Turned: A Spine-Chilling Young Adult Apocalyptic Fiction (The Undead Series, Book 1) (6 page)

“Go on, sit down Frank.” Doctor Emily seemed to be the boss of this couple’s relationship and runner of the house. She had a warmhearted demeanor, as if she fell in love with every person she laid her eyes on. Thank God she was there or Frank may have killed us.

“I see you guys have made yourselves at home,” Em said, looking at the dishes of half-eaten pasta. “You make enough for us?”

“There’s plenty,” Jasper answered her. “It’s really good too, please try some.”

“Hey Frank,” Em said turning to her husband on the hand. “Why don’t you go get us some of that scrumptious looking pasta?”

“Sure,” Frank answered her reluctantly, rising up to serve his wife with dinner. She smiled and so did we.

“So you’re a doctor?” I questioned Em.

“Yes ma’am,” said Em. “Well, I was a doctor...a pediatrician down the road at Norfolk Hospital. Taking care of kids ages itty-bitty-baby to sixteen. Best job in the world. Of course, when everything started to go bad, my husband and I prepared the house for it and have since learned to survive. My husband was a marine. He knows how to fight, how to kill and survive. So these zombies aren’t much harm to him. What’s your story?” she said, directing the question to Jasper.

“I…I…I,” he stuttered, as if he was intimidated by Em.

“He’s my fiancé,” I finished for him. “I met him when he came to my sanctuary a few months ago, Saving Grace Sanctuary. He used to be a construction worker, one of those sexy ones,” I teased.

“Ahhh, a sexy construction worker,” said Em, joining in on the teasing. “I can see how that was possible.” Em winked at Jasper and laughed. Then, her gaze turned serious, and she locked eyes with Jasper. Jasper must have gotten uncomfortable because he fidgeted in his chair and began playing with his noodles.

“You know, you look so familiar, like I’ve met you before,” Em said to Jasper, pausing and slapping the table. “But hell, everyone looks familiar to me because I know so many people.”

Jasper forced a grin, as if he wasn’t impressed by her words. “Yeah, believe it or not I get that a lot. I guess I have one of those faces.”

“You must,” Em replied. “So what’s your story? Where ya headed?”

“We’re headed to Paradise,” I blurted, then instantly regretted it because I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.

“Paradise?” Em questioned, surprised by my comment. I instantly felt like a delusional nutcase.

“Canada,” Jasper added. “She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, but…she already has. I’ve gotten word that Canada, Paradise so we call it, is alive and well. They were the only country to respond in time to the outbreak and have military guarding every inch of their borders. I’ve gotten word they’re quite close to finding a cure.”

Jasper paused to take a bite of his noodles and chewed it up before finishing. Em waited anxiously to hear the rest.

“Please do tell me more,” Em pushed, but Jasper looked reluctant to do so.

“They were letting survivors into the country, as long as they passed the screening test to ensure they hadn’t contracted the virus. However, after letting so many in, the population has exceeded governmental limits. They cannot let anyone else in the country because if they did, they wouldn’t have the means to take care of the people they have. My buddy is one of the guards, and promised he can get me in, so I’m going to get her in too.”

I could feel Em’s disappointment when she realized her and Frank probably couldn’t be saved. A few seconds later, Frank walked in from the kitchen carrying a serving tray with two plates of Fettuccini Alfredo, forks, and four glasses of wine along with a bottle of chardonnay.

“What did I miss?” he asked. “Glass of wine?” he added. The three nodded their heads.

"This young man was just telling me about Canada,” Em said while pouring us each a glass of wine. “Apparently Canada secured their borders before the outbreak reached them. He said they were letting survivors in, but they’ve exceeded their limit. He has a friend there who will let them in. But apparently, they’re close to finding a cure.”

Frank sipped his wine cautiously, as if the story they were telling meant that at any moment a million dollars was going to fall out from the sky. He looked up at the pair like they might be slightly psychotic.

“Not sure I believe that,” he muttered, digging into his pasta.

“I had a very reliable source tell me this,” answered Jasper firmly. “A military member that I once worked with back in the day told me everything.”

“So you’re going there?” questioned Frank. “You’re just going to go there and hope for the best, while you increase your probability that your little lady is going to get eaten alive? Canada is a long ways away. What do you reckon your chances are of getting her there?”

“Better than our chances for survival if we stay here,” Jasper quipped. “It’s either we try or we get stuck in this barren flesh-eating zombie wasteland waiting for a cure that probably won’t find us in time.” Jasper tossed his fork on the plate and leaned back with his hands behind his head.

“Let me guess,” Frank responded matter-of-factly and peered at Jasper. “You were going to take my truck?”

“We were,” I interrupted. “But we’ll find something else, don’t worry.”

“Frank…” Em spoke up, turning to her husband.

“No Em, don’t even ask me. We need the vehicles.” I hadn’t heard Frank speak firmly to his wife yet, but he certainly did this time. She turned back around and looked at us, then down at her plate again. I glanced over at Jasper, and could see the anger begin to flood his face. He didn’t do anything about it though, because Frank still had his gun right beside him on the table.

“If you don’t mind,” said Jasper after two drawn-out minutes of silence. “It’s getting later, and we have a long way ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Oh dear, certainly,” Em said jumping out of her chair. “Let’s get you two to your rooms to relax. Frank, I’ll be down in a few minutes I’m going to show these two beauties to their rooms.” Frank nodded and began eating again.

We followed Em’s cowboy boots up the spiral staircase to one of the guest bedrooms. This room had yellow walls more of a cozy, charming country feel to it. There was a large king bed with bed posts that rose up to the ceiling with a white down comforter on it. White lace curtains adorned a large window on the left side of the room that gave me yet another view of the farm and the countryside.

“Let me get you some comfortable clothes to wear,” said Em. “I’ll wash the clothes you have on overnight, and they’ll be ready for you in the morning.” We nodded to her.

“By the way,” she added, “Don’t mind my husband – the marines gave him a tough exterior. He is always wary of new people, especially in this world we’re living in.”

“I totally understand, Em. Thanks so much for letting us stay tonight,” I said, giving her a warm hug. “You’re a wonderful person.”

“Oh my, it’s zero trouble. I’ll be right back!” she assured us as her words traveled down the hall. We both laid down on the two chaise lounges that sat beside the bed, waiting for Em to bring back the clothes. Once she did, we changed and nestled down in the bed, enjoying the comfort. In about five minutes we were fast asleep. We had a long day coming up tomorrow and needed the rest.

Though we anticipated being woken up by the smell of frozen pancakes and coffee, it was actually the terrified screams of a woman that woke us up in the dead of the night.

“Help me ple-eeeease!” The terrified screams of a woman pierced through the thick darkness and woke me out of a dead sleep. I jumped up and looked out the bedroom window, but I couldn’t see anything from that angle. I heard the scream again – it was Em.

“Jasper!” I shrieked. “Get up! Em is screaming…something is happening!”  Jasper jumped up, grabbed his gun from beside the bed, and tossed mine to me. We ran as quickly as we could down the spiral staircase and flung open the front door to see Frank on the ground surrounded by zombies and Em desperately trying to shoot them with her terrible aim. One of the zombies was coming towards me, and Jasper shot him square in the head from the front porch.

“Help me!” Em screamed and shook Jasper. “They’re eating him!” Jasper walked calmly up to the pile of zombies, shooting each one in the back of the head like it was a video game. The last one came barreling up at Jasper, and he let it get shoulder length from him before he grabbed it by the sides of the face, lifted up his knee, and slammed the zombie’s face into it.

From my vantage point on the porch, I could see it didn’t look good for Frank who wasn't making any sound. All we heard was gurgling, moaning and chewing – all the disgusting noises that came from the zombies.

“What the hell was he doing out here at night?” I screamed, as I hugged Em. She didn’t answer but fell to the ground sobbing.

“Don’t tell me he’s dead,” she sobbed. “Don’t tell me!” I ran over to Jasper to see what was going on. The zombies had eaten the core of his abdomen out, along with most of both of his upper thighs. His face had a large chunk of skin missing from the cheek, and I could see the blood and flesh protruding through the opening. His eyes were wide and stared blankly into the sky. I suddenly realized something extremely absurd – Frank had a bullet hole in the center of his skull. Someone had shot him square in the head. But who? I looked up into the darkness and scanned the scenery around us.

“He had come out to get a cigarette from the truck!” Em screamed from her weeping pile on the porch. “He couldn’t sleep…he smokes when he is stressed.” A switch flipped in Jasper’s brain.

“Everybody get inside NOW!” I looked at him wide-eyed, and it clicked in that very instant in my brain as well. I stood up and turned around to run towards the porch, and screamed at Em to get her ass up and get inside.

A shot rang out, hitting the wooden beam on the porch about two feet from Em. A god damn person was shooting at us! Em jumped up at the sound of the shot and scurried into the house. I was right behind her when another shot rang out, barely missing Jasper. He jumped up and dashed after Em and I and into the house.

“Someone is fucking shooting at us!” Jasper yelled.              “This ha-ha-happens sometimes,” Em stuttered out in between sobs.

“What happens?” I asked her. “People just shoot at your house?” Em couldn’t get anything else out so Jasper answered for her.

“Yeah it does, but not often. There are a lot of evil people loose in the world right now…murderers, rapists, mental cases. They were able to break out of the mental homes and jail cells when shit went down. Just like Trent, except somehow he pulled a Hitler and coaxed everyone into following his beliefs. These people probably want this house, so they tried to kill us.” With the word “kill” Em sobbed louder. She couldn’t take it anymore and ran upstairs.

“So what do we do?” I asked, my eyes followed Em up the stairs.

“All we can do is sit here, lock the doors, and stand guard until morning. These people who just killed Frank aren’t likely to barge inside knowing we’re in here. They probably thought they could kill him and break into the house while we were sleeping. Thankfully, Em came out to check on Frank and ruined their strategy. Now that we know they’re there, they’re not going to try and sneak in. I’ll stand watch, Retta. You go back to sleep. You have a long day ahead of you.

“How aren’t you even flustered?” I asked him curiously. “I won’t be able to sleep now knowing there are people out there trying to kill us.”

“Trust me babe, there’s always going to be someone trying to kill us in this world.”

“I’m going to go check on Em,” I replied. “I’ll be back down and lay beside you on the couch, but I won’t be able to fall asleep.” Jasper nodded at me, and I started to walk up the stairs. I paused with my right hand on the railing and right foot resting on the first stair.

“I’m not even sure what to say to her,” I sad halfway to myself and halfway to Jasper. “But I do know what it feels like to lose someone you love.” He glanced over at me. He didn’t like it when I talked about Ethan, and I believed it was out of jealousy. I didn’t finish my thought because I knew it would bother him, so I walked quietly upstairs to find Em, who hovered over the toilet sobbing.

Her face was pale and her eyes were big and wet like those old Precious Moments dolls my mom used to have sitting around the house. I could smell a foul stench, and I realized that Em had thrown up into the toilet.

“Can I hug you?” I asked, as I walked over to Em to sit down beside her Indian-style. Em didn’t answer for a moment, then nodded her head. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and laid my head on her back.

“I’m so sorry,” I said as Em’s body convulsed. I didn’t know if I should talk and share my story or just be there for comfort, so I said nothing for a few moments until Em lifted her head up. Her eyes looked into mine and pleaded me to tell her this wasn’t real and her husband was alive. But I couldn’t, because he was now dead, and she was alone. After a half hour passed, I managed to help carry her into bed so that I could help Jasper.

“I’m going to go back downstairs to help Jasper watch over everything,” I said. “Please, lay here and get some sleep. I’m going to talk to Jasper about staying with you for a while. Or better yet, you coming with us. Either way, you’re not going to be alone.” With that, I hugged her and walked out of the room to give her time to mourn.