Hold on Eva,” I said.

A growl from behind me turned my blood to ice. I quickly whipped my body around and found two giant zombies less than ten feet away, both ready to tear me apart. They looked like a couple of football players in denim bibs with hands so huge that they could easily snap my neck in two.

“Shit,” I said, remembering I’d left my gun on the ground next to Eva.

Baby Huey and Baby Dewy both attacked at once, stumbling towards me as I leaped towards the Ruger. I landed on my stomach and twisted my body around, firing it. I shot the nearest zombie between the eyes but watched in horror as the second zombie leaped on Eva before I could get another shot off.

“Eva!” I screamed, firing the gun into the zombies head. He stopped moving and I shuddered in horror as his brains sprayed all over her face.

I crawled over and pushed the zombie off of her.

“Cassie!” hollered my father from the top of the hill. “We’re coming!”

Bryce, Tiny, and my dad began descending the hill and I released a huge sigh of relief. I didn’t have enough energy to drag Eva back with me up the hill.

I grabbed her wrist to check for a pulse when her eyes slowly opened.

“Eva,” I said. “Just stay still. My dad and Bryce are both coming for you.”

It was then that I noticed she didn’t even have a pulse. She growled at me, her eyes now red with broken blood vessels.

I shuddered and then raised the gun to fire it, but I was out of bullets.

“Shit!” I hollered, now scrambling to get away from her.

She let out an unholy screech and then grabbed my leg, sinking her teeth deep into my calf.

I screamed in pain and kicked her hard in the face with my boot several times until she finally let go.

“You bitch,” I cried, watching the blood bubble from the wound she’d caused.

She snarled and then her face twisted into an evil smile that left me cold. It was as if she’d known exactly what she was doing when she attacked me.

Bryce reached us first and saw the blood on the back of my leg. He quickly raised the gun and shot her in the head.

“Bryce,” I sobbed as he knelt down and took me into his arms.

“Is she okay?” asked my dad hoarsely.

Bryce let out a ragged breath. “She’s been bit.”

My dad looked at my calf and swore, then walked away from me for a minute, he was so overwhelmed.

“I’m okay,” I mumbled, although the area around my wound was beginning to heat up.

My dad came back and kneeled next to me on the ground. “Yes,” he said, trying to smile, although his lips were trembling. He wiped the perspiration from my forehead. “You’re fine, honey. Let’s get you back to the SUV.”

“Please, let me do it,” said Bryce, lifting me into his arms.

My leg felt like it was on fire as he carried me up the hill.

“You okay?” he asked as his eyes filled with tears.

I nodded and stared at his face, trying to memorize every last detail of it. My eyelids were getting heavy and I knew I was about to lose consciousness.

“Hey,” I said, touching his cheek. “I love you, Bryce.”

“I love you too,” he choked.

I looked into his deep blue eyes and smiled. “Don’t worry,” I whispered as the darkness began to surround me. “I’ll make it.”

Author’s Note

Thank you so much for reading book two of Zombie Games (Running Wild), I truly hope you enjoyed it. I know it was a lot of fun for me, creating the characters and giving them life. 

If you really liked the book and have time to write a review, please do so. Reviews are a wonderful motivator for me, especially after running a daycare during the day; I need all the incentive to get the energy to write at night!

I have also just finished a first in my vampire series called “Blur” (Night Roamers).  Please see an excerpt on the next few pages.

Thanks again for your support!

Kristen Middleton

Blur Excerpt

(Night Roamers)

Book One

Copyright © 2012 by Kristen Middleton

This book is purely fiction. Any resemblances to names, characters, and places are coincidental. The reproduction of this work is forbidden without written consent from the author.

To:

Dave, Cassie, and Allie

Prologue

“Mom left the door unlocked,” I hollered at my twin brother as he slammed the door to his ’67 Mustang. It was the last day of eleventh grade and we’d stopped off for burgers and malts at Grannie’s Diner with some friends to celebrate after school. Nathan and I were officially seniors and neither of us could wipe the grins from our faces.

“That’s weird,” he said, brushing a hand through his sandy brown hair. “You know how she’s always nagging us about it.”

I grinned and held the door open for him. “Well, I’m certainly not going to let her live this one down.”  

Mom was married to a cop once, my father, and he’d drilled into her head how important it was to keep the doors locked, even when you’re home.

Nathan followed me into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

“Oh, my God,” I teased him. “How can you still be hungry after eating that monster burger and malt?”

He flexed a muscle. “I’m growing,” he said. “Just ‘cause you’re a skinny little twerp doesn’t mean everyone else has to eat like a bird.”

I walked over and punched him in the arm. “Very funny.”

He smiled and raised the milk carton to take a swig when we both heard it.

“What’s that?” I whispered in horror.

He slammed down the milk and rushed out of the kitchen.

“Nathan?” I yelled, chasing him upstairs. The sobs, were coming from somewhere in the upper level of our house.

“Oh my God,” he choked, entering our mother’s dark bedroom. She was lying naked on the floor, her face swollen and bleeding, her body badly bruised. 

We rushed to her side and she cracked open one of her black eyes. “Call the police,” she mumbled, barely coherent.

I started to cry as I grabbed the phone and dialed nine-one-one. I don’t even remember talking to the person who’d answered. All I know is that I was blubbering and she was trying to console me with the fact that help was coming. I hung up and stared at my broken mother in shock, feeling helpless.

Thankfully, Nathan handled stress much better than I did. He grabbed a comforter and covered her, gently.

“Mom, what happened?” he asked.

The shame on her face was heart-wrenching and I knew by her appearance what had happened. She’d obviously been beaten and raped.

I brushed the tears from my face, kneeled down next to her, and lightly touched her hand. “The police and ambulance are on their way.”

She nodded and closed her eyes.

“Mom?” prodded Nathan. “What happened?”

“Nathan, think about it,” I whispered. “She’s obviously been raped.”

His lips trembled as he searched her face. “Mom? Some stranger broke in here and did this to you?”

She stared at both of us for a few seconds.  “No…no stranger,” she whispered, “It was your father.”

Chapter One

“Are we almost there?” I sighed, staring at the endless rows of corn fields. We’d been driving for hours through the countryside and I could no longer tell the difference from one town to the next. I just wanted to get out of the car and stretch my legs.

Mom cleared her throat. “Pretty soon.”

Nathan was following us in his Mustang and I glanced back to see him talking on his cell phone, again.

“Oh, Lord,” I said. “He must be talking to Deanna, for the tenth time. She just won’t get over the fact that we’re really moving.”

Mom tightened her hands on the steering wheel and glanced at me. “I’m sorry about this. I’m just so sorry… about everything.”

I frowned. “Mom, it’s not your fault. Nobody had any idea that he could be so violent.”

It had been less than three months since my father had brutally attacked my mother. They’d been separated for the last couple of years because of his temper tantrums along with his inability to stop screwing other women. When my mother had finally gotten up the nerve to leave him, he’d actually been pretty civil about it. Then, when he’d found out she’d moved on emotionally and started dating again, he’d went off in a jealous rage, striking back at her.

“I just wish they could find him and lock him up,” she said, staring straight ahead.

I nodded. I was so ashamed that any thoughts of him made me physically ill. It was still really hard to believe that my own father was capable of being so violent, especially since he’d been a cop and responsible for keeping people safe. After the attack, he’d disappeared and my poor mother had spent several nights in the hospital, recovering. When she finally came home she wasn’t able to sleep at night without drugs, terrified that he’d show up and beat her again. Then, just recently she’d been given a gift; a way out. Her employer offered her an accounting job in Montana and now that’s where all three of us were headed; to start a new life.

“Well, I think it’s good that Nathan’s getting away from Deanna, anyway,” I said. “She’s so whiny and annoying.”

Mom smiled wryly. “Now Nikki, you haven’t liked any of Nathan’s girlfriends.”

I shrugged. “Well, it’s not my fault he attracts the psycho ones.”

Deep down I knew I wasn’t being fair because the truth was, I was a little jealous. My brother and I had always been very close, especially living in such a dysfunctional family environment. My earliest memories were of my parents screaming and fighting, especially during the holidays.  So, we’d withered the storms together. In fact, for all of our lives, we’d been best friends, sharing and doing everything, together. That is, until the tenth grade, when he’d discovered boobs, I mean girls. Of course, I’d discovered boys as well; I’d discovered that most of them in my school were crude, boring, or just plain... boobs.

“So,” I said, changing a subject that I had to admit left me feeling a guilty. “What were you saying about this place we’re renting?”

She smiled. “I guess it’s just beautiful. It’s a cabin on Shore Lake that’s been on the market for some time. The owners are related to Ernie and because of our circumstances they’re letting us stay there relatively cheap.”

Ernie was my mom’s boss; a really nice old man who’s been really supportive of my mom. He’s been almost like a father-figure to her, which is good because both of her parents passed away several years ago.

“Do they have a boat?”

She nodded. “Yes, Ernie says there’s a boat and he’s caught hundreds of fish on the lake. I’m really excited about staying there. Honey, are you okay?”

“Something in my eye,” I muttered as I pulled down the visor. I blinked until I finally got the eyelash out.

“I need a haircut,” I noted.

“We’ll get you one before school starts,” she said.

I nodded and examined my reflection.  Sandy brown hair, light blue eyes, and a pug nose. I’d always considered myself average looking, even though my mom said I looked exactly like her when she was growing up and she turned out to be attractive. In fact, most of Nathan’s friends said she was a hot MILF, which
was
pretty gross, but I guess that meant there was still hope for me.